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Credit cards are the ultimate legal drug in a materialist culture, deceptively empowering and beautifully insulated from the feel of spending. They are designed for impulsiveness. And what comes with that impulsiveness is a set of extraordinarily harsh repayment terms. So for overshoppers, the first thing to know about credit cards is: put them away… Continue reading Face the Facts About Your Credit Card Debt

In the works is a documentary that explores the passionate, elaborate, mysterious, and centuries-old relationship between women and their shoes. The film is based on interviews with designers and manufacturers—including Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik, Christian Laboutin, Steve Madden, and Pierre Hardy—as well as noted shoe purchasers, including Catherine Deneuve, Mariah Carey, Audrey Tatou, and Imelda… Continue reading God Save My Shoes

Consumed offers a disturbing and thought-provoking look into the consumer capitalist system that dominates American society. In bold brush strokes, Barber paints a global economy that is oversaturated with goods and must, therefore, have as its primary goal the manufacturing of needs as opposed to goods. After all, there have to be enough shoppers to… Continue reading Recommended Reading: Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children,
 Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole

Many visitors to our website have described themselves (or been described by family or friends) in ways that suggest hoarding, and so we’re particularly pleased to come upon this sensible and functional resource. Compulsive saving—hoarding—is typically diagnosed when all three of the following criteria are met: 1) there is the accumulation of objects that most… Continue reading Recommended Reading: Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive
Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding

A recently published behavioral study ties together nine experiments, each one designed to test the effect of money consciousness on some aspect of social behavior. Using random samples of students and non-students at three universities in different parts of the country, the experimenters divided their subjects into two groups. One group was “money primed,” subtly… Continue reading Does Money Make us Independent, Indifferent, or Stingy?

Whenever you have the urge to overshop, explore your ambivalence. Ask, “What does my heart say? What would be good about shopping?” Then ask, “What does my head say? What would be not so good about shopping?” Take the time to refine these questions by making four lists: 1. the short and long term benefits… Continue reading Strategy for Stopping Overshopping: To Stop or Not to Stop

Shame and denial about their behavior propels many overshoppers to hide this addiction—from other people and from themselves. While Secret Keeping does not address the compulsive buyer directly, its focus on the keeping of guilt-laden secrets—and on the compromises and consequences that such a life stance mandates—is very pertinent. According to Prin, secret keepers lead… Continue reading Recommended Reading: Secret Keeping: Overcoming Hidden Habits
and Addictions John Howard Prin 
(New World Library, 2006)

Three recent articles in the New York Times attracted our attention. “Money Doesn’t Talk,” by Shivani Vora, looks at the practice among women of disguising some of their purchases by paying cash, a practice that has grown in recent years even though more and more women are themselves wage earners. Why do they do it?… Continue reading Research Reported in the New York Times

Dr. Kathleen Galek and Ms.Marcela Torres of StoppingOvershopping, LLC are currently conducting a research study among an urban female college population that examines how themes of identity, spirituality, and life purpose interface with compulsive buying. Their study tests the hypothesis that a stable identity, a sense of purpose in life, and a mature spirituality are… Continue reading How do Identity, Spirituality, and Life Purpose Interface with Compulsive Buying?

What might your life be like if you gave up shopping for a year? The question may not be your usual conversation starter, but it’s one that a group of environmentally-conscious friends posed over dinner just over a year ago, reported Jay McDonald in bankrate.com. Blame it on the wine, maybe, but ten relatively sane… Continue reading Secondhand Living