Big spender

Three months ago I wrote here about my chronic Amazon habit, in which I recklessly buy books, DVDs and CDs I will never have time to read, watch or listen to. It has been costing me as much as drink did when I was still a practising alcoholic.

I made a firm decision in print to get the habit under control and spend no more than £75 a month. Recklessly, I said I would report here to let you know how I was getting along.

Well, the news isn’t good. Looking back over my Amazon account — and the online mail-order supplier provides a scarily precise record of just what you’ve ordered and how much you’ve spent — my total over the past three months comes to £418. 48. Divide that by three and the total is £139. 49, well over my self-imposed limit, indeed perilously close to double the amount I allowed myself, though significantly less than I had been spending.

However, quite a few of these purchases were necessary for work — play texts, theatre books, DVDs of films adapted for the stage — and quite a few more were gifts for friends and relatives. Other items included such mundane items as reading glasses, which I lose bewilderingly frequently, and which Amazon supplies far more cheaply than Boots.

Having subtracted these purchases from the total, the sum comes down to £266.19. Divide that figure by three and I find I spent an average of £88.73 a month on self-indulgent little presents for myself — well over the £75 maximum but not disastrously so. But I must not kid myself. The £75 limit was supposed to cover everything — gifts, work items, spectacles, the lot.