The other night, I was hanging out on Facebook when I noticed one of my blog readers, Leslie, engaging in some questionable activity.  I began delving into this dark counterculture in which she was immersing herself, and was fascinated at the depth, the popularity, and the entire dialect of the people group that are… Smockaholics.

I called Bradford (our local addiction health service) and asked them how I could best help my friend with her Smock Abuse problem. 

“Here’s what you should do…”, they told me.

So I confronted her about her issue.  She agreed that she had a problem.  We discussed her options.  And I recommended that she guest blog about the Smock Auction Underworld – you know, as therapy and accountability.


Hello, my name is Leslie and I am addicted to buying clothes through Facebook auctions.

If it is cute and in limited quantity, I MUST have it!

What? You haven’t heard about this?

Well, let me warn you that you may also become addicted and I cannot be held responsible for your future behavior or your dwindling bank account.

First, let me tell you a little about me. I am the mother of two girls – a 3 year old and a 13 month old. They are really the reason behind my new obsession. I love clothes of the smocked and non-smocked variations. As long as it is cute, I envision it on my girls.

Smock

However, I am actually not a huge fan of all things smocked, which is slightly ironic given some of most recent purchases.

Rachel wrote a great post about how different churches seem to have an unwritten rule regarding smocking. We attended a Smock-Optional Church and I think this sums up my personal/daily belief regarding smock.  Will I ever send my child to school in smock? Only on picture day and the outfit will stay on a hanger until the picture is about to snapped.

Because there is no way that dirt, snot, and gunk are getting close to that expensive outfit.

How expensive?  Anywhere from $60 to over $120. Yes, I have seen this price tag on a toddler outfit and no, I did not buy it. Plus, it wasn’t even smocked. So given these prices, most of my girl’s really nice outfits have come from Nana.

(God bless her insanity to pay those prices.)

So, when I saw online auctions that sold these nice boutique clothes for only $20-40, I was understandably beyond excited.

Let me explain how this works for you newbies. There are Facebook sites that are completely dedicated to selling children’s clothes. A few of them are Smockaholics, Smocktions, Smocked Auctions, and Smockadot.   That last one?  Over 120,000 people follow it.  Clearly, I am not alone in my problem.  And yes, there are several auction sites that don’t contain “smock” in the title, but I don’t find those sites quite as fun.

These sites have schedules for which they post preview pictures of the clothes up for auction later that night. I quickly search through all of the pictures. At that point, they don’t post the prices or quantity available in each size. My excitement begins as I see a cute outfit, and then I know that I will need to feed, bathe, and throw the kids in bed quickly since most of the sales begin at 8:00PM.

As I settle on the couch with my laptop in hand, my heart rate starts to climb.

(This can’t be a good sign right?)

Because I am a serious bidder (aka, FacebookAuctionaholic), I have already decided what outfits I want and for which child. I have written my sold statement (“Sold, 3T, crazybidder@yahoo.com, OOT”). The OOT means “Outside of Texas”, or whatever state they are sold from, which keeps me from having to pay unnecessary sales tax.

Then the fun (panic) begins: The constant refreshing of the page. Refreshing a page before it even loads completely is the key. Finally, I see the item/picture of my desire. I quickly paste the information and press enter. I hit refresh again and that pretty outfit that I just bid on 8 seconds ago now has 57 bids! But no time now to count the bids to see if I won (or even check the price of the outfit I just bid on a minute ago) – I must keep refreshing because they usually throw in some surprise items and “steals of the night.” And those may also be “must have” items that I didn’t even know that I needed minutes ago!

At the end of the sale as my heart rate starts to decrease, I start to contemplate how I can log this as exercise in my Lose It app. I mean…it did raise my heart rate for a good 20 minutes, so that has got to count for something, right?

As I begin to crash from all the adrenaline and head toward bed, I experience smock anxiety, since I have to wait until the morning to find out if I won.

(Well, I could wait up until midnight when they release the winners list, but I am not completely crazy!)

I thought I could partake in my addiction behind closed doors, but I forgot Facebook’s new feature where they randomly post my conversations with others on my friend’s news feed.

