16th Day of Empty Nesting...Shopping

My pre-Empty-Nested life included frequent trips to MoreMart, sometimes multiple trips in one day, because somebody alllllways needed something.

We made regular bulk purchases of socks and underwear, blue jeans and t-shirts, and pickles by the gallon.  Shoes, coats, gloves, school supplies, soap, shampoo... And those were the bare necessities.  When you added in the games, toys, seasonal fun, electronics, craft items, office supplies, towels, sheets, household items, and yard things...oh, my, it was just Open Season on the wallet.

And don't forget food!!!  The most basic necessity of them all kept me running from MoreMart to the co-op to the farmer's market to the grocery store, often with a mile-long list in one hand, and a collection of coupons in the other.  No doubt about it, shopping is a serious proposition, especially when you have a house full of kidlets.

I am not a shopper.  Not by any remote stretch of the imagination.  I'd rather take a beating than go shopping.  And now I don't have to.  We no longer buy anything with any sort of regularity.  Shoes and clothes can go years without needing to be replaced.  Household things never wear out.  Personal items are no more than ever-so-occasional purchases.  It is not at all unusual, now, for a month or more to go by without me having to see the inside of a MoreMart.  I do wander over to the grocery store a little more often, but food is no longer consumed in frantic quantities, so even that has taken on a somewhat leisurely pace.

Yes, the Empty Nest has its rewards which are often bittersweet, but here, at last, is one pure, unadulterated pleasure:  Shopping is Optional.