Compulsive Shopping Habits
I found this article on BoingBoing about compulsive shopping. Link to article on BoingBoing. Stanford University psychiatrist Lorrin M. Koran did a survey on which people are compulsive shoppers. Apparently, the habit of spending money until you are broke, depressed, and probably thousands of dollars in debt is just as common among males as in females.
Most of these shopping-spree nutcases make under 50,000 dollars a year, and are around 40 years old.
There you have it. The poorer you are, the more likely you are to waste your money on crap. My mother is proof of this. She buys stupid junk that she will never, ever use, and then wonders why she doesn’t have anything nice. Maybe if she’d stop spending all her money on dollar-store junk, she would have something nice.
Do you shop compulsively? Or do you save your money for nicer things?
Personally, I save my money for stuff I need. Rather than buying video games and comics like I did when I was a kid, I’ve been using my money on nicer clothes and necessary things like that.
Interesting Tidbit, Question for You 
22 October 2006, 02:21
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Oh, wow. Your mom sounds just like mine. :/ Nope, I do not shop compulsively. When I shop it’s usually always for things I need.
I can never save money. I always spend all I earn.
Cheap or expensive doesn’t really matter to me. I usually buy whatever I like. I’m just glad I am not in debt (yet, lol).
When I was younger, I was pretty selfish. In retrospect, it really upsets me how much of a selfish kid I was. How clueless I was to the fact that we couldn’t really afford all the crap I wanted, and yet dear, ol’ mother worked hard to get us nice things. I’m grateful for it now.
Now-a-days, I hardly ever spend money. I’ve actually become a person who tries to spend money as little as possible. It just doesn’t really seem worth it. I have money saved up, but my money is basically my parents money. And I’d rather have that money go towards the bills instead of some junk I don’t need.
One of these days I’ll get a job, and I’ll save up my own money to spend on things I need, instead of depending on my parents.
@ Nicole
Haha, geez, I guess everyone’s mom spends money like crazy. Same here, but maybe that’s just because I can’t stand shopping.
@ Jaa
Haha, I can entirely understand. I took the time yesterday to calculate that I’d blown around 4,000 bucks as a kid shopping. I wish that I’d saved that money instead…but at least I had fun with it then.
@ Josh
I was just talking with my Mom today about all the stuff she bought me as a kid. It was a lot of stuff, and I had no concern for the fact my Mom was busting her butt working double shifts to get me that stuff.
And even now, when I mention I like or want something, she’ll work an extra shift or two to buy it for me. I guess her compulsive shopping always had a bonus for me in it.
You know, dollar shops make things appear cheaper. But when you buy a pile of stuff, it doesn’t really help you save much.
I’m a poor college student so I don’t really spend much. I try to keep my budget under a few GBP daily, but occasionally I feel like spending for nicer stuff like records and clothes.
I am a really bad compulsive shopper. I really don’t know how to save money. However, I am currently trying to break most of my spending off, considering I want to get a new paint job for my car… it is difficult.
@ Melody
Yeah, I used to buy dollar store junk as a kid too. I mean, whoo! Candles and shower gel and it doesn’t even cost a quarter of what Wal*Mart charges. Haha, I was a bit of a redneck child, I guess.
I’m a poor high school student. I can’t spend much because I can’t legally make much money, haha!
@Sai
Good luck getting the 1000 bucks for your car. Seriously, I hope you get it, that’d be awesome.
Saving is tough, but once you learn to do it, you’ll be kicking yourself in the behind thinking about all the money you wasted. Hehe.
Erm, if you have a section with themes, then please get some themes up now.
@milo
I would have appreciated it if you would have commented on the post, but I thought it was rather clear that I was in a transition period with this site and am currently redoing everything. That means my themes as well.
I tend to save and spend haha. Sometimes I spend too much on gifts for people and stuff like that, or clothes, if I see something I like. But right now I’m saving to go on a weekend trip in January so all of my thoughts are on that. If I have something in mind I can save like no other.
@Christine
Haha, I’ve been like that recently. I’m trying to save up before college so I’ll have some money when I go to apply for credit cards and phone service and stuff so I won’t get late fees, but every time I see a nice, new purse or pair of gloves or scarf or something, I’ll probably blow 30 dollars or so.
But when I was just saving money as a kid, I saved about 400 bucks in only three months.
Uh huh. Interesting study. The rate is balanced because of people like me who dislike shopping, lol. But anyway, I don’t earn my own money yet, so I’m really, really very careful on spending my allowance on useless things. The only stuffs I spend my money on are everyday necessities like fare and food in school. Cellphone credits and internet cards. That’s just about it.
@Shari
Haha, I can’t stand shopping, but I find myself doing it anyway. Haha, Internet shopping kills on shipping.
Wow, I wish I had your saving abilities. Everytime I realize I don’t have something as small as a bottle of nail polish it’s off to the store for me, to grumble and mutter at poor innocent bystanders while hunting for my stuff.