Taking Baby Steps Require Cute Shoes

My husband is a naturally frugal man. Raised with twelve siblings, he grew up in a home that barely afforded life’s basic necessities. As you can imagine, being married to a woman such as myself, often makes for his frustration. As far as spending habits go, we are the odd couple. He has to be forced to buy a new pair of shoes when his only pair of tennis shoes get so ragged that he looks like a bum. I have to be forced to stop buying shoes, when I haven’t even worn all of the pairs that inhabit our closet. Just for the sake of proving my point, I went into the closet and counted. Daniel owns a total of three pairs of shoes, tennis shoes (only worn when he coaches,) work oxfords and flip flops. A pair for every occasion, according to him. I am embarrassed to say that, on my side, I counted 28 pairs. Ouch. I can almost hear some of you gagging in disgust. I’m not even going to tell you how much I paid for some of them, because I really don’t feel like pissing off readers on my first day. Just remember, I’m reforming.

My first order of thrift therapy is to do some “sole searching” and figure out which ones I really need, which I’ve purchased but never worn and the ones that I can sell at a rummage sale. I know of two pairs that need to be sent back, due to ordering online. *Tip: Shoes vary in size and are best purchased at the store, where you can try them on. I found two pairs that I’ve never worn, for reasons that escape me. I have a few pairs that I purchased for a special occasion, but never found another occasion to wear them to. I have eight pairs of flip flops in various colors. Three pairs of athletic shoes, but only one that do not squish my feet. Two pairs of house shoes that are in need of replacing (see…there’s that urge to spend again!) I have four pairs of boots. Two of them are out of style and two are generic Uggs. The rest are various casuals that I wear a few times a year, depending on the season.

My husband is baffled at the logic I use to explain my ownership of so many shoes. He just shakes his head when I whine that I have nothing to wear on my feet, that matches my outfit. He even went so far as to leave a whole bag of shoes at our old house, when we moved, just to see if I would notice. Sadly, I didn’t for a long time. He said that it was a clear indication that I had too many pairs. I told him that he probably wouldn’t notice if I had left some of his tool collection behind. He just laughed and said that tools are different because he can use them numerous times and it saves us the money of having to call an expert. Argh! I hate it when he’s right!

So I’m starting my journey with the baby step of shoe inventory and reduction. If I cannot accomplish this, then I’m in real trouble when it comes down to the big stuff like grocery shopping and credit card payoffs!