I struggle with being addicted to shopping, especially when I am stressed or sad. Lately, I have been having a lot of issues at work and so many stressful situations have come up. This would normally lead me to shop online for random things or to click on all of the ads that pop up on social media. I love browsing the sites that advertise to me! That makes sense, right? The ads are targeted. I also love going shopping on my lunch break. Not for anything in particular, but I almost always leave with something.
It has been very difficult lately to not keep buying things. I looked back at my spending last month, before we started back on our FI journey, and I spent over $1000 on random shopping. This does include impulse buys at grocery stores, but still. That is a lot of money. Over the last 12 months, my average spending has been $4,760. That is almost every dollar that I make in a month, each month. Money was going straight out the window as soon as I got it.
I have done well so far this month, even with the difficulties. Yes, I know we are only five days in. Normally by now I would have already spend a couple hundred dollars. So far, I bought my son new cleats for baseball, because his were a whole size too small and were hurting him, a pair of socks for him, and school pictures.
Monitoring how I am feeling is going to help a lot, I think. Since my urge to buy things comes along when I am upset. As long as I am paying attention, I think I will continue to stay the course this month.
I will keep you updated.
Veronica
