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

velocity.girl_2

Welcome to the thread nuttyshopaholic25, eeekkk that's is a lot for a week, i do that much in a month but don't let it upset you...we are all here to give you moral support and guidance if you want it:)

Today has been a NSD, not going anywhere or nothing online...I sat down and looked at all my bank statements and catalogue statements and filed everything into wallets...first time i've ever done this, and the amount of time i see 'paypal' on my 28 page bank statement is horrid, so i've had a good cry and called myself every name under the sun...:mad:

Credit card and mobile phone go out next week,so i'll have no money at all next week...i get paid weekly for freelance work and other odd jobs i do for people, my income fluctuates greatly.

Salesaddict-i hope your hubby feels brighter soon, depression is horrid and you have my sympathy...i suffer with it and my father has acute paranoid sczophrenia, my grandmother has been sectioned and had EST and my MIL is bi polar...my poor kids don't stand a chance I am here if you want to PM for venting? honestly...nothing will go any further. x

It's quiet here today...i hope that means the 'regulars' are keeping occupied and not out *gasp* shopping:eek:

x

ZarZar1990

nuttyshopaholic25 wrote: »

Hi There all,

I just want to say that you have all inspired me to not only join this site but mainly to face up to the fact im seriously in Debt and im a major shopaholic. Ive always joked with people that i am but truely i am and its bad very very bad.

I recently came back from holiday and checked my balance on my credit card, i knew id over spent i told myself i was spoiling myself etc... i NEEDED the items and life is too short and you carnt take your money with you so you might as well spend it etc.. well i thought id added about £600 to my card when i looked it was £1,028.12 OMG :eek::eek::eek: IM SHOCKED i HAVE NEVER EVER EVER SPENT THAT MUCH IN A WEEK i do not know how i did it or what it was all on. i searched around for all of my recipts last night to try and add it all up but i think i threw most of them away.

Anyway im on here ive taken my card out of my purse and ive been reading everyones threads over the last two days and you have all given me the power to start doing something about my problem as it is serious and i want to say thank you, thank you so much for making me feel as if im not the only one who has a problem and for saying how you all feel about things as it is the way i feel and i thought it was me against the evil credit cards and spending habbit.

xxx

We've all been there Nutty, those times where you just keep spending, and spending, and putting things on your card and ignoring the statement and justifying it to yourself, it has got the better of all of us, that is why we're all here.
The good thing is, that you're here now and ready to get out of debt!
So well done .

Write out a full statement of affairs, work out how much you're bringing in, and how much you've got going out, then start a spending diary to see where the extra is going, it should be going on debts, but more often than not with us lot, it ends up going on shopping :eek:

The idea I think is to spend as much paying off debt (or saving if not in debt) and as little spent on unnecessary items as possible!

Anyway, hope you're okay, and good luck!

debtdesperado

Hi Velocity.girl and everyone else!

Another no spend day today for me (hurrah!). Although yesterday wasn't so good, I bought some avon stuff, some I needed, but then they had an offer...so I thought oh, yes, I'll use that, so now I have 4 bottles of body lotion (which I do use) on the way to me. I was pleased though as if you spent 20 quid you got free delivery, and so I was rummaging through the site to try find another £12 odd to hit the £20 limit... then I thought, this is STUPID! Just pay the £3.50 delivery charge. So my whole order, including delivery, came to about £10, as opposed to spending an extra 10 on stuff I didn't need or want. I'm calling that a victory! :-)

ZarZar1990

debtdesperado wrote: »

Hi Velocity.girl and everyone else!

Another no spend day today for me (hurrah!). Although yesterday wasn't so good, I bought some avon stuff, some I needed, but then they had an offer...so I thought oh, yes, I'll use that, so now I have 4 bottles of body lotion (which I do use) on the way to me. I was pleased though as if you spent 20 quid you got free delivery, and so I was rummaging through the site to try find another £12 odd to hit the £20 limit... then I thought, this is STUPID! Just pay the £3.50 delivery charge. So my whole order, including delivery, came to about £10, as opposed to spending an extra 10 on stuff I didn't need or want. I'm calling that a victory! :-)

That definitely is a victory, sometimes its so hard not to get caught up in the 'offers'!

Anglea

Hello to the new members :beer:

Yesterday I was so desperate to buy something and couldn't find anything my size that I was about to buy anything no matter what size, just to get something. Luckily I didn't. Seems mad doesn't it.

