Shopping Holiday -- Click, Click, Click

A shopping holiday sounds like something you would win on a game show.  Buy, buy, buy.  But my holiday is not what you think.

For the past six weeks, when I have checked my email, I have gone down the row of boxes -- click, click, click.  But instead of diving into "exclusive offers for you,"  "last chance," "only hours left," and enormous percentages off, I am choosing to delete, delete, delete.

My husband calls it a shopping "fast."  But in this period of time, I have noticed not what I am giving up, but what I have gained.  Two minutes lingering here and there, a link that leads to another link, I wonder if it comes in beige, and before I know it, a half hour or more has evaporated from my day.

Now, these are all good things, I am sure.  But "wants" are highly skilled at disguising themselves as "needs," doing nothing more than cluttering up my life.  These desires offer a fulfillment that only fills my life with less -- less time, space, and sanity -- and pushing that which is so much better out the back door.

With this internet holiday of mine, I have taken back the margins of my day and my budget.  And I have learned the value of asking even more carefully, "do I really need that?"  And even more, "do I really want to waste fifteen minutes of my life, grazing through that website that promises what it cannot give?"

It is not what I have lost,
     but I have redeemed --
          immeasurable hours of my life.

And that is the best bargain of all.