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Two weeks ago, I returned from an incredibly heart-warming and productive nine days at Camp Sizanani, a camp for HIV/AIDS affected teenagers from the greater Johannesburg area. My role at camp was to be an arts and crafts counselor and in the post I wrote before I left, I described that I was bringing materials for… Continue reading Tie-ing Together Two Continents: My Holiday Experience Gift Part II

Tomorrow I’m flying to Johannesburg where I’ll be one of two American counselors at Camp Sizanani,* a camp for HIV-AIDS affected teens who come from Soweto, a large township rich in the history of the struggle against apartheid.  Poor housing and infrastructure, overcrowding, and high unemployment are still the norm.  In addition to regular camp… Continue reading Tie-ing Together Two Continents: My Holiday Experience Gift

Surrounded at dinner recently by six maverick women, ranging in age from their late 30’s into their 70’s, each dressed in the most creative, non-conformist, ensemble, how could it be that I was writing down the names of thrift stores? Each of these women looked like a million bucks, if not two or three. We… Continue reading How Can Advanced Style be a Retreat from Compulsive Buying?

Forward​ ​movement,​ ​if​ ​we​ ​want​ ​to​ ​call​ ​it​ ​that,​ ​in​ ​Industry​ ​and​ ​technology​ ​has​ ​made​ ​monetary transactions​ ​faster​ ​than​ ​a​ ​speeding​ ​bullet.​ ​​ ​Today​ ​it’s​ ​common​ ​to​ ​be​ ​able​ ​to​ ​make​ ​and​ ​pay​ ​for​ ​a purchase​ ​simply​ ​by​ ​tapping​ ​your​ ​cell​ ​phone. Efficient​ ​and​ ​convenient?​ ​Yes. Risky​ ​and​ ​problematic?​ ​If​ ​you’re​ ​reading​ ​this​ ​soundbite,​ ​the​… Continue reading Are You Making Payments Too Quickly?

If you already consider yourself one, The $mart Women podcast series will help you maintain your smarts, and if you’re not, the series will help you become one. Sponsored by Payne Capital Management and hosted by Michelle McKinnon, the series seeks to help women “get smart” with their money and is a great resource.  Recently,… Continue reading Are You A $mart Woman?

How do you rationalize your overshopping and overspending? Do you talk to friends about this?   Do some of them do the same thing? Stopping overshopping and ending overspending can actually be easier when you’re joining with others that are facing the same challenges.  The “Smart Cookies” are a group of five young women that… Continue reading For Smart Cookies, Less Spending and More Saving is a Piece of Cake!

Are you taking Aristada or Abilify? Have you begun to shop compulsively, or has your compulsive shopping gotten more pronounced? Both of these medications, sold under the generic name aripiprazole, have been associated with compulsive shopping and spending, as well as other compulsive behaviors such as binge eating, gambling, and sex. Until now the only… Continue reading Are You Using This Prescription Drug? It Might Explain Your Compulsive Shopping

      Imagine that your bank took truth serum one morning and when you went in for a loan that afternoon, they told you the real scoop about the massive debt they’re hoping you’ll accrue with no regard whatsoever as to whether you can ever pay it off.   You’ve conjured up NakedTruthBank.com.  … Continue reading What Does Your Bank Look Like Naked?

Few of us still picture hypnosis as it was once featured; pocket watch pendulating, subject getting drowsy, trance induction. While hypnosis has undergone an enormous sea change in the last century, beginning with Freud, it’s therapeutic potential has been evident for over one hundred years. A long-standing arrow in our psychological quiver, the ways we… Continue reading Hypnosis Tapes for Compulsive Buying: One More Useful Tool

Overcoming overshopping does not only bring individual relief; it’s great for the whole world. In a recent article titled Everyday Ethical Changes Every Person Can Make for a Better World in 2016,  online news outlet Quartz has listed spending less as one of the top ways to make more ethical choices. Spending less is an ethical change almost all… Continue reading The Ethics of Overcoming Shopping Addiction