the great – and probably unnecessary – shoe dilemma of 2019/2020

as many people know, i am frequently plagued with (by?) indecisiveness. this is especially true when it comes to shopping. for most things. unless i'm browsing at dollar tree, i will often weigh pros and cons ad infinitum before actually committing to a purchase. sometimes, my head will spin so much from the hemming and hawing and researching and reviewing that i end up completely inert, unable to make any decision, so i wind up doing nothing. buying nothing. (to be honest, this isn't necessarily a bad thing.)

one time, i read some advice on getting oneself out of such vortexes of perpetual hesitation and ovethinking: figure out your key criteria and ask yourself, "does this item meet all or most of those criteria?" if the answer is yes, just buy it and stop comparison shopping.

that's been somewhat useful and has come in handy multiple times since. it's taught me that sometimes i just need to yank off the bandaid and do it. if i realize afterward that whatever it is was a mistake, i can always return it. that, in turn, has allowed me to take some risks (which aren't actual risks – they just feel risky to me) with online purchases. stuff i haven't seen or felt or tried on in person because they're only available online.

some of those purchases have been fantastic – i scored three awesome pairs of insanely comfortable and functional thermal leggings for $7 each.

some have been unsuccessful – three times, i ordered zero-drop running shoes (not available to actually try on in any store anywhere in the toronto area) and had to return them because they didn't quite fit right or just didn't fit well enough that i could justify the cost of keeping them. for someone who walks as much as i do, finding great-quality, great-fitting shoes is very important. and as someone who's currently unemployed, i'd nonetheless also like them to be a good value. i don't mind spending a bit more, but i also have a mental threshhold beyond which i can't reasonably justify a shoe purchase.

that's how i arrived at the great shoe dilemma of 2019/2020... which has, as of today, stretched on for nearly three months. THREE MONTHS!

you see, back in november, i stumbled upon a stunningly gorgeous pair of merrell winter hiking boots. i found them completely by accident while looking for merrell running shoes, and was instantly smitten. they were SO pretty... so stylish... and so completely me. just LOOK at them!

i could totally see myself trekking all over the place with these pretty puppies, which are totally waterproof and filled with some kind of aerogel insulation developed by NASA, making them insanely lightweight. and my winter-hiking keens, which have served me well but are about 14 years old, are getting to the point that they should probably be retired. their treads have practically been worn bald, the seams are starting to split and the fabric in/around the boot shaft was worn away long ago.

but there were three big strikes against the beautiful new merrells:

1. they were only available online, so it would be impossible to try them on before buying

2. multiple online reviews cited a particularly painful spot in the boot around the inner ankles which caused 100% of those reviewers to return their purchases

and

3. these boots cost nearly $300. THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS! for a pair of hiking boots!

there was no way, at all, that i was going to spend that kind of money. period. BYE BOOTS!

top price limit for me for boots would be $150... and even that would be very hard to swallow. i'm a much bigger fan of the $75 and under price point.

as much as i tried to forget them, the boots haunted me. "just TRY us on... come on, we'll be great! you'll love us! just try..."

so, i figured i'd wait for black friday sales to see if the price dropped (it didn't). then i thought maybe the price would drop on boxing day... and it did, but only to $202 plus tax. an improvement, sure, but still a lot more than i'd feel comfortable paying. one store in toronto was clearing them for $150 (what?! where can i place my order?!), but only in a men's size 11 (oh), which is gigantic and, obviously, nowhere near what i need (NEVERMIND THEN).

since the end of december, i've been keeping an eye on those boots. waiting. hemming. hawing. reading online reviews. i even emailed merrell in the interim to see if they redesigned the boots to get rid of the ankle-spot issue, since the majority of reviews citing that problem were written during the 2018/2019 model year. (merrell responded that it was not a known issue, and didn't actually answer my question.)

at last check, and thanks to an online bonus discount, they were $182.67, before taxes. total with tax: $202.97. inching closer.

and here's the kicker to this whole dilemma: i'm not worried about ordering the boots, having them arrive and trying them on only to discover they fit poorly or cause ankle pain, meaning i'll have to schlep to a nearby store to return them. that's actually a really easy "problem" to solve.

no, i'm worried that they'll arrive, i'll try them on and they'll be perfect, and then i'll have to find a way to justify KEEPING them.

more news as it breaks.