Spending Smart: Don’t Let Compulsive Shopping Drain Bank Accounts

RISMEDIA, September 7, 2010—(MCT)—We’ve all made impulsive purchases—grabbed a pack of gum at the supermarket checkout line or succumbed to a desire for that third pair of black shoes we’ve been lusting after.

But problems quickly arise when impulsive turns compulsive, when your shopping binges become chronic, when your purchases feel more like an adrenaline rush than a business transaction.

It’s estimated that 6-9% of Americans suffer from compulsive shopping, said April Lane Benson, author of To Buy or Not to Buy: Why We Overshop and How to Stop and I Shop, Therefore I Am. And though that translates to some 19-28 million compulsive shoppers in America, the ailment often is not taken seriously.

Bumper stickers cheer, “Shop till you drop” and “Born to shop.” And “shopaholic” is given very different weight than “alcoholic” or “drug addict.”

“It’s the smiled-upon addiction,” Benson said. “People with a problem are seen as silly, vacuous and superficial.”

Yet compulsive shopping can be destructive, too—to finances, relationships and careers, experts say. In fact, if shopping is damaging one of those three aspects of your life, it’s likely you have a problem, Benson said.

Here are tips to overcome compulsive shopping, from Benson and Olivia Mellan, author of Overcoming Overshopping.

Identify triggers: Compulsive shopping has little to do with being a consumer and everything to do with filling emotional voids, such as loneliness, lack of self-confidence or lack of control among others. The high comes not from owning something but the act of purchasing it. It sounds touchy-feely, but pay attention to how you’re feeling when you compulsively shop.

Remove temptation: Stay out of the mall, block shopping websites, get rid of credit cards—anything that makes compulsive shopping easier. Unsubscribe to retailers’ e-mails. Cancel catalogs and limit junk mail by visiting dmachoice.org and catalogchoice.org.

Use money tools: Use simple tools, such as a household budget and shopping lists, to maintain focus, said Jo Bittof, co-founder of money management website actfinancially.com. “Anyone who doesn’t have a budget is rudderless financially,” she said. Have financial goals, whether saving for retirement, buying a home or purchasing a boat. Specific goals give you a reason not to spend now.

Find substitutes for shopping: “Pick activities that jam the trigger of the spending impulse,” Mellan said. “If you’re an overspender, you’re indulging yourself on the surface. You have to find out how to nourish your soul.” Substitute activities might be exercise, a walk in nature, volunteering or spending time with friends and family. “If you’re meeting your deeper needs, then the spending urge loses its stranglehold on you,” Mellan said.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Real Estate Hot Topics

Profit Center: Real Estate Tips, Training & Events

RISMedia Solutions

RISMedia on the Go

Today's Featured Listing