The curse of coupons

I have an email address that I give out to stores when I purchase things online; I also use it when I join a website or fill out a form for a store member card. It's a bit like an email address that generates purely junk. It has become the bane of my existence.

If one were to peer into the inbox for this email address at exactly this moment (43 unread messages), one would find the following:

MARIO BADESCU wants me to try new skin products!
GAP.COM wishes to inform me that 1969 Premium Jeans have been introduced!
BORDERS REWARDS has generously awarded me a 40% off coupon!
VICTORIA'S SECRET has just received a whole new shipment of sweaters!
AERIE bras are all 30% off, whoopee! (ahem)
URBAN OUTFITTERS really, really wants the honor of decorating my apartment!
JCREW has added new items to its final sale!
AMAZON.COM has --shocker-- new bestsellers in fiction!
OLD NAVY is offering deals for $5, $10, and $15!
AMERICAN EAGLE wants me to buy something ASAP so I can get $10 cash back!
BARNES AND NOBLE realized that my life would be incomplete without a 15% coupon (and that's ON TOP of my regular member discount)!

Are you getting the picture?

It's particularly difficult for a recovering book-buyingaholic to receive these emails from Borders, B&N, and Amazon without drooling a bit and beginning to froth at the mouth. 40% off?! How can I let it go to waste?? A month ago I would have been perusing the websites for bargain books that just "needed" to be included in my future library, regardless of whether I planned on actually reading these books anytime soon.

This is going to be a long, hard road, my friends.

Why, you ask, don't I just unsubscribe to all of these emails? Well, for starters, sometimes I really do want that Badescu Enzyme Cleansing Gel. Sometimes I am actually in need of a 30% off bra. In reference to unsubscribing to the book emails...I just can't do it. It's comforting to know that while I am shunning bookstores, they haven't forgotten me.

Luckily, I do get to put that 40% off Borders coupon to good use tomorrow. I've been waiting for such a coupon to appear, because I'm sorely in need of a GRE prep book, and am unwilling to purchase one full-price. I feel bad enough as it is buying the book, so I feel like I should at least purchase it for 60% of what it's worth. Textbooks don't even count toward my nonbookbuying vow, yet I still feel guilty. (Do you like all the new words I'm coming up with today?)

On another note, August 10th marked one month of me not buying books! I'm really happy with how I'm doing so far. Yeah, I caved and bought a book for my lunch break at News Channel 9, but I also returned it ASAP and mentally flogged myself, haha. I've only read 3 books in a month, but like I said...I've been really busy. There's suddenly a lot more to do when you're living with your boyfriend. :-)

I have about 30 pages left of Emma. I'm taking a lunch break today and will finish it then, so hopefully when I get back to work afterward I'll have time for another update. If not, count on one tomorrow (my day off)!