Of course today is another matter, just about to go up the shops.........;)

Salesaddict, thinking of you.

morocha

hi all, welcome to the newbies...salesaddict, i hope you are coping

so far this is me...
Monday £0
Tuesday £0
Wednesday£0
thursday £0...
friday £3.20 ( bus fare, have to go to clean nana's, but i think my oh will take me as he is not working tomorrow.)

I am trying to be good as i bought the clinique Redness treatment for £56 last week, So need to save money....
I have been so bad with cramps and pain in my tummy this week that i've been at home all these days...

verynewmoneysaver

Everyone is doing well. Welcome to the newcomers. Took the bag back to M&S. Dropped some things off at Oxfam. While I was there saw a nice M&S skirt for £1 so pleased with that. Having another go at a spending diary now which really concentrates the mind.

supersmith

Heya, can I join the thread too? I really identify with so many of the comments on here and you all seem like such nice and thoughful people

I'm not in debt, well not long term in debt but have about £400 on my credit card at the min whih I'm struggling to pay off because I keep on putting more on it. My weakness is clothes, accessories and experiences - meals out, holidays, night out etc. I always get the feeling I think Anglea said it earlier that I'm missing out - so if I see something I like in the shops then I must get it right then becuase it could be gone if I go away and think about it, and if I don't go for that night out then it could be the best one ever and everyone will be talking about it for ages and I'll be left out. I still remember things from years ago that I didn't buy that I wanted to after and it was gone (that's wierd I think) and I once left a suitcase on the train and mourn the things in there that I could'nt get back. I wear most of the stuff I buy and have regular clear outs but always replace stuff - like I have permission to buy more stuff if I get rid of things lol:rotfl: I used to have terrible feelings of guilt whenever I bought anything and used to be really hard on myself and not like myself very much, but after having a bit of counselling I learned not to be so hard on myself and allow myself to get some treats... but now I've gone too far the other way! :rotfl:Typical - can't get the balance right.

Anyway after my mammoth rant, I'm not bad all the time, I had a period of about 2 months last year where I didn't go to the shops and I felt the feelings of wanting things fading... but then it was christmas and I had to go to the shops and of course saw loads of stuff I wanted and fell off the wagon again. Looking for a middle way I guess!

verynewmoneysaver

higginsb wrote: »

Get the charity shop habit! It is incredibly satisfying browsing around as you never know what treasures you may find, and for a couple of quid here and there, you can afford to indulge! And... even more plus points:
you're helping the charity, recycling stuff that may otherwise have ended up in someones cupboard, appreciating something that someone else doesn't, and, if you change your mind, it's no big deal, re-donate it to the shop, let the charity benefit from the item a second time, and get a warm fuzzy feeling!!! Bonus! Hope things soon start looking up for you.

I have been into charity shopping for some time. It is less guilt making than other shopping I agree. Welcome Supersmith. I think it's important to treat ourselves sometimes within our budget. We just have to learn how not to get carried away I suppose.

Anglea

Hi girls,

Welcome supersmith So you are still lamenting over the lost suitcase? I feel like that about all the clothes I gave away, then discovered I had nothing left that fit, and never been able to get clothes like that felt so comfortable and looked so nice since then.

Because of this overseas visitor worry, I'm probably driving everyone I know mad by asking them what I ought to do, and then ignoring advice :mad:, all because I'm scared to say the truth. But I also know that no matter what I do, I'll be worrying.

So I used it as an excuse to go on a 'desperation' shop, yesterday all I got was a cake, today 2 slices cheesecake and 3 books - none of which I need but had to get something - I'm sure you know the feeling.

I was very close to buying a Gucci shoulder bag for only £4.50, it was just what I needed EXCEPT for what looked like moth casings attached to the reverse of the strap. I've had a very bad moth investation at home for years now and the last thing I need is anything else coming in to the house.It might just have been bobbles on the strap but I decided against taking a chance.

Last night I got rid of a bin bag of clothes for the recycling and was even agonising over my old gardening/decorating trousers which smelled of paint. So it's not surprising I only ended up with 2 items for charity.:)

Morocha, you've done EXCEPTIONALLY well this week, hope you feel better.
Verynewmoneysaver -that's a good price for the skirt.