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Confessions of a Shopaholic
By Barbara Peters

Reflecting on the etiology of my shopping propensity, it must be said that the desire for it goes back to my dear mother, who passed away last December. My parents were hardworking and created our life one crumb at a time. Life in Poland was pleasant. My parents owned a tiny home built by their own hands that we shared with my mother's brother and his family.

Yet during all those times, my mother's notion of the three of us (mother, father, me) looking "good" was omnipresent. Her fixation with appearance included polishing my father's shoes, ironing every stitch of clothing that we had, and saving every zloty to make sure we looked good for church or when we went visiting.

Upon our move to this country when I was 11 years old, all the material treasures we owned were contained in three suitcases. When we first began our visits back to Poland, once my father landed a job in the United States and we could afford to travel, I recall my mother's worries about having new, cute clothes to wear on our trips. The idea was to take our coats and hats and fold them up nicely once on the plane, so that when we landed we could look pressed, dressed and presentable (and well-off!) when meeting our relatives. Oy!

Over the years my mother's motto evolved to be "enjoy life and always look good." Having grown up within this context, it's no wonder I derive pleasure from shopping and wanting to look good. I can't dispute the emotion that I do feel better, more confident, more outgoing and more "socially engaging" when my outfit is put together well.

My financial resources derived from the position of CFO that I held for the country's eighth-largest architectural firm for more than 14 years generally allowed me to feed my shopping cravings. I don't think anyone disputes that more expensive items are better made. How the seams are finished, the drape of the fabric, the fit, are all significantly different in a garment of higher cost. And up until just recently, when Isaac Mizrahi joined Target, the style was also significantly better – more current and crisp – with more expensive garments.

The yin and yang of this story is that while my mother impressed on me the desire to shop and always look good, my father had a fixation on never buying on credit. That included household purchases, cars and all other purchases with the exception of a mortgage. While in my 30s, my husband and I did have outstanding credit card bills that were not always paid in full every month. But later in my life and today, I feel good about not spending more than I have.

What concerns me today is my continued love with buying wonderful things and its long-term effect on my ability to save for retirement. I want to continue living the type of life I've been accustomed to, but by shopping at Butch Blum and Barneys I literally reduce the potential for that.

And, of course, now with building a new consulting business, I must take a realistic look at my shopping habits. It will take a few years to build up my salary to the level of my previous CFO position, so having Isaac at Target and Martha at K-Mart have come just in time for me to economize on style!

Barbara Peters is founder and CEO of SageFields, a Bellevue, Wash.–based consulting company. She previously was CFO of Mulvanny G2, one of the largest architecture firms in the country.