Are you addicted to bargain hunting?

I've been finding it harder and harder for myself to pass up a good deal these days, especially now that I'm no longer a starving student, and what with the downturn in the economy. I've become hyperaware of spending, but what that's resulted in is the search for deals, which has resulted in me wanting to buy anything that seems like a deal. Something on clearance for 50% off? Right it goes into my shopping cart! Where I used to go ahead and buy these items without a second thought, I've been making more of a conscientious effort NOT to just buy because it's cheap. Some of the items in the Jovovich Hawk for Target went on clearance lately and more than once I dropped them in my cart only to convince myself before I left the store to put it back on the rack. I'm also addicted to thrift store shopping lately, but you spend $16-20 each trip and perhaps make more than one trip a week, it starts to really add up, and what do you get? (For me, an overstuffed closet and an espresso machine/coffeemaker duo that's sitting on top of the kitchen cabinets.) And so I ask myself, (a) am I addicted to shopping? and (b) am I in particular, addicted to thrift shopping? This article on MSN, Are you addicted to bargain shopping? asks that question and lists some telltale signs. Do any of these apply to you? Here are six telltale signs of bargain junkies: They hit sales and clearance racks when they feel angry or down. They spend more than they can afford. They see sales as opportunities they can't pass up. They feel guilty about their shopping and hide their purchases. They spend so much time tracking down deals that their time with family and friends is compromised. They routinely forget what they bought and find things in their closets unused. However, I am comforted that if I am, I am not (yet) at the level of this one schoolteacher from New Mexico: For New Mexico schoolteacher Marie Barger, bargain shopping was an addiction as powerful as drugs or alcohol -- one that took her seven years to pay off. Years after her husband took away her maxed-out credit cards, she still comes across old purchases that make her cringe, such as the full-figured adult size 16 uniform pants she bought for her tiny 12-year-old daughter simply because they were 80% off. "She's superskinny. Maybe if she got pregnant one day she could wear them," Barger says. more at twiigs.com...