My mother introduced me to shopping as a sport. She referred to it as sale-ing and we went at least once or twice a week. In the summers we “saled” at yard and estate sales, keeping to a fairly modest budget and capping it off with brunch or lunch. During the rest of the year we "saled" at stores like Bloomingdale’s Filenes Basement, Bonwit Tellers and Lowman’s; frequenting off season sales, discount rooms, coupons and clearance racks. My mother was a master at sale-ing and could easily turn $20 into an outfit. When money was tight we went fantasy shopping. We would invent an event such as a wedding or party and go shopping for a dress. We would recreate a fictional family or lifestyle and search open house to find the perfect home. These little games allowed us to enjoy the thrill of the hunt, without spending any money and this is really what fantasy shopping is all about.
After my mom passed away, I began to play my own version of fantasy shopping on the internet. I would give myself a scenario, a budget and a deadline and start shopping. The average games take less than an hour or about the amount of time in my lunch break. And with the Internet I could shop for virtually anything.
Examples:
- $450k | a loft style apartment in Chicago to serve as a home base for my new career as a content consultant for the Oprah magazine
- $100 | an outfit to wear to the book signing for my first novel
- $10k | a vintage car on EBay to cruise around town for the summer
- $50 | a birthday gift my mom would have given me
- $1 million Euro | a vacation home in Aix en Provence
Half the fun of shopping is bonding with friends, so I have decided to share my little game in the hopes anyone else wants to play.
So here it is…Fantasy Shopping Challenge #1
1 comment:
I'll go in with you on that loft apt in Chicago. ;-)
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