7 Signs you are a shopaholic and how to stop your shopping addiction
Are you a shopaholic?
Be honest, how often do you buy things because it was an unmissable deal? Do you ever buy new clothes without trying them on? Do you use credit cards to satisfy your shopping addiction and use the minimum monthly repayment option? Are there any unworn garments in your wardrobe? If your answers to these questions are mainly ‘yes’ then you’re probably a serial shopper – a ‘shopaholic’.
No matter how many times you promised yourself you’d stop spending and start saving… a quick check of ‘new arrivals’ and it’s happened again; you’ve spent money that you shouldn’t have!
Not to worry! it will take some effort but your shopping addiction is curable! ☺️
Why it is so easy to become a shopaholic?
True is that it’s not entirely your fault. We live in a society that teaches us to be consumers (shopaholics) from childhood. We’re bombarded with ads, from the minute we check into our email and social media and the internet provides us with an anytime, anyplace formula. Such convenience is pretty hard to resist!
I’ve been there too. Shopping was my favorite hobby and thanks to my employee discount, I ended up with an overflowing closet and so much stuff!… I had made my home fuller and my pocket emptier. It’s time to face up to it – shopping is not a hobby! This ‘leisurely pastime’ can be harmful if we let it become an addiction or cause financial distress.
I’ve made it a personal crusade, to help compulsive shoppers recover from their shopaholic ways.
There is nothing wrong if you indulge yourself with an occasional purchase, outside budget. If you find that perfect nude pump, that you’ve been searching two years for, knowing it will complement many outfits in your wardrobe – go for it.
It’s an entirely different matter, when you surrender to impulse buying.
People love to shop because buying something new gives a feeling of achievement. Well no, that sense of accomplishment we want, won’t ever come from anything that can be purchased.
That’s why, as soon as a shopaholic buys something, they are already thinking of the ‘next hit’ i.e. what to buy next.
The truth is, they will never be able to fulfill their shopping addiction, as their list becomes longer and longer.
In my 15 years working in stores, I witnessed them all, day after day, over and over again. In minutes I can spot one…
How to understand if you are a shopaholic. Is this you?
- You feel a temporary excitement when buying new items.
- You go out just for a browse and end up with at least one shopping bag.
- Every time you go to the supermarket, you buy items that weren’t on your list.
- You hide your purchases or say it was a cheaper price to your loved ones.
- You have items in your wardrobe still with price tags.
- A reduction from the original price is enough to justify a purchase (I could never leave such bargain!)
- When you see something you like you often fear that if you don’t get it instantly, it won’t be available anymore.
- You tell yourself straight after a purchase ‘now I promise I’ll start saving money’.
- You’re not content until you have the complete set (raise your hand if you have Tupperware boxes in every size, shape, and color!)
- You are spending more than you should (‘what else are credit cards for?…let’s live a little!’)
If all this sounds a bit too familiar, please don’t beat yourself up… just yet.
Figuring out what triggers your overspending will make a huge difference for you and your bank balance.
This is why I’ve put together the following list of the most common shopping mistakes of every shopaholic and the lessons I learned along the way to cure your shopping addiction.
1. Credit Cards – Santa For Grown-Ups
Kids from all over the world believe that on one night of the year, with the promise they will do what they’re told for the rest of the year, they can have whatever they want, on credit.
It’s a sad day indeed when we discover Santa doesn’t actually exist, but we survive.
Then at some point, we discover credit cards. However, you must remind yourself that a credit card doesn’t represent real money; not money that you own. If you pay the bill in full every month it’s OK and there are some benefits like protection against fraud and loyalty program point-collection for discounts.
But if you let your debt accumulate and get stuck in the monthly minimum payment cycle, it will only add further interest to those already expensive purchases. It’s better to learn how to wait until you can actually afford the item.
2. ‘JUST IN CASE’ PURCHASES
You walk past a store window and stop because there’s a beautiful dress on a mannequin. You pop in to try it on and it looks good on you so you decide to buy it.
Half a year goes by and that beautiful dress is hanging in your wardrobe with the price tag still attached. You still like the dress but you haven’t had an occasion to wear it.
Unless you wear that limited edition, little black dress to work for example and it’s part of your everyday, real-life, forking out for ‘just in case’ purchases isn’t worth it, financially.
