The ghosts of shoppings past

Do you ever get a sick feeling when you miss a buy? Like when you find a perfect pair of shoes, but they are just a little bit out of your price range, so you decide to wait, and next time you check up on them, they're gone?

I do. I can still tell you, in detail, about the perfect dress, that was even on sale, that I just couldn't commit to, and now haunts me. I'll wear another perfectly good dress, but my heart will be thinking about the one that got away. Overtime the ghost dress will become this magical entity in my mind. Where, if I had only purchased it, every time I wore it I would be thin, powerful, confident. How could I possibly have let all that slip through my fingers?

I think I've developed a bit of a shopping problem, and I think that this is largely why. Sometimes I even buy stupid things that would probably not become shopping ghosts, just because I'm afraid of the what ifs. I can't bear the idea of regretting my inaction, so act, impulsively and stupidly. Add to that the blatant lie that oh, I can always return this latter if I change my mind. Technically true, but in reality, the odds of me making a special return trip by whatever deadline the store imposes just isn't good. And so my closet has more than a few sad items that were never worn by me and never will be.

It's absolutely stupid. I have plenty of clothes that are cute and fit. I'm not the best at mixing and matching them, but my ordinary wardrobe isn't lacking. Trust me, I need the money in my bank account much more than I need a cute pair of pumps. I've tried doing a clothes budget, or coming up with a list of what I need and trying to restrict purchases to the list. It's a nice idea, but the second I come across something that I think might become another ghost, all frugal intentions fly out the window. Somehow the lost money doesn't seem to way as heavily on my mind as the lost potentially perfect piece of clothing. And that's a problem. One that I suppose can be solved with willpower and perspective, but those aren't always the easiest things to muster up.

How do you balance frugality with regret?