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A New Experience – Shopping with Limits

Shopping with limitsLast Friday, I went shopping for the first time with my new purchase limitation.  For the entire year of 2013 (and maybe longer), I am only allowed to buy one item of clothing and one accessory per month.  The reason for this rule is so that I can learn to be more deliberate with my purchases, pare down my over-sized wardrobe, and better use what I have.  I also hope to cultivate more of a “quality over quantity” attitude.

Limits Over “Cold Turkey”

As I mentioned in my shopping rules for 2013, the reason I chose not to go “cold turkey” with shopping this year is that I feel it’s easier to stop doing something completely than to learn to work with reasonable limits.

I have done “shopping fasts” in the past, but they did not really help me to stop my compulsive shopping habit.  I have found that my approach is either feast or famine; I’m either not shopping at all or shopping compulsively and buying far too much.   I believe that allowing myself to shop but limiting how much I can buy (not just by dollar amount, but also by quantity) will do far more to heal my shopping problems than a complete shopping hiatus.

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My Shopping Rules for 2013

Shopping RulesWhen I decided that 2013 would be the year when I would really address my compulsive shopping problem, I knew there would have to be rules.  After all, I’ve tried the “loosey goosey” approach in the past where I just tried to shop less, spend less, stick to a budget, etc.  I’ve tried those things and more, and have failed miserably, so I knew I would need a radically different approach if I had any hope of succeeding.

Limits Instead of “Cold Turkey”

I considered taking a “cold turkey” approach and just not shopping for a few months or even as long as a year.  Easier said than done, I know, but I’ve done it before.  Yes, I’ve stopped shopping for extended periods of time – by sheer will or out of pure necessity, but those “shopping fasts” did not cure me of my shopping addiction.  I developed a false sense of security, but when I went back into a mall, the shopping beast inside of me emerged once again.  While it may work for some, and more power to them, complete abstinence is not the answer for me…

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Recovering Shopaholic Goals for 2013

Recovering Shopaholic GoalsFirst, a disclaimer… Some of the items below are more intentions or resolutions than goals, as they do not all adhere to the SMART principle for goal-setting (that all goals must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound).  However, I believe that as the year progresses, I will better be able to formulate my goals and make them “SMART.”

Honesty and Commitment

At present, this all seems fairly hazy and “pie in the sky” and that’s part of my reason for committing to blogging about my experience.   I want to keep myself honest and maintain my commitment during times of struggle and challenge (I also hope that in some way, my process can help other “shopaholics” who wish to recover).

My Shopping & Wardrobe Goals

Here are the goals I’ve established for myself as a “recovering shopaholic.”  I will expand on these goals further in future posts, but for now I just wanted to state them plainly and simply for myself and for my readers.

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The Cold, Hard Facts: What I Did – and Didn’t – Wear

In my last post, I took an honest and sobering look at my shopping expenditures over the past 10 years.  I didn’t like what I saw…   I learned that I have consistently exceeded my shopping budget for each and every year since I started to track the numbers.   In some cases, I spent over twice the amount I had allotted for clothing and related expenses.

Tracking What I Do and Don’t Wear

As I mentioned in the previous post, the financial numbers only tell part of the story.  For the past two years, I’ve been tracking how often I wear all of the clothes and shoes in my closet.  I started doing that in the hope that this awareness would help me to shop less and utilize what I have more effectively.

Sobering Truth – My 2011 Numbers

As 2011 drew to a close, I was depressed when I tabulated the numbers for how often I wore the items in my wardrobe.  I learned that:

  • I had 112 garments and 11 pairs of shoes which were worn either once or not at all! 
  • I had only 24 garments and 11 pairs of shoes that I wore eight or more times over the course of 2011.  Not a very good comparison…

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The Cold, Hard Facts: Finances

Compulsive shopping spendingAs part of my preparation to start this blog and really address my compulsive shopping problem, I decided to take a good look at the cold, hard facts of my situation.  To do so, I turned to QuickBooks, where I was able to find information about my spending for the past ten years.  What I learned was both surprising and depressing!

The Numbers in a Nutshell

In a nutshell, I have spent close to $50,000 on clothing, accessories, shoes, and alterations from 2003 through 2012, with an average of $4762.56 in these types of expenditures per year.  For some people, this sounds like a lot of money, while it may seem reasonable or perhaps even low to others.

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