Unless you lead a glamorous life where one-off dresses and sky-high heels are the norm, go for it! As long as it’s your real life and not some imagined, Instagram-inspired photoshoot, depicting a fantasy life.
Buying things for such imagined events does lead us to spend money on things that are beautiful but we don’t need it.
Time to get real and buy for real-life needs – things that we can actually enjoy every day.
Find a new activity as a potential substitute for shopping, it would be a relief for your wallet.
3. A Few Dollars Here and There
We tend to consider shopping as a hobby. When we are bored, instead of reading a book, we browse the shops. There’s nothing wrong with this, if we can leave the purse strings alone, especially if it wasn’t our plan to buy anything.
A common problem is when we spend a few dollars here and there on unintended small purchases that eventually add up to large amounts.
If every time you go out, you buy a coffee, then maybe new stationery and then a new pair of socks; this is an expensive habit familiar to any shopaholic.
Saving that daily, $10 expenditure will boost your savings fund, that you’ll one day be thankful for.
Fast Fashion has further changed our spending habits, so for the price of a lunchtime snack – you can buy a brand new bag. At some point, shopping became a fun, easy and cheap collector hobby.
However, mindless purchases made during your lunch break won’t work if you want to create a functional closet.
Single-digit items are harder to resist as we don’t have to ponder too much over buying them or not. You think, because those few dollars here and there won’t cause a bankruptcy, you feel it won’t make an immediate difference to your economic situation. Instead, when you approach more expensive items you think twice before spending money. Repeated, mindless purchases affect your bank balance more than occasional higher-priced items.
Mind those ‘mindless’ dollars, at the end of the year, they make a big difference.
if you would like to read more about it check also why investing in timeless wardrobe will save you money.
4.Such a Bargain!
People love sales! A shopaholic lives for sales. It gives a false feeling that you are saving and not spending (despite buying things that you wouldn’t normally buy). Instead, you should focus on how much you are spending rather than saving.
Sales work because they get you on an emotional level. Sale items appear more valuable than they really are.
Just think about the psychological ‘rush’. On the day that the sales start, there are long queues and you feel items are limited in availability and amount.
The fear of missing out on the deal forces us to view other shoppers as competitors where only the quickest will win the sales race.
When something is discounted, we instinctively think that we’re getting a deal.
Retailers often place offers on multiple items (save $25 if you spend $100; buy one, get another -half price!) a logic that makes consumers (especially shopaholic ones) believe that it’s more economical if bought in bulk… believe me, all that ends up happening is that people end up with more than what they need.
To be frank, it’s all down to you using your judgment when encountering a tempting ‘bargain’. Ask yourself ‘do I really need it?’ The only way to save money is by not spending it unnecessarily.
5. e-Window Shopping
The movie you’re watching is not as amusing as you first thought, so you garb your smart-phone and start browsing Facebook when that stunning pair of black, high-knee boots, that you had your eye on two days ago pops up in the right corner of your screen. You click on it again, what could possibly go wrong?!
The internet presents such a rewarding shopping experience with stores that never close and the availability of offers and products just a single click away.
The temptation is hard to resist for any shopaholic when everything is so easily available. Online shopping can also be incredibly costly as things can easily get out of hand very quickly.
Simple actions like unsubscribing from retailers’ newsletters, as well as tracking your time and spending online, can go a long way towards curbing your online shopping habit.
6. Not Trying Clothes On
Have you ever loved the look of a shirt or blouse on a hanger, only to discover (once home and you’ve eventually tried it on), that it doesn’t look as good on? and now maybe it’s too late to return it?
Shopaholic buyers never try clothes on. Their satisfaction is focused on the essential act of buying rather than on how that particular garment is flattering on them.
If you shop in stores, you should never skip the fitting room phase. So many times I’ve fallen in love with items that looked so good on the rail, only to change my mind completely in the fitting room.
Checking how an item of clothing fits on you, how comfortable it feels and then picturing yourself wearing it, as part of your everyday life, is a superb tool, in deciding if it’s worth spending money on it or not.
Also, every time you see something you like and it actually fits, you should always ask yourself how many times would you wear it and how many outfits could you match it to. Even if looks good on you, you need to make sure it is something that meets your needs.
