One iPod speaker, one Vera Bradley handbag, two candles, one Juicy tube of Lancome lip gloss and one Ralph Lauren Polo shirt – a bill at a department store or boutique? Nope, the receipt at the TCU Bookstore.Let’s be honest: We’ve all been guilty at some point during our time at TCU of charging items at the bookstore and sending the bill home to Mom and Dad.

But the bookstore is just so tempting that sometimes you go in there and don’t even intend to spend any money at all.

When I started attending TCU four years ago, I remember thinking it was so cool that you could buy Lancome makeup and put it on your send home bill.

Then, before I knew it, home decor and trendy clothing started to fill the aisles. This is when my bookstore addiction really started.

My parents were not happy about it.

I am not a deceitful person, but I sort of, you know, lied to my parents about the bookstore bill all the time.

I remember saying: “What?! The bill was $500?! It must have been all of the books that I had to buy for my classes.”

It didn’t take long for my parents to catch on to this trick when the bill for my “books” came every month for three months.

And I am not the only one at TCU who has done something like this.

I have always been given nice things in my life, but I would never, nor would my friends and family, describe myself as being spoiled.

Putting the newest technologies and fashions in front of college students is like putting candy in front of a baby.

The worst was when I walked into the bookstore a couple of weeks ago and saw Xbox 360s for almost $600.

Not only is the bookstore selling the best things on the market, but it is racking up the prices to outrageous amounts.

You hear people around campus saying, “I am out of money, so I am going to get everything at the bookstore because it’s free.”

Actually, that is bratty and spoiled, not to mention outrageous because the results of our careless spending habits are getting sent home to our parents.

As a graduating senior faced with the reality of financial responsibility, I’m beginning to see thing through my parents’ eyes and be respectful about spending their money.

Some of us work so we can attend school. Others have the privilege of having our parents pay our tuition.

But someone, some time, has to pay that bookstore bill.

Next time you go into the bookstore, think about this and try not to rack up your send-home bill.

Your parents will appreciate it.

Jacquilee Killeen is a senior broadcast journalism major from Lubbock.