Addicted to Online Shopping? How to Curb Your Addiction?

Do you find yourself going over budget every month because you somehow allocate that extra coin to buy that cute ZARA outfit that you had in your cart for weeks?  I mean it’s only fair that you clear the cart! What about that AMAZON pot set you’ve been eyeing that goes well with your new stainless steel kitchen decor? 

Online shopping has become a new trend more than ever as we are now stationed at home due to the pandemic.  Most of our favorite retailers now have a website to make shopping just a click of a mouse or touch screen away! 

Good-Bye long lines at the mall, parking fees, and parking wars.  You have the convenience of shopping at home any day and at any time.  Shipping is relatively two or three-days wait-time, the anticipation and excitement of when the items arrive is BLISS!  Can you relate?  I know I am NOT alone.

Admittedly, RETAIL THERAPY is real for me.  I shop to feel better.  If I had a crappy day, I go to the SEPHORA website, buy a couple of fire FENTY lippies or skincare products and I feel so much better.  Not to mention, I cannot resist a good deal!  I may not have a real need for it at the moment but it’s so satisfying to purchase it.  Sounds familiar?

I realized that this COMPULSION and ADDICTION was eventually damaging.  Credit Card debts, clutter from items that still have the tags on.  Nowhere to go, but I keep them for “when outside is great again I’ll SHOW OUT” outfits. 

Then I’m stressed afterward realizing that time isn’t coming soon with more and more stringent lock-down laws.  If you’re shaking your head YES then let’s try to help each other with these practical ways to curb our addiction to purchasing unwanted items online and maintain that self-control.

1. Challenge Yourself to a NO SPEND month or week 

I know.  It’s hard AF.  But, hear me out.  If you find the WHY you need the extra money.  It’ll make it easier.  I told myself I needed to save towards my online business goals and starting it will require a sum of funds that I will never allocate if I continue spending the way I do.  I NEED essentials like groceries, therefore how will I survive if I continue spending the way I do.  Choose a realistic time frame and set some boundaries.

2. Stay away from Temptation Stores 

You know what I’m referring to – the ones that you cannot resist and make it so difficult to stay away from.  Try keeping cash in hand or a debit card with a minimum balance when you run to the grocery store or gas station and put away your credit card.  Far away.  It’s hard to spend when you don’t have the means to do so.

3. Detox from Social Media

The Instagram fashion sites that I’m drawn to are also the biggest triggers for my shopping addiction.  I want to know where she got those cute pants and sandals, then I CLICK for details. Game Over.  It’s a great tool to stay in touch with the world but it can also trigger our compulsion and stress. 

There is this need to compare what you have to what is being advertised, then you want to own it because yours somehow isn’t good enough. Take a break from social media and see how it changes your spending habits.  I unfollowed a few channels to help with my journey to self-control as well.

4. Do a Major Overhaul of Your Closet and Home 

If you spent hours going through piles of items you bought throughout the year, which were never worn or never used, and finally cleaned.  You can get a good feel for what you have on hand and absolutely don’t need it.  You will be more cognizant of shopping for anything else new.  That declutter exercise alone should have been a deterrent. 

5. Identify the Underlying Feelings of Your Shopping Addiction 

For me, I can say that  I shop to replace the feeling of boredom and comparison or just to feel good about myself when I’m sad or at my lowest. It lifts my spirits.  What emotion is evoked when you shop? Therapists suggest that discontentment is most times the root of a shopping addiction.  We’re most time masking an emotional need in our lives. Habit? Loneliness? Grief? Boredom? Confusion? Pain? Trauma? 

Whatever the feeling, when we remove the impulse to shop from our lives for a period of time and allow ourselves to heal from those underlying feelings in a healthier way, shopping can be so freeing if we do it for a genuine purpose. 

Having a shopping addiction is not something that you have to live with.  If you recognize that it’s disrupting your personal life, doing more harm than good, and you want to make a change, there are resources out there available to help you.  Once you commit to change, it will get better for you.  Thanks for taking this journey with me.  I’m currently working on this addiction. 

XOXO 

“In order to love who you are, you cannot hate the experiences that shaped you.”

ANDREA DYKSTRA