You’ve done it all. The degrees, the jobs, the therapy. You followed the list and checked it more than twice. And still nothing is simple, straightforward or sensical. And worse, we have a closet full of clothes — and nothing to wear.
Retail Therapy on Substack explores why we keep doing things that — rationally — we know are silly. I’m right there with you. When I don’t feel like I’m enough, or everything seems out of control, I shop.
Our exasperation isn’t about what to buy — it’s understanding why we buy. Why we throw time and money at our angst.
As a former business reporter — most recently in the Wall Street Journal — I've learned to follow the dollars. That’s what I do here. Sense. Cents. You get it. And I write about the things people might think — but would never say out loud.
I can’t afford to live the $500K-a-year lifestyle dangled in front of us, with a new wardrobe every season and only buying high-end everything. It doesn’t mean I don’t want it — I do. But responsibly. And only 1% of all US households make that kind of money.
So why does everyone act like it’s normal to walk a few miles in shoes that are a mortgage payment? It’s not.
Retail Therapy on Substack looks at the gap — between the dangled lifestyle and the one we can actually afford, without going broke.
I’ve lived on all sides of the money equation myself — from supporting myself as a teen to buying my first house at 20. I've been thinking about money my whole life. Which means I’m incapable of writing about shopping without also telling you what it costs, where the money comes from and where it goes.
Starting with no affiliate links. No shopping lists. And definitely no pretending I have it all figured out.
I don’t.
New Here? Read These
It’s OK If I Go to Hell for Buying Books on Amazon The thing everyone does and nobody admits. Retail Therapy says the quiet part out loud.
I Was Told the Only Cashmere I Owned Looked Like a Sweatshirt On what we wear to work, what it costs us, and why fashion has always had opinions about us that have nothing to do with our clothes.
I Paid My Taxes. Elon Didn’t. Money is personal. It’s also political. And my tax bill could have been a BMW.
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Not enough? Think of it this way. You’re paying a writer for their work and helping fund my bougie dog Radio’s acupuncture. He still hasn’t gotten a job. Or an agent.
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When life stops making sense, we shop try to learn something new. More soon.
Looking forward to reading more! I am in the middle of a “no-buy year” experiment, and it has been so fruitful to see how my relationship to spending and material things impacts the other planes of experience, from the spiritual to the emotional and beyond.