Reformed shopaholic? please can you give me the benefit of your advice

debtdesperado

Thanks NGlady! Another thing I have noticed is that if I don't buy magazines, I buy less - I guess out of sight means out of mind!

I think it's interesting that we're all in the same boat from doing the same things:

1. buying things in sales/reduced that we don't need and never get used just because it's a 'bargain'.

2. stockpiling way too much stuff.

3. impulsively/compulsively spending.

4. never returning the things we buy and don't want.

5. never throwing things out.

!

Anglea

Hi all, I've just spent ages catching up on the posts since last night, I love reading this thread.

Debidoodle - mum with 70 coats and all the clothes with labels attached. That reminded me of a time when I used to be very well dressed because a friend of mine's relatives were shopping addicts and would buy beautiful designer gear and pass it to my friend - usually about 6 dustbin bags. She would choose her bits, then give them to me, then I'd pass them on to friends as the clothes were in all different sizes, plus shoes and coats.

These days I begrudge paying for clothes like that after years of getting them free.

One of my crafting pals has over 1000 balls of wool and still buying LOL

Wardrobe stock. I got the shock years back when I bought one of those 3 armed airers (one of my bad buys never used since lol) and used it to sort out my clothes. It turned out that I had about 20 t-shirts in the same colour, all very similar! I had no idea until I hung them out up.

In my bedroom one of my large drawers is crammed full of bandages, muscle creams, medicines etc. And I've got other boxes of the stuff in the kitchen. That used to be a problem for me in the past. House was like a chemist! I've drastically cut down on buying those kinds of things now.

Today I got a massive surprise when I found lots of money I didn't realise I had and put it out of harms way . Didn't waste anything today as luckily kept meeting people I knew whenever I got into a shop so it helped me steer clear of danger shelves!

Even decided against buying crisps because last night I couldn't sleep after getting stomach pains which I'm sure was down the the salt and vinegar which I had excessively over the weekend.

Joesaunt, it's good to hear how you are now taking care of yourself and your son.

debtdesperado - you saved £100 in a fortnight - that must have been a surprise!

CompletelyLost

NGlady wrote: »

I dread doing mine, i think like 90% of mine dont get worn haha

Doooooooo itttttttttttttttttt I'm going to do clothes later Wish me luck, I might not come back out of there alive.

debidoodle wrote: »

CL have you thought about Ebaying them and then treat yourself to something special.

I should. I do sell a lot of stuff, just some things I am attached to (I have no idea why because most of it is now too small for me).

Anglea wrote: »

In my bedroom one of my large drawers is crammed full of bandages, muscle creams, medicines etc. And I've got other boxes of the stuff in the kitchen. That used to be a problem for me in the past. House was like a chemist! I've drastically cut down on buying those kinds of things now.

Even decided against buying crisps because last night I couldn't sleep after getting stomach pains which I'm sure was down the the salt and vinegar which I had excessively over the weekend.

You must have a lot of willpower to avoid the crisps... I bought a pack of Wheat crunchies today (9pk for 65p) :S whoops. Oh and you just reminded me of the one thing I really needed today but didn't get - elastoplasts!!!

NGlady wrote: »

Debtdesperado - I know the feeling about buying those lovely glossies!

Well I came into town - I walked in, and I have a ticket left over from the other day. So effectively, this could have been a NSD - but oh no, closer magazine £1.30 - bottle of Fanta £0.90p and some YumYums £1.30 - total spend that I could have avoided? £3.50, (I know I keep banging on about my skirt lol but that is effectively 1/9th of what I spent on this investment skirt and 1/18th it will cost to have my hair done next month) Stupid really!

Well done for only spending £3.50 though. And that does sound a good idea to keep your money separate for different things, at least then you can see exactly what you've got left.

CompletelyLost

I messed up big style today. And I went out with such good intentions too... ugh.
:mad::(:mad::(:mad:

NGlady

Completely lost.. Good luck, if we don't wear from you by midnight I'll call the police and say some lady on the Internet has got trapped in her wardrobe lol.

I quite fancy doing that shoe sale thing and buying something special.

What have you done wrong completelylost? lol.

We all do seem to be quite similar. Could this be a case of not-so-wise thinks the same?

CompletelyLost

One step forward (took back the £40's worth of stuff back to NL and DP) then took two steps back (bought more stuff).

What an idiot.

IndianGirl

Hi All,

Quick post as have to sort the kids out soon. Hugs to all that need them.
I did really well today - I returned £100 worth of clothes to M&S that I do NOT need :T
I do not have space for them and probably wear once only
I too have been thinking about my mum and is anything happens to her I know my brothers (& wives) will just get rid of all the stuff she has been 'saving'. I tell her to wear/use everything that she has so that it won't be wasted......why can't I take my own advice?!
I walked around Debenhams, looked at stuff, tried shoes on and managed to leave without buying anything. It really helps admitting this stuff and knowing that I am not alone (obviously not to DH though).
Gotta go now. take care x

NGlady

Well done Indian girl...
Completelylost - we will all have our moments today was just yours.

CompletelyLost

My moments seem to be happening more and more often though. Today's spends:

£3 on a cherry red nail varnish
£9.35 on necessities
£5 on a dress I'll probably never wear and can't return
£49 on a coat... which is lovely... my head is screaming 'take it back!', my heart is telling me to keep it as it really is nice. And I only have one other black coat.

Must stress that I am not in debt... but I really need to stop wasting money.

salesaddict

joesaunt wrote: »

My compulsive buying and shopping started when I met ex-husband nearly 8 years ago. He made me feel so inadequate, I felt I had to buy nice clothes, shoes, handbags, makeup, toiletries etc etc to make myself "worth something" to him. In all the 8 years he was getting nastier and nastier and being hateful to my son, eventually ending up with him trying to choke my son and me calling the police.

When I moved out from him in August, I had so many clothes etc I had no where to put them and the toiletries amounted to 3 suitcases full. I have no money for anything other than feeding me and ds (who is 16) and paying my bills. There is nothing left after this, but we are safe.

I feel better now and stronger, using up all my toiletries made me realise what a waste of money they were just sitting there, and today I have bought a shower gel and foot cream, because by the end of the week I will need them, not to make me prove a point.

All the clothes I had, I was very ruthless with, I sorted them out into 4 piles, one to wear and keep, one for the car boot sale, one for the charity shop and one to ebay. I did the car boot sale yesterday, I think there was about £800 worth of clothes and shoes, I sold them for £70! This has also made me realise what a fool I have been with my shopping habits. The stuff which has gone to the charity shop totalled over £300 too.

I only ever bought something reduced, very rarely paying full price for them, but needed a complete outfit eg shoes bag etc. I never felt too bad as they were reduced, but never wore most of them.

As in previous posts, the biggest hurdle is admitting it and I have. I will never let myself get it in that state again.

My debts are not as bad as some peoples, I owe about £10, 000. Half of that is a loan and the other half are 3 0% interest credit cards. Any extra money I have, eg from the car boot sale will be split on the cards, NOT treating myself.

It hasn't been very easy over the last 6 months, but the posts on this site have made me realise I am not the only one and all the support is fantastic.

I am hoping when "our marital" home sells, I will have enough to pay off my debts, as the house had been remortgaged, so there won't be as much as there could be.

That's better got it off my chest. :rotfl:

Hi thanks so much for this post.
This will really help me as will everybody elses on here.
I will keep re-reading this. You haven't mentioned the lovely bloke on here.
Have you gone all shy:)?