Our Community Power Blog

“I’ve had enough of it and now I’m gonna give it up” What are you guys thinking??? No no….I’m not an alcoholic or an active smoker and definitely not a shopaholic. Shopaholic…Did u guys hear me??? When most people think of quitting something, they either think of smoking or gambling. You know shopping never comes to their mind. There are many little habits that we pick up unconsciously in our daily routine and spending unnecessarily on shopping is one of them. Recently while browsing the net I came to know about a survey conducted by the American Journal of Psychiatry and the results were shocking – 1 out of 12 people are compulsive shoppers!!!!

I know some people who go out to shop just because they feel low and want to get a “high”, just like a drug addict or an alcoholic. They have racks of unused clothes, shoes, perfumes and accessories with the price tags. They usually hit the shopping malls with the intention of buying one or two new clothes but they come home with bags and bags of purchases. I have even heard that some shopping addicts have an emotional “black out”, the whole shopping spree just erases out of their memory and they completely forget about buying the items. Now that seems to be quite a big problem. But wait…apart from being a psychiatric problem shopping addiction is gonna cause you major financial problems too.

In fact one of the major implications of shopoholism is overwhelming debt. People who are addicted to shopping will spend even when they are in midst of financial crunch, which can soon lead to debt problems. I have seen people shopping on borrowed money and trust me such habits can really wreck havoc not only on your finances but as well as work and relationships. Shopping addiction is certainly a sure fire way to take down all the hard earned money and squash it in a split second. So, if you know someone who is a shopping addict or have accrued unmanageable debts through impulse buying, then please advice them to consult trained financial counselors or psychiatrists. Shopoholism is a serious problem and if unaddressed it can have serious implications.

Technorati Tags: spending habits, shopping addicts, shopping, debts, financial counselors, shopping addiction