So I have acquired a pretty big makeup collection over the years, it’s not one of my main addictions but I still have way more makeup than I’ll ever use(for example I have about 15 blushes in total bought in the space of 5ish years but still). I wasn’t really buying any new makeup in the last year or so but i kept seeing those westman atelier cream blushes everywhere and I found a mini sized one on offer and thought a little treat won’t do any harm. The blush was super underwhelming, I barely use it and has 0 lasting power on my oily skin.

Then recently I found a glossier cloud paint in an outlet shop for a 3rd of the price, another cream blush I’ve wanted to try for years so I got it thinking it would be my holy grail cream/liquid blush finally and while it is nice it didn’t wow me.

A few days ago I randomly found one of the Mac basic powder blushes I had in my stash for years that I completely forgot about. Today I was getting ready to go to the gym and I wanted a quick blush so I just used the Mac one without any cream blush underneath as I didn’t have time. Not only it looked very natural on the skin but it also lasted me for about 8 hours through a cardio and a strength training session. I could’ve stopped buying blushes once I found this amazing one but for some reason I had to find myself a liquid one since this was what the influencers were promoting for longevity to wear under powder or to have it look more natural which is complete bs 🤦🏻‍♀️.

So, moral of the story, your holy grail probably already exists in your stash. No need to buy any new products, really. Especially when it comes to powder makeup products.

Hi everyone! It's been a few days since my last post here and I'm very pleased to say that I haven't bought a single thing for myself. I read somewhere that lists help and I can confirm that they actually do.

I've made a list of everything I would like to buy, I scroll around looking and searching, I put things in the cart and then I close the window and do not proceed the payment.

I've set a budget of 80€ per month for myself and I've made a promise not to exceed it. I wrote down the prices of all the things that I want and I chose what I'm gonna buy this month. As soon as I get paid, I'll transfer 200€ to my savings' account and I'll transfer 200€ the groceries to me and my fiance's joined account.

I should find a way to keep the 80€ that I spend for myself on another account so that I can have another account just for shopping. This way I won't mix up the money and go overboard.

The important thing is that I feel so much happier and free now that I'm in this group and I get to read all your advice. Thank you for keeping my life in track. I was so ashamed to speak about this problem because people don't understand that I'm trying to fill a void while shopping. They just think I'm greedy. Thank you for your heal and understanding.

For the last 2.5 years, I’ve bought, sold and sometimes rebought probably well over 100 decks if not twice that. Every time I’m down to a few decks, I end up creeping up to 10-20 decks. Many of which run me on average of 65 dollars each and I never retrieve the full original price when they sell. I talk myself into these decks for one reason or another or change the criteria for buying because I believe in that moment it’s the final solution to stop buying so many decks and after using this criteria, I’ll eventually stop. And I never do. I’m at the point that maybe I need to stop and purge all my decks permanently from my home. Because then using them becomes a chore rather than fun so they don’t sit and collect dust or I fall into wanting to fortune tell which is a whole other addictive issue I had to stop. But overall I end up shopping more than I actually use any of them.

I don’t know what else to do anymore. It’s hard for me to just let them go. But it’s costing a deep financial burden to myself and others. It makes me miserable and ashamed outside of that dopamine high of buying, waiting and opening mail. And even then I’m between there’s guilt and anxiety to hide the packages that are en route. I can’t discuss it even in the tarot community because it’s normal to collect 200+ decks and people get angry when you start calling out the consumerism problem no one wants to address.

I’ve had a shopping addiction since I was a young girl. My parents always showed their love through things, money, gifts, trips to the mall. Even when they lost everything we still found ways to shop, second hand, thrift stores etc. well now I’m almost 30 and my life is in shambles. I’m disabled due to a brain disease but it doesn’t stop me from shopping. I love to go to the stores and look at things for hours. If I see something I even remotely like I find a way to buy it. I’ve filed bankruptcy already, massive debt with credit cards again and personal loans, things in collections, my credit is now so bad I can’t get approved for any more credit which is a blessing in disguise I think. I’ve been depressed lately with the way things have been going and I just fell into a trap of almost nonstop shopping for about 5 days. Now I’m broke and the worst part is I’m unemployed so it’s my sweet partner who funds my habit. He’s so nice about it and supportive but I feel horrible when I come down from my high and realize I’m taking advantage of all his hard work. I desperately want to change but all my attempts have failed. Does anyone have any success stories or tips? I’d love to know what has worked for people with a similar problem to me.

I’ve avoided shopping for months now and have gotten debt consolidated, sold many items, thought I had this under control. But then I went luxury shopping - for reasons I can’t explain - and dropped all this money I don’t have. I have a therapist, I am working with a financial counselor.

I feel so useless and hopeless. I see posts here and I have way more debt than anyone I see posted. I feel like such an idiot.

I’m debating liquidating my 401(k) to get out of this but I don’t know that that will solve anything AND I’ll shortchange my future.

Any kind advice or empathy would be appreciated. I feel so lost.

