Ever since I’ve been an adult, I’ve done some of my shopping online. Sometimes the store I want to order from isn’t near me or the local one doesn’t have something in stock. Sometimes the store is online only. And sometimes it’s just about convenience and I’d rather order online than go to a store. I’ve done this for so many things in my life. I can’t think of much that I use that I haven’t bought online at one point or another.
And I went from doing some of my shopping online to all of my shopping online when the pandemic hit. Anything I needed could be ordered online and delivered to me. I didn’t love doing this, but it felt like the safer thing for me to do. And the few places I did go in person to were limited to grocery stores and drug stores. Nothing interesting or exciting, only places to get things I needed. That doesn’t mean I haven’t bought a lot of fun things over the past year and a half. It’s just that everything else has been purchased online. And I’m really starting to feel over it.
I recently found some new bedding I wanted to get for my room. My comforter has been torn for a bit and I was excited to have something new. I took my time to look at a few different places and did price comparisons and looked at reviews. Even though I knew I could return something, I’d rather not do that so I wanted to pick the right thing the first time. And when I got it, it was nothing like what I thought I got. The color was wrong (I ordered something that was supposed to be green and this was more of a yellow) and the fabric was very thin and not soft at all. If I had bought this in a store in person, I wouldn’t have gotten it because I would have known right away that it was wrong. But online, I had no clue until it arrived.
I know that returning things isn’t a huge deal and it’s actually easier now than it used to be. When returning stuff to Amazon, you don’t need a box or anything. You print out a return slip and take the item and the slip to the UPS store and they handle everything else. So that is nice to do, but I’d prefer to not have to do that at all and have the items be right.
It’s even more frustrating with clothes. I look at the size charts and take my measurements to make sure I’m ordering the right size, but that’s not always enough. The fit of items can vary so much. And sometimes, I do end up ordering multiple sizes so I can test them out and return what doesn’t work. Even if I felt comfortable going into stores, I still have to order so much online. Some stores that sell plus-sized clothing only sell it online and not in their stores. And there are a lot of stores that are only online. So trying things on isn’t an option for me. I’m really trying to find new things for my wardrobe, but so far everything I’ve ordered online this month has been returned. I do try to see if I could do some alterations and make the items work, but that isn’t always easy or cheap. It would be so nice if I could just find things that fit me, but I haven’t had any luck. I haven’t given up yet, but it’s hard to feel excited about getting new things when lately everything I get goes back.
I’m trying to be a bit more adventurous with the stores I shop at. I see things online and seek out where they got them and I have discovered new stores I didn’t know about before. Most of the time, I still have to order online, but at least I’m not just shopping at the same places over and over again. And I know that eventually, I’ll have some luck and some new things that I can wear on the random adventures I have now going out of my house and feel awesome and comfortable.