BUDGETINGLIFESTYLE & TRAVEL

Why You Should Stop Turning to Retail Therapy

We’ve all been there, maybe you experienced a stressful day at work or a fight with a friend or significant other. Life happens, and a common solution is to turn to retail therapy. What is Retail therapy? It’s when you go shopping to feel better, which can be a dangerous solution.

It’s a temporary fix

Retail therapy enables you to imagine a different life because of the nice stuff around you INSIDE the store. You can be someone else, and not have any problems at all. You can take these nice things home with you by buying them which makes it seem like you’re taking this non-problematic life home with you. Buying a few new dresses or a new kitchen appliance will be a distraction and make you happy for a certain period of time, but the fact stands, it doesn’t actually fix any problems. If anything, it can cause much larger problems.

Future problems

Life happens, things may not always go your way, and turning to retail therapy every time something bad happens can be dangerous. Just like with most things that make us happy, we as humans have the theory that the more there is the happier we will be. We practice this in large dessert sizes and pretty much everything else, and it pertains to shopping, too. One item, then two items, and before you know it, half the store does the job! This is a problem if that money isn’t in your budget, it could lead to overspending and possibly bankruptcy. Those are problems even retail therapy can’t fix.

Compulsive Buying Disorder is real

Compulsive Buying Disorder is very real and very scary. Almost 6% of Americans are considered compulsive buyers. Though that may not seem like a huge number, that’s almost 20 million Americans! This disorder is summarized by not understanding the difference between wants and needs and can lead down a terrible road of financial crisis. Some patterns of someone with Compulsive Buying Disorder are:

• Buying things they don’t need.
• Hiding what and how much they buy.
• Finding themselves in financial troubles because of shopping, but doing it anyway.

A few tips to avoid these types of habits are:

• Minimize the amount of credit cards you use.
• Write a list before you go shopping and stick to it.
• Avoid online shopping.
• Have a friend or family member come along for the trip when going to the store.

If you or someone you know may have Compulsive Buying Disorder, you may want to consider asking for help from a professional.

Sources

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1805733/
• https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/science-choice/201801/10-reasons-why-people-spend-too-much
• https://www.everydayhealth.com/depression/how-i-stopped-compulsive-shopping.aspx