The day I decided to take a year off of shoe-shopping

Wondering if you’ve read my facebook status right? Unfortunately, (or fortunately) yes, you have.

Tanya Aritao is taking a year off of shoe-shopping. *GASP*

Beginning tonight, the 15th of January, I am on a one-year shoe-shopping hiatus/fast/experiment. Whatever you want to call it. Those of you who know me well will understand what a commitment/trap/challenge this is and certainly will be during this year to come.

This is actually all thanks to my mother! Go figure, hahaha. She made the suggestion last week saying, “Tan, maybe you should try not buying any shoes for one year.” I gasped and exclaimed that that would be absolutely impossible. I seriously couldn’t imagine it. I didn’t even try thinking about it.

Zebraaaaa.

Today, however, I had to go with my mom and sister to Landmark to get my sister a pair of shoes for my brother’s wedding. (Seriously, Landmark is the death of my pocket. So is SM.) Being so broke already as it is (starving art student here!), I tried to control myself and planned not to buy anything. I had already earmarked a fantastic pair of heels that I spotted at People are People the other day, and had planned to buy them as soon as I could. With that in mind, I kept my shopping hands to myself. I even shunned a pair of zebra (of course, zebra.) heels! (See photo at left.) I then decided that if I must peruse the shoe racks, I might as well look for functionality – shoes I can wear around school everyday, not just the weekend killer heels that I can never refuse! (Besides, I just splurged on a pair of great boots in November that easily rock both day and night, school day and weekend.)

And yet I found myself at the cashier sometime later, where I finally decided to give this one-year time out from shoe-shopping a serious shot. (After much prodding from my dear mother.) I turned to her and said: “I think I can do it.” She replied with complete confidence: “Of course you can!“

Yet I was walking out of Landmark with three new pairs of shoes!!!! I probably could really use a break.

I had tried negotiating before my final decision, telling my mom I would lay off the shoe purchases till my birthday. This, she would not allow, since my birthday is only four months away! Hahaha! Oh well. It was worth a shot.

This little shoe-shopping break, funny enough, does not disallow others from surprising me by gifting me with shoes. (Of course, I will not abuse this little exception!) I’ve decided that this hiatus also does not include dance shoes- like pointe shoes or dance paws – which may be necessary for performances. Those don’t count, but sneakers do. Furthermore, I will not refuse to buy footwear if it is of absolute necessity. (And when I say absolute necessity, I’m imagining holes in all my shoes. Quite impossible.)

I also tried to negotiate for the exception of Thanksgiving. For the past two years, I’ve splurged on a good pair of shoes every Thanksgiving break (on Black Friday in New York City). I told my mom I’d like to keep the tradition, but she would not budge. In the end, I added my own little twist to this twelve month challenge. Instead of buying myself a pair of shoes for Thanksgiving, I will buy a pair for someone else. Could be you!

At least this little challenge coincides with one of my 11 Prayerful Hopes for 2011:

“For my pocket, less shopping, more giving (or at least tip the scales so that the giving tremendously outweighs the personal shopping).”

Now, let’s see how this goes. Goodbye new shoes, see you in 2012!