I can't help myself

Hi. I’m new here. I don’t know if this group is active or not, but I am looking for a support group for compulsive shoppers. Can anyone help?

1 Heart

This page isn’t terribly active. And it doesn’t function as a support group. I suggest you look into Debtor’s Anonymous. There are many overshoppers there (that’s how they got into debt!) They have Zoom and in-person meetings. You can go to their website to find a list of them. I participate in the Sunday 5:15 Zoom out of St Petersburgh, Florida. I welcome you to join us. As to why you do what you do, I think for some people shopping becomes recreational and then it snowballs into an addiction. I put a lot of energy into changing my shopping habits. To begin with, I put together a monthly spending plan, with money in there that I can spend on the things I like to buy (clothes, shoes, jewelry). Then before I shop, I check my spending plan to see how much can comfortably spend. Next, I think about where I’m going to put what I purchase or how I’m going to use it. Once that’s settled, I enjoy myself as I shop for it. When the money is gone in a certain category of my spending plan, I stop shopping for that type of item until next month. A month isn’t a long time to wait. I include my monthly bills in my spending plan (of course) and savings, too. I don’t earn a lot, but I make ends meet and can enjoy shopping with some limitations. I suggest that you try this and see if it works for you. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. But I hope it does. A good book that I can recommend to you is “To Buy or Not to Buy” by April Benson. She was a pioneer in studying the nature of overshopping, and addresses topics like why we do this and how to stop it. The book isn’t expensive and it’s worth every penny! There’s a website for an online program based on the book. You can Google it. They have bi-weekly meetings, but it’s not a support group. It usually features one presenter and a topic, but there’s Q&A. They do offer support online in the form of a user’s forum. I’ve never used that, but I suspect it’s good. So, there are some suggestions that you might consider. You’re not alone. Millions of Americans are overshoppers. Our culture drives us - it’s become shopertainment! The trick is to substitute it with something you equally enjoy. You can read more about that in Benson’s book. Good luck to you!

1 Heart

How do I find that group? Can I join it from Australia? I am not great with working out time zones :smiley: cheers