7. Focusing On Trends
I love clothes and dressing in a way that makes me feel confident, therefore I would never tell you to stop spending money on clothes, but I won’t get tired of telling you to spend money on the right ones.
Shopaholics hunt for the latest, trendy items. The problem is that these trends tend to disappear after a season or two which means throwing away your hard-earned cash.
However, if you invest money on items that won’t go out of style and mostly matches your lifestyle you are building a wardrobe that will last a lifetime.
Your wardrobe needs structure to work properly. It will be hard to achieve the perfect wardrobe if you focus on random impulse purchases that are cute and cheap but don’t go with anything you’ve got, to make a good outfit.
It’s ok to waste a few bucks on a pretty, trendy top if matched correctly with your core wardrobe. It can refresh an outfit and make it current and fashionable.
However, 90% of your closet should be made of good-quality, timeless essentials items.
If instead, you have a closet that’s just a quick and cheap fashion gatherer you’ll end up with a wardrobe full of ‘nothing to wear’ items.
Fast Fashion items are often not made to last more than a season and they literally start falling apart after a few wears. Which means they’ll soon need replacing. Indeed shopaholics complain very often about not having nothing to wear.
Choose quality over quantity and style over fashion.
How to stop being a shopaholic
Fast fashion and internet shopping can make shopping addiction hard to resist but there are some strategies that you can implement to stop you over-shopping and start buying what you need instead.
- Remove temptations. Nothing good can happen when you walk aimlessly into H&M or Zara during Sales for example. Limit your shopping strolls to when necessary and remove your email address from mailing lists.
- Leave your credit card at home. Out of sight out of mind. You can’t use it you don’t have it!
- Use the pause button. I have a waiting rule. When I want something I wait a week for every $25 of the price. If the item costs more, I wait a month for every $100. If I still want the item after that time – I buy it.
- Look at cost-per-wear. Consider how many times you would wear or use an item before you buy it. People tend to think they’ll use things much more than what they actually do. Or, if we’re talking about an appliance (or other non-clothes) then it’s cost-per-use.
Considering buying a popcorn maker? How many times are you planning to make popcorn? How many movies do you intend on watching come Sunday afternoon, while munching on those golden ears of corn? Will you keep it ready to use on your kitchen worktop or it will end up at the bottom of an overfull cupboard?
Personally, I’d rather do without popcorn than going to the trouble of getting the machine in and out! An honest and thorough consideration will make you come up with the right answer. - After you buy something, try it on again at home and see how it matches with the rest of your wardrobe. How many outfits can you create with it? How many occasions would it suit? If the answers do not satisfy you completely, then bring it back.
Bottom Line
In 2009 I bought a pair of Christian Louboutin, high-heel, classic-black, pumps. They were expensive and it took me a long time to decide whether to buy them or not. Over 10 years later and I am still completely in love with them. They are my favorite shoes to wear when heels are required and they still get attention. Plus, they still look like I bought them just yesterday.
Since purchasing my Louboutin’s, I haven’t needed to buy any other dark, heeled pump. Having them in my wardrobe made it easy to say no to other purchases… no other heel quite compares to the red-bottomed ones! I take good care of them as I intend to keep wearing them for the next 10 years! The cost-per-wear probably works out to be the same or even less than if I purchased a number of cheap shoes that would have satisfied me for maybe a few months maximum.
Do not get me wrong, I am not telling you to choose designer over the high street. Everyone lives with a different set of priorities and if you do not care to look particularly stylish then that’s fine.
I happen to love shoes. You might love painting, cycling or fishing. The principle is the same, buying low-quality equipment can be like throwing money away, sooner or later you’ll find yourself in the replacement loop.
This is just an example to show how budgeting, saving, and spending money on things that you really love and make you 100% happy is better than falling for that illusion of saving when you opt for those cheaper, everyday purchases.
In conclusion, there’s no point filling our house and closets with things that we only half-like just because they are ‘inexpensive’. Save your money for that lifetime purchase that you will fall in love with every day.
If you feel that impulsive shopping is affecting your life and you struggle to keep it under control there are money management classes or 12-step recovery programs like Shopaholics Anonymous or the Debtors Anonymous.
