How to Avoid the Temptation of Retail Therapy
Shopping to ease emotional distress can have serious repercussions, including debt and stress. Instead, Woolley suggests looking into alternative forms of coping that don’t involve shopping.
This may involve freezing your credit card, uninstalling shopping apps from your phone and opting out of retailer emails promoting great offers. Furthermore, identifying emotional triggers which lead to retail therapy could also help.
Take a Break
Retail therapy can meet a wide range of emotional needs and motivations. It can offer comfort in an uncertain world, provide an outlet for self-expression, or help individuals connect with one another. Furthermore, retail therapy benefits society as a whole by supporting local businesses and stimulating the economy.
However, an urge to shop can quickly turn into an obsession when left unchecked and lead to financial stress and debt accumulation that hinder basic needs being met. Therefore, it is crucial that we identify what drives retail therapy’s appeal as a form of therapy and address those feelings directly rather than replacing them with alternative coping tools.
Some strategies for resisting retail therapy include taking a break before making purchases, finding other healthy outlets for emotions such as exercise or building an emergency fund, and staying away from social media which promotes materialism. If the urge to shop persists, budgeting can help control overspending.
Don’t Let Yourself Go Overboard
Retail therapy can only provide short-term relief; it won’t address underlying issues or create more issues such as debt and conflict in your home life.
Keep a journal to track your moods and purchases to help pinpoint emotional triggers that lead to overspending and recognize patterns that could help avoid retail therapy in future.
As the best way to curb retail therapy urges is finding activities that directly address underlying emotions and help cope with them, exercise, phone calls with friends or reading can all provide great stress-relief and mood-lifting activities that you can afford without falling back into retail therapy’s traps. If this proves ineffective contact a therapist for further assistance.
Set a Budget
Retail therapy can provide a temporary boost, but overindulgence can quickly turn into financial strain, making it harder to reach long-term goals.
Implementing a budget can help curb your impulse shopping and save you money in the long run. Instead of filling your online cart immediately when the money arrives, wait until it does and buy what is actually needed, such as groceries or toiletries.
Identification of emotional triggers leading to impulsive shopping can also be beneficial. Writing down feelings and events surrounding shopping sprees in a journal can reveal patterns that help explain why it’s hard for you to resist them; you can then find healthy outlets for emotions without hurting your bank account; additionally using budgeting apps like Brassmoney can assist with helping control spending.
Keep a Journal
Retail therapy is a powerful mood-lifter when used responsibly. Shopping for necessities can make us feel great, but falling into the shopping trap as an emotional escape may become addictive. Understanding what triggers retail therapy episodes is also crucial; keeping a journal of these instances may help identify patterns.
If you find yourself longing for an excuse to shop, why not do something kind for someone else instead? Nothing beats the feeling of doing something selfless for another – whether that means offering up a compliment to a stranger, volunteering your services or calling up an old acquaintance can bring much greater pleasure than purchasing yet another item you won’t end up using in any meaningful way again.
With proper planning and support in place, it is possible to overcome your urges to shop. Building an emergency fund, finding healthy outlets for emotion management, and cutting back on social media are all great strategies for curbing spending money you don’t have.
