Is Your Debt Caused Because You Are a Shopaholic?

If your spending habits are out of control and you keep on falling into debt then the reason for this could be that you are a shopaholic.  Most people have no problem accepting that excessive alcohol and drug use can result from addiction, but far less are prepared to accept that shopping can be addictive. In fact the shopaholic can share a startling number of similarities with other addicts and their habit can be just as destructive. Every year people get into debt over their head and some end up resorting to suicide to escape it. This is a serious problem but not enough people are treating it this way.

How to Tell If Your Debt is Caused By the Fact That You Are a Shopaholic

If your spending on items you don’t really need is out of control then chances are that you are a shopaholic. If you are already in debt but just can’t resist the temptation of buying more luxuries then there is not really a better way to describe the problem.  If your shopping habits are ultimately making your life miserable and filling you with regret then how can this be anything else than an addiction? Sure, we can say that shopping is not as chemically addictive as say heroin, but the psychological addiction is just as strong. People who are addicted to shopping get a brief high when they purchase something new and this is later replaced with remorse over their increasing debt – sound familiar?

The damage caused by being a shopaholic can be far retching. People will keep on borrowing money until they run out of credit, and then they might be tempted to turn to the predatory lenders (loan sharks just love shopaholics). These people can lie awake at night tossing and turning and wondering how they can ever escape their debt; yet go out the next day and waste more money on items they don’t even need. The pleasure is not in the item but in the act of spending. Things can get so bad that the shopaholic will take their own life because it seems like the only solution.

Help for the Shopaholic

There is help available for the shopaholic. One common place to turn to is debt advice; here you can examine what it is that is driving you to act like you do – this type of behaviour is often a sign of some unresolved issues. There are also organisations like Debtors Anonymous where people who have suffered with the problem share their experience, strength, and hope. The most important thing that the shopaholic has to do is stop accumulating debt right away. To help them do this you can do the following:

-    Destroy all credit cards
-    Don’t shop alone but with somebody who will be able to talk you out of a  compulsive buy
-    Create a budget plan and stick to it religiously
-    Don’t leave the house with more money than you need for the day