I received an extremely sad email this week from Twice, a favorite online consignment store. I mentioned them to you here when I dished out my secrets about getting awesome clothes for cheap prices. They’re merging with eBay or something like that (don’t ask me for technical details), but the end result is this: they’re shutting down their site, apps, and clearing out their inventory. Womp womp. They also said that any store credit would be invalid once they merge. I had some credit from selling clothes to them + from referrals, so I sat down that night to make some purchases.

I spent a whole lotta time browsing through the men’s + women’s items (they don’t sell children’s clothes or that’s mainly what I would have bought) and I came out with some winners. At least, they look like winners. I’ll have to wait and see when they arrive at our doorstep to confirm that they are, in fact, true winners. Here’s what I snagged:

The end total after all my referral credit was used? $1.01.
!!!!!!!! Wahoo! Part of that is because they also have a 30% off code right now (FINAL30), so it made the deals even sweeter.

I was so incredibly thankful for this deal, especially for the men’s clothes. Did you see that wool jacket up there I snagged for my husband? Banana Republic! And 2 of the pants I got for him still have tags on them! It was such a kindness of the Lord.

The timing was a bit funny, though. As you know, I’ve been studying 1 John lately. The morning of this shopping spree I studied 1 John 2:15-17.

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

As I spent time meditating on this passage, I began to think: how do I know if I’m loving the things of the world? Here’s what I came up with that morning:

“if my emotions are drastically affected based on things I get or don’t get, I’m probably in a love affair with the world.”

Does an online shopping spree give me more joy than spending time with Christ?
If these clothes were to get lost in the mail, would I enter into a depression?

I realize this seems like a funny turn to take while writing an online shopping spree post. But I can’t separate the shopping spree from what God has been teaching me about stuff. So while I want to tell you about my awesome finds for incredibly cheap, I need you to know that clothes + deals aren’t the most important thing in life. Stuff isn’t everything. Christ is.

So, go shopping! Enjoy it! But let’s help each other remember that true joy and fulfillment doesn’t come from clothes, deals, or shopping sprees. True joy can only be found in Jesus.