Gulp!

Yep, I am being called out left and right by my friends about my shopping habits.

You are probably wondering what my husband is saying about all this shopping. Well, lucky for me, I handle all the finances, so he doesn’t see the statements or all of the packages. Plus, I just explain to him how much I saved by buying it here than one of those expensive places.

It’s a bargain!

But my three year old almost sold me out other weekend. When we pulled up at the house, she exclaimed, “Oh no! Mommy, there are no packages.”

Double gulp!

Maybe I need to start a new Facebook account called MyGirlsClosets (or something that nobody knows). This way I can indulge in my addiction without a lurker or needed intervention.

By the way, did I mention that I’m a Psychologist?

Ironic, no?

Feel free to come bid with me nightly on Facebook – just don’t try to bid on the same outfits.

18 thoughts on “Confessions of a Smockaholic.

  1. So funny! I know how addictive auctions are – have you ever done eBay? Yeah – bad. I might have to see about those smock sites just to see what all the fuss is about!

    1. I had a few years of Ebayaholism … it was bad! Glad to put those days behind me. But every now and then, I peek over there to see what I COULD have…

  2. My daughter did sell me out when she could barely talk. My husband didn’t know she and I visited the bakery occasionally until we all went out for pizza one day and had to park down the street in front of the bakery. She pointed to the bakery door and kept saying “muffin, muffin”. She’s a teenager now and he still hasn’t let me forget about that one!!

    1. That’s awesome! Ali sells me out all the time. She tells Chris everything.
      “Today, Mommy ran into the shelves in the basement with her car just a little bit. That’s what that plastic is from.”
      Thanks, kid.

  3. I totally saw someone on my feed bidding on some smocked auction the other day and so I lurked on over to check it out. That is some SERIOUS stuff… Whoever invented this new way to auction clothes definitely knew what they were doing. People are addicted!

  4. Wow, I didn’t even know these existed! I think I’m going to have to stay FAR away because I could totally get sucked into this without even trying! I went on an eBay streak a few years ago and bought tons of stuff…had to cut myself off. It totally IS an addiction! :)

    1. Me too!! For some reason in my pre-kids days, I got addicted to buying makeup(?!?) off of Ebay. I still have too many eyeshadows…

  5. Okay, so this will just show how little I know about this world of girl’s clothing I have stepped into, but what exactly makes something a smock?

    1. Okay. A Smock is when fabric is pleated together, and then a design is embroidered on top of it. It is almost always made out of 100% cotton, ready-to-wrinkle immediately. The photo on the top of this post consititutes smock: http://www.graspingforobjectivity.com/2010/03/issue-of-smock.html

      For more examples of smock (and all it’s many designs), look here: http://www.zulily.com/e/ginger-hares-012712.html?pos=14&gender_id=1606

      This is often confused as smock, but it is definitely not smock: http://www.teacollection.com/product/2S13165/girls-dresses-two-tie-surf-lily-dress.html#twilight — for one, because it’s made out of jersey, and for two, no little duckies or flowers or nutcrackers are embroidered on the top of it.

      You will not run into this much, because it’s a mainly southern thing. I think.

  6. I have not checked out facebook auctions before, although after my Ebay baby clothes phase I’m pondering whether it would be freaking awesome or horrible (and the answer to that is probably depending on whether you’re looking at my bank account right then or going off my happiness alone)

  7. Love this article!!! We got so excited we decided to try it out for ourselves! We would love for you to check out our facebook auction site It’s a Smocked World. We have adorable items at affordable prices! Auctions are on Wednesday nights at 8 pm CST. We hope you will come and check us out!

    It’s a Smocked World
    Jaime and Julie

  8. Yes… you need a closet page. Not only does it keep everyone from knowing how much you spend, but the “closet world” full of closet mommas, is quite interesting!! Not closet as in hidden, but as in truly the place where you hang your children’s overpriced clothing.

    Stay away from the Matilda Jane and Mini Boden people and pages – they are truly crazy.

  9. AGH!!! I LOVE smocked things and have a little girl named Ella Cate who just turned three. :) Any chance you want to sell me some stuff? :)

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