Shopping Fast = Money Saved

You may have misread the title.  Shopping isn’t an Olympic sport to see who can shop the fastest.  No, we’re talking about fasting, as in not eating, but instead of food, let’s consider giving our budget a break.

Go on a shopping fast.

This is the tough stuff.  It’s the place where you come to terms with just how much you want to save money.  Are you willing to give up shopping for a time in order spend less?

It’s not easy.

In our country, shopping is an accepted way to pass the time.

When we’re bored, we shop.  Depressed?  Go spend a hundred dollars and you’ll begin to feel better.  Happy, excited, celebrating?  Go ahead, buy something new!

Shopping is a drug.

Shopping is the new answer to all of our problems.  It’s therapy to the confused, comfort to the forlorn, a reward to the happy.  We need nothing more than a new shopping mall full of bright lights and starched new merchandise.

Shop * Shop * Shop * Shop * Shop

Shop till we drop.

Do you know what?  It works.

I can walk into a store and forget about everything for a few hours.  It’s called retail therapy for a reason.

Don’t you just love having something brand new?  There’s a bit of euphoria to the whole experience.  Shopping feels good.

Until the bills come in.

Then it doesn’t feel so good and you look over at your new bag or power drill (I don’t want to be sexist) and you wonder why you ever bought it in the first place.

If we want to save money, we need a new therapist.  Ditch the mall and start running.  Or something.  Anything that doesn’t cost money.

If shopping is your weakness, if you need to save money, if you want to buy less and give more, if you’re tired of overspending, perhaps a shopping fast is in order.

Just quit, cold turkey.  No shopping for thirty days.  You may even need a longer fast to break the habit.

Make do with what you already have.

It won’t be easy and it won’t be fun, but your wallet will be fatter by the end of the fast.

Tips for A Successful Shopping Fast

• Get accountability.  Find a trusted friend, spouse, heck, declare it on Facebook.  Just find someone who will keep you accountable to your shopping fast.
• Remove your credit cards.  Take them out of your wallet and leave them home.
• Toss flyers.  Don’t even look through the sales flyers.
• Fill the void.  If you shop often, there will be a void in your life, fill that time with something – talk with friends, play an instrument, exercise, read, whatever.  Just do something!
• No window shopping.
• Put it on your list.  If a need arises, put it on your list and wait 30 days.  End impulse spending.  Unless it’s an emergency – that’s my only disclaimer, and new shoes probably are not an emergency.
• Quit complaining.  If you go on a shopping fast, it’s your decision.  That’s means at one point, you wanted it or needed it, so quit complaining.  Complaining never helps.
• Count your blessings.  Stop thinking about what you don’t have, and start counting your blessings.  You’ll be surprised by how much you do have.
• Remember, it’s for a time.  It’s not for life.  You will shop again.  We can do anything for a time.
• Keep your commitment.  It’s as simple as that.  Be a man or woman of your word.

So, what do you think?  Do you need a shopping fast?

Maybe you have experience with this.  If you’ve ever gone on a shopping fast, please share your story in the comments.  We’ll very much appreciate your candidness.

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