Britain in grip of 'shopaholic' epidemic - The Telegraph

SingleSue

Strings wrote: »

While I am happy for you, I also feel sorry for you at the same time.

I also admire your lack of want, but then wonder why?

Feel sorry for me? Why?

Make up - just how much do you need to spend on it? A bit of lippy, some eyeliner, eye shadow and bob is your uncle (I have ultra long lashes so mascara is not needed)...and I only wear it once a week between March and the end of October and on the very occasional special occasions, so it lasts longer

If I need any more, I ask for it as a christmas or birthday present...very handy for those relatives (e.g the children), who have only a very limited budget and want to buy me something.

As for clothes, I could never see the sense in spending lots on them, why buy more when you already have plenty in the wardrobe, there is only so many clothes you can wear at the same time and why spend oodles more on a designer option when you can buy similar for a fraction of the price.

I'm from a make do and mend family, partly due to my father having an accident at work which meant that money was extremely short until he received compensation and partly because my parents had a working class upbringing which was also make do and mend, it sort of rubs off on offspring.

I do have wants....books, I used to spend oodles on books. Now I buy them, read them and sell them on to buy more (needs must).

I like to have an intoxicating chocolate all over body massage and wrap when money allows (I usually ask for a voucher from my parents for birthday or christmas for this).

I can look through an Argos book and mentally spend thousands (I do have very expensive taste) but when it actually comes to buying it, I have always asked myself..."Do I need it?" "What is wrong with the old one?" If the answer to the first one is no, then I don't buy it, if the answer to the second one is nothing, then I don't buy it.

I live in my means (another family trait, we don't like credit) and if the money is not there to purchase something, it doesn't get purchased.

I'm a bargain hunter and get the same thrill from finding something at a fraction of the cost as someone else will get from spending willy nilly.

Although you would never find me in a jumble sale....they give me panic attacks.

fc123

While women spend the most on high street clothes, men have more expensive tastes, spending £570 a year on designer clothing, nearly double the £300 dished out by female shopaholics.

I am with Wageslave on this as those sums are relatively small.

I do get sniffy about the tag 'designer clothes' used by journos too......you wouldn't get a much from a 'designer' store for £570.

I am guessing they get the figs by taking the total retail spend and divvying it by the amount of people in UK? They then spun it into a shopaholic theme when it could easily have been spun into a 'frugal' theme. £300 pa for a woman is not a crazily high spend IMO.

misskool

nicko33 wrote: »

far less dangerous I would have thought.
Credit cards usually used to purchase consumables or "stuff" that depreciates.
A mortgage gets you an asset that retains value (+/-)

Depends if you have a cashback credit card or not. We get 1% cashback on total spend so we make money from buying consumer goods. Balance paid off in full every month so not living in debt.

wageslave

fc123 wrote: »

I am with Wageslave on this as those sums are relatively small.

I do get sniffy about the tag 'designer clothes' used by journos too......you wouldn't get a much from a 'designer' store for £570.

I am guessing they get the figs by taking the total retail spend and divvying it by the amount of people in UK? They then spun it into a shopaholic theme when it could easily have been spun into a 'frugal' theme. £300 pa for a woman is not a crazily high spend IMO.

It's tiny.

Unless, for whatever reason, you are living to an extremely tight budget there is not an ordinary woman in the UK spending that on clothes, shoes etc.

It has to be a misprint. £3k is a far more likely sum

vivatifosi

wageslave wrote: »

It has to be a misprint. £3k is a far more likely sum

£300 seems really low to me too. I spend more than that and I don't think I spend very much compared to others. I know plenty of people who spend more than £300 per year on clothes from charity shops.

fc123

vivatifosi wrote: »

£300 seems really low to me too. I spend more than that and I don't think I spend very much compared to others. I know plenty of people who spend more than £300 per year on clothes from charity shops.

Phew....I was a bit worried that I may offend, which I don't want to do.

The figs include all those who spend a tiny amount (for whatever reason) and the big spenders.....but I still can't believe the mens spend is more than the womens though.

I am sure the UK clothing spend divvies up 80/20 women/men in £.

Maybe not.......perhaps men are getting vainer?

Which men on this thread wax (all areas), pluck eyebrows, styled haircut (not barbers) and do facial skincare beyond flannel and soap?

FATBALLZ

ninky wrote: »

or point her to the bankruptcy inn - then she can do it all again in a few years time.

Or even better somebody might find a missing apostrophe in her credit agreement so she can void it (without returning the money spent of course).

wageslave

I have no male friends that admit to moisturising.

I agree about the 80/20 split in the clobber quid though. Men tend to ignore their wardrobes for months at a time then do a shopping blitz when the ar se is hanging out of both their pairs of jeans.

chucky

wageslave wrote: »

I have no male friends that admit to moisturising.

I agree about the 80/20 split in the clobber quid though. Men tend to ignore their wardrobes for months at a time then do a shopping blitz when the ar se is hanging out of both their pairs of jeans.

"round my way" the water is very hard and men need to moisturise

nicko33

misskool wrote: »

Depends if you have a cashback credit card or not. We get 1% cashback on total spend so we make money from buying consumer goods. Balance paid off in full every month so not living in debt.

Certainly. I agree that both offset mortages and credit cards, if used wisely, can benefit the holder.
Ahh, the good old days when cahoot gave you 4% if you transferred a balance to them. Nowadays, I prefer to stooze on 0% purchase cards, and stick the money to pay them off in Lloyds Vantage at 4%, or any regular saver paying more than that. And anything paying more than 2.4% is better home for my money than my offset mortgage