Are You A Shopoholic?

While I am taking the summer off, I was thinking about why people shop every week or so. Why do we get the urge to spend, spend and spend?

So I am going to give you some things to ponder over the next couple of weeks in the form of questions for you to think about. Oh no, it’s a test!

No, it’s not. It’s just to get you thinking about what you spend your money on. Are they necessities or do you shop because you want to? Does the urge hit you to go to the mall or the local Kohl’s, Dollar Tree, or your favorite grocery store? Is that urge because you need something at those stores or is it because you want something from those places? So here goes.

Do you shop once or twice a week at the grocery store or drugstore even though you have plenty of food, HBA, personal care products and cleaning products in your home stockpile? Do you continue to make those purchases while your stockpile languishes in your pantries and things expire? 

Do you stop on the way to your shopping at Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds or Starbucks for a coffee and perhaps a donut or muffin? Could you just as easily bring a cup of coffee in a to go cup and a home baked muffin, donut or slice of quick bread with you?

Do you order in or stop for fast food a few times a week because it is easy? Do you think about how healthy that fast food is or don’t you care? Could you have whipped up a quick easy meal at home instead? 

Do you make a weekly browsing trip to Walmart or Target because you want to see any new items that they might have? Do you realize that you will most likely buy something? We all do the same thing at Dollar Tree.  

Did you buy a lot of things on Amazon on Prime Day? Did you do that because you thought they were a great deal or because they were an absolute necessity?

Do you pay cash for those items you shop for all week? Or did you whip out your credit card? Will you pay that credit card in full when it comes due? Or are those cc purchases being added to your credit card that you owe interest on each month? Those good deals that you had to have are costing you more than you think if you have to pay interest on them. 

Have you purchased a new or new to you car this summer even though the car you traded in you still owe money on? Did you have to take out a loan with high interest to do this? 

Do you coupon shop for almost free items each week even though you won’t use them? Do some things in your stockpiles purchased with coupons sit in your pantries for years without being used?

Do you buy new clothes every season even though you have a closet full of things to wear?

Are you replacing carpeting every couple of years because it’s not getting shampooed enough? Do you change your furniture and decor every few years? 

Do you throw parties, dinners or cookouts that you can’t afford to impress your friends?

Do you contribute money to every party, gift, etc. that your co-workers ask you to whether you can afford it or not?

There are a million more questions that I could throw at you but I think these are enough. However I do have a couple more very important questions for you to think about:

Do you do all or some of the things mentioned? Then when an emergency comes up, you don’t have the money to deal with it? Some think that an emergency won’t happen to them. But we all know that they have a way of rearing their ugly heads! The furnace, A/C, plumbing or appliances break. The car breathes it’s last breath. You or a family member needs expensive medical or dental work and you don’t have the money. I could go on and on but you get the idea! 

Last questions, I promise. When a crisis hits like those mentioned, would you like to be stress free about it and have the money to pay for it?  Then go back and really put the time and effort in to think about all the questions I gave you before the crisis hit. Can you change some things so that your financial life will change?

Continue to enjoy your summer and we will discuss a lot of these questions come Fall. I may pop in when the urge hits me and I have some free time.