In this series of posts, we’ve been exploring ways to seize the opportunity that the economic crisis emotions and intellect presents to overshoppers. Even before the downturn, of course, most compulsive buyers found themselves in a financial squeeze. But the new economic realities—the slashed value of retirement accounts, the credit crunch, the mortgage debacle, and… Continue reading Use Your Emotions and Intellect to Access “True Wealth”: A Crisis Is a Terrible Thing To Waste (Part V)
Author: Carrie Rattle
Carrie Rattle is a Principal at BehavioralCents.com, a website for women focused on mind and money behaviors. She has worked in the financial services industry for 20+ years and hopes to inspire women to better prepare themselves for financial independence.
See and Hear Your Way to Solvency: A Crisis Is a Terrible Thing To Waste (Part IV)
In this series of postings, we’ve been coloring the landscape of self-kindness, examining healthier alternatives to shopping. The catalyst for this is the current economic downturn and the way its dramatic ratcheting up of financial pressure is forcing overshoppers to, well, take stock of their habit. When they look beneath the surface at what the… Continue reading See and Hear Your Way to Solvency: A Crisis Is a Terrible Thing To Waste (Part IV)
Using Your Senses to Save: A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste (Part III)
We’ve been exploring the centrality of self-kindness to the process of stopping overshopping. It’s the all-important lubricant that keeps the engine of change running smoothly. To say it more directly, it’s the stance that allows you to look clearly and non-judgmentally at your overshopping behavior and then choose healthier and more fulfilling alternatives. Thus far,… Continue reading Using Your Senses to Save: A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste (Part III)
Activities to Reduce Your Need to Shop: A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste (Part II)
In my last posting, I introduced the idea that the current downturn might just be a tipping point for overshoppers, that its economic pressure might shake them out of denial and drive them to begin stopping overshopping. That they do so is essential, because compulsive buying is a square peg for a round hole, an… Continue reading Activities to Reduce Your Need to Shop: A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste (Part II)
A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste: How the Recession Can Help Overshoppers
“It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good” says a familiar proverb, and as with most proverbs, there’s a nugget of useful truth at the core. Amidst the violent buffeting of today’s economic ill wind, some good can shopping choices not to spendcome to overshoppers. As the nation’s financial crisis deepens, all of us, whether… Continue reading A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste: How the Recession Can Help Overshoppers
Current Research
Astrid Müller, M.D., Ph.D., a researcher from Erlangen University in southern Germany, has been studying compulsive buying for the past six years. She’s recently published a study with several colleagues that replicated the finding of James Mitchell’s 2006 pilot study of a 12-session cognitive-behavioral group treatment with overshoppers. Overshoppers who participated in this group reduced… Continue reading Current Research
Consumer Behavior: Messages into the Void?
Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior (Viking, 2009) . An old philosopher’s question asks: “If a tree falls in the forest and there’s no one to hear it, does it make a sound?” An updated version, tongue-in-cheek, is this: “If a man speaks in the forest and there’s no woman to hear him, is he still… Continue reading Consumer Behavior: Messages into the Void?
Credit Card Act of 2009
On May 20th, Congress passed the Credit Card Act of 2009, which offers some long overdue protections to consumers. New rules for applying credit card payments. First, the deadline forpayments has been standardized to 5 p.m. on the due date. (Companies can no longer charge late fees by stipulating, for example, that the payment has… Continue reading Credit Card Act of 2009
Women’s Spending Behavior Linked to Their Menstrual Cycles
In a study that applies to some 40% of all overshoppers, spending behavior has been demonstrably linked to menstrual cycles. Professor Karen Pine, of the University of Hertfordshire, presented “Sheconomics: Why Women’s Emotions Cost Them Money” at the British Psychological Society Annual Conference in April. Specifically, her study looked at 322 pre-menopausal women not using… Continue reading Women’s Spending Behavior Linked to Their Menstrual Cycles
Motivational Interview
As we have seen with Mindful Shopping, the road to stopping overshopping often requires introspection and personal reflection. And addiction treatment has confirmed that the most successful way to kick bad habits is to take careful, small steps. A great way to combine these two means of stopping your overshopping is to set a weekly… Continue reading Motivational Interview