The urge to splurge

What triggers your urge to shop? Do you regularly practice "retail therapy?"
I have been in school or teaching school for the past 35+ years, and my biggest spending trigger is that back-to-school time during the late summer when I anticipate what for me is much more the start of a new year than January first. The urge to shop at this time is a Pavlovian response, a comfort, and a phenomenon I never really examined before this year. But for the past year or so I have been trying to reduce personal consumption of the earth's resources by purchasing as little new stuff as possible. So when I felt the pull of the mall this time around, I stopped myself and tried to identify my needs instead of hopping in the car and heading for the shops.
As it turned out, I really didn't NEED anything. I am fortunate to work in a school district that provides office supplies and teaching materials, so my annual trip to Staples has been an unnecessary indulgence. I have plenty of clothes and jewelry. I pulled out the fall clothes and did some mending and ironing, and I'm good to go. But the idea of new clothes for back-to-school dies hard. It's as if part of the excitement of going back involves the new outfits I get to show off. I found a way to keep the tradition alive while sticking with my values by allowing myself to go to my favorite consignment store to spend an afternoon trying on clothes. I bought a couple of shirts and sweaters so that I can feel like I have something "new" to wear, but it was really cheap and nothing new was created, no resources were used; in fact, I supported a small local business and recycled someone else's castaways at the same time. I found new-looking, designer-label clothes for a fraction of the original prices! It was all the more exciting for being guilt-free, I must say. Then I made a new ID tag lanyard by taking apart some old necklaces and restringing the beads. Finally, I have plans to make a new quilted pocketbook. I have lots of quilt fabric scraps and some pocketbook patterns already, so there's no need to buy anything except for a zipper.