Welcome to Recovering Shopaholic. If you want to curb your shopping habits, cultivate a workable wardrobe, learn to dress in the best possible way for your body, lifestyle, and personality, and understand why you continue searching for more, keep reading.

I started this blog because I was tired of all the lying and hiding I had been doing for so many years.  I was truly ready to become a recovering shopaholic.  I wanted to reform my maladaptive buying behaviors and heal what was broken inside that pushed me to shop for things I didn’t really need or even want.  I started blogging as a way of keeping myself honest, as well as a means of connecting with others who also wanted to recover and trade their full closets for even fuller lives.

You can expect honesty and full transparency from every blog post and each interaction that you have with me.  Expect to be educated and entertained. More importantly, expect to face your shopping struggles and wardrobe and style woes. In my posts, I asked a lot of tough questions and also suggested fun challenges for us to do together.  Through it all, my readers and I grew, learned, laughed, cried, and discovered what was most important to us.

Many of my posts were highly personal and focused on me and my unique situation, but I always tried to include useful lessons for readers in each article that I published.  This blog was always about connection and community, hope, and healing.  I sincerely hope my insights help others like me who find “Recovering Shopaholic.”

Over the years since this blog began, the spirit of community enabled us to help each other in ways I never would have anticipated. The whole really was greater than the sum of its parts. I owe a great debt to all of the wonderful readers who supported me along the way!

Please note that this blog is no longer being updated, but it will remain online as an ongoing resource for those who struggle with shopping, wardrobe, and style issues. I invite you to visit my new blog, “My Wardrobe, Myself,” which explores the intersection of clothing, emotions, and life.

About the Author, Debbie Roes

My History |  My Recovery |  More About Me |  Media / Guest Posts |  My New Blog

Hi, my name is Debbie Roes and I’m a recovering shopaholic. For much of my life, I shopped too much (and for all the wrong reasons) and had far too many clothes in my closet!

I love to shop and I’m good at it. I’m actually a “champion shopper” – for other people. When I shop for myself, my emotions get involved and stand in the way of my making good decisions. Conversely, when I shop for others, I’m completely objective and am able to help them see past their emotional issues related to clothes and shopping.

I loved shopping so much that I even tried working as a wardrobe consultant for a few years.  But I felt like an alcoholic working in a bar!  My compulsive shopping spun even farther out of control when I tried to “shop for a living,” as I felt pressured to “measure up” to my job title.   I felt like I was forever chasing a moving target (to be stylish) that I never seemed to reach, which sent me shopping frantically and far too often.

I started this blog in January 2013 after my shopping habit had become completely unmanageable and my closet had become jam-packed full of clothes, most of which I rarely or never wore.  I created some goals and rules for myself  (see updates here:  2014  |  2015  |  2016) and set off on my journey to become a recovering shopaholic.  I decided to use this blog as a way to keep myself accountable – and connect with, inspire, and be inspired by other shopaholics who wanted to mend their overshopping ways.

I was pleased to find an audience and have my words and ideas touch readers around the world.  In truth, my readers have always helped me at least as much as I’ve helped them!  I’ve learned so much from the insightful comments and emails I’ve received since I started blogging – and many of the topics I’ve written about were inspired by readers.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments for me.  I always welcome input from readers, even though I am no longer publishing new posts on this site.

As I mentioned above, I am now writing a new blog called “My Wardrobe, Myself,” which picks up where this blog left off in a lot of ways. The main focus of the new blog is on the intersection of clothing, emotions, and life (you can learn more here). I invite you to check out My Wardrobe, Myself and subscribe.