Are we addicted to shopping?

We drove into town today and spent about $900 between the mall and Costco.

I can't believe we spent that much - my wife was more shocked by the Costco spending than the mall spending.

Here's the breakdown:

children's shoes 2 pair leather, 9 socks $120
2 cloth shower curtains (the pretty ones that are displayed on the outside of the tub) $130 total
woman's clothing $150

Now I can't blaim my wife for buying clothes, she hasn't bought much in a while.

The children needed new shoes, apparently 2 year olds feet grow a half size every two months and 3+ need their shoes check every four months. We were due.

At costco we bought mostly staple food products. We splurged a little on 2 double-packs of beef jerky ($10 ea.). $500 is actually a fairly average amount for the monthly Costco trip, but we'd been working hard on keeping it under $200. Perhaps with so much defferred shopping, it had built up.

I once did an analysis and calculated we spend $1200 - $1600 per month on groceries. Keep in mind that four adults, 2 children and pets are included. How much do you spend - does this make sense?

I did try to introduce my eldest son to the joys of a milk shake - he was unimpressed. Too bad.

A good amount of the food items were things we couldn't buy in our rural community - a fact of great frustration.

I intend to go back in the next week and buy a number of durable items:

roofed sand box,
large inflatable swimming pool

and a few other things. Will probably run about $600.

After that we need to cool it.

Any thoughts or advice here?

Have a wonderful Sunday,
makingourway