Why do we fall prey to playful TV commercials and grabbing magazine ads that lure us to buy, buy, buy? Why do we order material goods that we don’t need and purchase clothes that we will never wear? Why do we then spend countless hours returning the unwanted items after we come to our senses? Why do we do this? Most of us will continue this pattern until something stops us in our tracks…or should I say, until we run out of space. Then it becomes time to step back and reassess our life long patterns, ultimately facing the big question, Why Do Women Shop?
Boredom
It’s a real concern for many women – they get bored. The hot pursuit of the “chase” of a bargain at their favorite store is an adventure. Some women see it as their primary excitement. “The Thrill Of The Hunt” is like a competitive sport to them. And when they see the word “Clearance”, well there’s nothing that whets the appetite more than that. Sniffing out high quality outfits or household items that are marked down drastically is too exhilarating to pass by. This endless cycle can go on and on until it doesn’t – and this can be for many reasons – less space, less, money, less enjoyment.
Filling A Void
Although our life circumstances may change, it doesn’t necessarily mean our patterns have. For example, let’s say in your career you used to attend high-powered meetings. This created a need for you to dress professionally. But today, you are retired and no longer require these outfits. However, you find yourself shopping like you used to – imagining the things that you’ll wear and the places you’ll go when you wear them. This sort of buying is a temporary fix for the emptiness that is inside. No amount of “stuff” can fill the empty space inside of us.
Entertainment
The shopping channels can be very alluring and quite entertaining. A downfall for most women as they feel seduced by the shop-at-home networks. They make it very enticing because of the payment plans they offer. But what you don’t realize is that sooner or later you end up buying several items in a month. This has you paying ridiculous amounts of money you didn’t take into consideration, let alone budget for. Most networks offer the 30-day return policy – but what they don’t tell you is that you are paying for shipping and handling both ways. This type of entertainment shopping can be costly.
Loneliness
Yes, listening to those friendly, gregarious TV voices seducing you to buy, buy, buy, can ease loneliness for a bit…but not forever. Most women don’t realize how isolated they really are until they’re spending starts to escalate out of control. Shopping becomes a vehicle for comfort to mask the absence of socialization. Building your life with more positive activities – (i.e., dance class, yoga class, swim class, book club, workshop) to replace your need for shopping would be a better choice to help combat the loneliness.
The Desire To Acquire
Do you regularly go through your closets and drawers to donate your “things” to make yourself feel better? Do you find that some of your clothing still has the price tags on them? Do you have 5 of the same item in different colors? Do you have a collection of handbags and shoes never used? If you answered yes, you may want to take a good look at this. The desire to acquire can be very addicting. There may be some ring of truth here when it comes to donating your never worn or hardly used items to Charity because it helps ease your guilty conscience of over spending.
If the above information resonates with you – you may be interested in my upcoming coaching program to reduce and cure your clutter. You can learn more by clicking HERE!
