I don’t have to look far into my circle of family and friends to find compulsive shopping. This isn’t a problem I understand very well myself; I don’t like shopping and have many excuses for why I haven’t replaced old clothing. In her book The Year of Less , Cait Flanders gives us insight into shopping addiction as well as addictions to alcohol, other drugs, food, and television. Fortunately, she also describes her path away from the pain that drives these addictions. The centerpiece of Flanders’ solution to her addictions was a self-imposed yearlong shopping ban. Her rules were quite strict. For example, she banned herself from shopping for take-out coffee, clothes, shoes, accessories, books, magazines, candles, furniture, and electronics. She did allow herself to replace things that she needed but had worn out. During this yearlong shopping ban, she also got rid of most of her stuff. Her goal was to reduce her belongings to just the things she really used. This is one asp...

At this time of year many Canadians head to the U.S. in search of bargains for Christmas presents. Taking a bite out of the savings are travel costs and duties when you return. However, border guards don’t always make you pay. My cousin was telling me about a woman who returned from a trip recently having bought $900 worth of items, including the obligatory bottle of booze. She declared the full $900 and even though her exemption limit was only $400 for having been gone 48 hours, she was sent on her way without having to pay any duties. This happened to me once, although I was only over my limit by a small amount. Not being an experienced U.S. shopper, I’m curious about how common it is for border guards to not make people over their limit pay duties. Are there any experienced U.S. shoppers who can comment on how often border guards forgive duties and for what types of dollar amounts?