Over the last two postings, we’ve been examining Weighing In, an important technique for sweeping away the financial fog most overshoppers are mired in. We’ve looked at four columns on the Daily Weigh-In Form—Item Purchased, Actual Cost, Necessity Score, and Necessity Cost. Today, we’ll look at the second column, Category. The idea here is straightforward:… Continue reading Weighing-In (Part 3)
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.
Weighing-In (Part 2)
We may think our wants equal our needs. In other words, that we just have to have a certain pair of shoes or gadget to be happy, successful, etc. While this can seem simple when we’re talking about basic needs like shelter and food, it can get murky when we’re looking at other items. Here’s an… Continue reading Weighing-In (Part 2)
Weighin-In (Part 1)
“Passionately confused,” which nicely sums up our current national conversation about health care,image also characterizes the personal financial grasp of most overshoppers. Few compulsive buyers have a clear idea of how much they spend and what they spend it on. (The incentive for their confusion is straightforward: it supports denial. As for the passion, it’s… Continue reading Weighin-In (Part 1)
Credit Cards: Clearing, but with a Strong Probability of Curveballs
As we noted in the last newsletter (see “Credit Card Act of 2009,” June 2009), new legislation now curtails several egregious practices that credit card companies have been using to gouge their customers. Now, with some sectors of the economy—though certainly not others!—beginning to move in the direction of recovery, it’s the right moment to… Continue reading Credit Cards: Clearing, but with a Strong Probability of Curveballs
Health Care Reform for Overshoppers (Part III): Self-Respect-The Third Leg of the Self Supporting Stool
In recent postings, we’ve explored two important legs of a three-legged stool that supports stopping overshopping, self-kindness and self-care. Today we look at the crucial third leg, self-respect. Taken with the other two, it offers a solid base from which the thoughtful overshopper can reach for change. Self-respect is having the proud feeling that you… Continue reading Health Care Reform for Overshoppers (Part III): Self-Respect-The Third Leg of the Self Supporting Stool
Health Care Reform for Overshoppers: The Centrality of Self Care (Part II)
In the last posting, we saw how important self-care is for the overshopper who wants to stop. We noted that overshoppers, who often juggle several roles, tend to relegate self-care to the back burner (or take it off the stove entirely), and we focused on anticipating, rather than reacting to, personal needs. Today, I want… Continue reading Health Care Reform for Overshoppers: The Centrality of Self Care (Part II)
Health Care Reform for Overshoppers:The Centrality of Self Care (Part I)
As the president and congress turn their attention to problem elements of our health care image system—notably, skyrocketing costs and inequities in access—it’s a particularly good time to remind overshoppers about their own health care. And they need reminding: research has shown that compulsive buyers are often woefully deficient in managing their health care, and… Continue reading Health Care Reform for Overshoppers:The Centrality of Self Care (Part I)
Continued Media Focus on Compulsive Shopping
Compulsive shopping is pretty much out of the closet now, with continuing treatment in television, film, and print. Here are four recent examples of note: “The Bank of Mom and Dad,” a BBC show that begins airing on SOAPnet September 30th, is “reality programming as a financial-makeover show.” In each episode, a young woman in… Continue reading Continued Media Focus on Compulsive Shopping
A Magnet for Female Compulsive Buyers?
While women Internet buyers may be outnumbered by men shopping online, new research suggests that many of the women who do shop in cyberspace are compulsive buyers. Further, as compared with female shoppers with low compulsive buying tendencies, female consumers with high compulsive buying tendencies actually prefer shopping and buying online over traditional “bricks and… Continue reading A Magnet for Female Compulsive Buyers?
Gender and Internet Shopping
Less in the Pink Than You Might Think No, it’s not that the rate of internet shopping has fallen off. It’s that in cyberspace, women, who in the popular imagination make up the vast majority of shoppers, are substantially outnumbered—and substantially outspent—by men. Reviewing the latest PayPal data from the United Kingdom, Charlotte Cowell notes… Continue reading Gender and Internet Shopping