Shopping Siren has given up on organizing her basement.

Though splurging is, apparently, a resolution she has no problem keeping. Maybe 2013 should return to the Year of Saving.  

When it comes to Bag Lady’s resolutions, she is just hanging her head and hoping you look away.

It’s been an up and down year, what with changes in Bliss (up!), the closing of Blockbuster, Fashion Bug and Sears (down!) and the opening of Forage, Panera Bread and more thrift shops than we can shake a stylish stick at (up!). In the middle of it all were our New Year’s resolutions to yoga more, organize more and sleep more.

SS scored a hearty 2-1, thanks to her resolution to splurge once or twice. (Or, um, three times.) She also did organize her bedroom closet — and is counting that as a win, even if said closet has since returned to its natural state of messiness.

SS did not, however, organize her basement. She could blame it on her fear of snakes (only increased by Bag Lady’s harrowing tales of her own reappearing basement snake), but she doesn’t like to exaggerate. So. Let’s just say she never had a free afternoon the entire previous 12 months.

BL did not quite go 1-for-3 but it’s a mere technicality. Back in October she declared one resolution null and void (getting to bed before 10 p.m.), which left only exercising regularly and organizing the basement and a closet. Her exercise regime worked out OK, though there was room for improvement. She also maintains that cleaning out old cardboard boxes and turning in the (copious) bags of recyclables counts somewhat as organizing the basement, and pulling out two bags of to-be-donated clothes counts as organizing the closet. Still. There will be no victory parties here.

For 2013 we’ve decided to take a different approach. No more resolutions we know we won’t stick to! It’ll be a year for self-improvement, yes, and self-reflection, sure, but also a bit of self-happiness.

And, ironically, this will probably end up being the year SS finally cleans her basement.

Shopping Siren’s resolutions:

* Give. SS loves giving to friends, to family, to charity. So why not do more? And it doesn’t have to be in the form of money. Making cookies for a bake sale works just as well as a check. And they taste better. 

* Get together with friends. Studies have shown that socializing may help you live longer. So forget walking on a socially isolating treadmill; SS will go hiking with a friend. She’ll have drinks with co-workers and attend every birthday party/bar mitzvah/baby shower/wedding/retirement party/cotillion she’s invited to. And possibly a few she isn’t.

* Buy better. This was a 2011 resolution that SS has picked up, dusted off and given a new place of honor among her 2013 resolutions. She’ll look for quality over quantity, value over price. And if that means buying super premium chocolate, so be it.    

Bag Lady’s resolutions:

* Stress less. Were it turned into an Olympic sport, Bag Lady could medal in worrying. And that despite 97 percent of the things being most worried about never come to fruition. Bag Lady’s favorite pen pal, Fran, shared a saying from her mother-in-law earlier this year, “Your problems of today won’t be the problems of tomorrow.” Beautiful advice. Now, to live it!

* Be kind. Or, more kind. She is not, for the record, a raging dragon woman, but in trying moments, fewer choice words, more measured responses, are never bad things.

* &@%@#$, she’s not willing to give up on that basement. Or the closet. Or the bedroom that has become a closet. This year, they will meet defeat!

Retail resolutions (er, hopes)

But the New Year is about more than resolutions. It’s about a new start. New dreams. New hopes.

And we have all of those for shopping in 2013, too.

* Something will move into the old Sears store. Something grand, like a Christmas Tree Shops. Something cool, like Target. Something . . . . 

(And on that note, Target, we keep hearing so many rumors about your flirtations with L-A. Professional restraint keeps us from saying that we would totally love that. But we would totally love that.)

* Also, a new something for the former Fashion Bug store in the same Sears plaza. Please and thank you. Locally owned and operated? All the better.

* Last, that L-A will get a retailer Portland doesn’t have. Think Costco. (Maybe if we all think Costco . . .)

Happy year and happy shopping to all!

Bag Lady and Shopping Siren’s true identities are protected by a pair of stylish, sweater-wearing Doberman pinschers (who are loving/squabbling over the rawhide treats Grandma brought for Christmas) and the Customer Service counter at the Sun Journal. You can reach them at baglady@sunjournal.com and shoppingsiren@sunjournal.com.

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