I know why I like to shop. Growing up, I was extremely poor. I grew up with no heat and rats. Now I’m an adult with my own money, and I can’t stop. I got bullied in school for not having the cool new things. I got clothes from hand me downs, baskets from food drives are how we ate, it was quite obvious I was poor. I was made fun of it, and it was my biggest insecurity. It started with body mists and perfume so I could smell good. My family smoked in the house, so I was hyper focused on my smell. Fast forward a few years, and now I’m 21 and moved out. Perfume, makeup, and clothes are my top issues. I bought a $200 perfume just because I could after years of not being able to afford food as a kid. I’m currently looking for a therapist, I just needed to rant because finding a therapist is a longer process than I anticipated. If you took time to read, thank you. I believe in us, we will all get through this!!

So I went to the mall today for the first time in months. I don't have a car and got a ride from someone else. I bought a lottt of stuff. I considered each item and whether I'd use it, and took pictures of things I wanted but wasn't going to buy. I got home and showed my sister all of the stuff that I bought, and she said it all looked like junk to her. I looked at my haul and realized she was right. I didn't need any of this. I justified buying it in the moment and now I'm surrounded by junk. I opened everything already so I can't really return anything. I spent hundreds of dollars today and I feel disgusting. I'm trying so hard to save for a car and I've been getting better about my spending, but today was a relapse and I just have a pit in my stomach.

There's a certain popular shopping app that is well known for selling cheap clothing and other random items. This app has sucked me into an endless cycle of buy/return, store credit, and refunds.....for 19 months. Thousands of dollars spent. What could i have done with this money? Bought a few stocks maybe. Anyways, i deleted my account officially and I'm free. Progress feels sweet 🥳

EDIT: I just did a calculative deep dive...the total I've spent in 19 months on this app was $4,391.73. Like holy cow, i could've used that to pay down my existing debt.

hii! i didn’t actually realize i had an addiction until my friend confronted me about it. im a student so i already don’t have that big of a budget but whenever i feel stressed i find myself scrolling through shopping apps. i don’t even do this conciously i only realize it after i’m done with the payment. i don’t know how to put an end to this. you might suggest going to therapy but i really can’t

Content warning: In this post I talk about death, depression, and suicide

My mom passed away from cancer in 2011. She was 40 and I was 8. After she died, I have never been able to see myself surviving past my thirties. Maybe I just can’t see myself getting older than my mom? I don’t know. Since her death I have been horrifically depressed and suicidal. I never cared about saving money because I figured I would off myself someday soon and then the money just wouldn’t matter. I bought myself whatever I wanted because shopping was one of the only things that would make me feel happy. Some days, the only thing I looked forward to was buying something new. I’m 22 now, and I’m just now coming out of the deep depression that incapacitated me for so many years. I have decided that life is worth living and that I do want to be here, but unfortunately I am still struggling with my shopping addiction.   

I don’t know why I’m making this post. I guess I just wanted to see if anyone else has gone through something similar. Did your spending habits get healthier as your depression lessened?  

Thank you for reading, and best of luck fighting this addiction.

edit: I am in therapy, but I've been too ashamed and embarrassed to bring up my shopping addiction with my therapist, but I promise I will bring it up during my next session

The past 2 weeks have been awful. I thought that the medical procedure I needed was over, but it's not, and it'll cost me another 1000 euro, on top of 3.5k, that i already paid😢 This additional 1k is killing me. Maybe to some people it's not much, but for me and my salary it is really rough.

So yesterday I went to a store to get a yoga mat that I wanted for some months. But once I entered, I was like, "Maybe I need these yoga cubes as well? Or this pretty set of sports clothes? It's on discount..." The sadness of my situation with how much more I'll have to pay for the procedure, stress at work, and general feeling of being overwhelmed were really insisting on me buying something. I was roaming around for about 40 mins, if not more. But I left the store only with 1 yoga mat, which I came for and nothing else. But it was really tough...

I believe I found myself in another addiction. I gave up smoking, drinking, caffeine but I just admitted today that I have an addiction to plushies. I've given away to my thrift store nearby and to others and plan to give away more. The impulse is still there ( to buy a plush) . Now that I have openly admitted to it I think I'll treat this addiction like I did with alcohol. ( Sober 5 years) . Thank you for a safe place to speak.

Hi all! I’m not sure if I’m a shopping addict. I always buy stuff when I’m sad, and I’m always planning my next shopping trip. I have a perfume collection so i decided to do a 2025 project pan. I’ve stopped buying perfume, but now I can’t stop buying clothes. Am I on a slippery slope?

I went on an expensive Etsy buying spree, stopped then did it again months later.

Now that I have more junk than I can handle, I started buying cheap things like stickers for $3 and lip balms.

It gives me the buying and receiving a package endorphins minus the expense. And no, I’m not deep diving into these items and overdoing it. I have no interest in collecting within these categories.

Just sharing because this has helped me. And on Etsy, it has changed my suggestion algorithms so I rarely see the expensive items that I was ‘addicted’ to anymore.

I can’t stop buying. I blow through paychecks, and I’m not even buying what I actually want. (And I have a list of things I’ve been wanting for a long time) I am buying plastic crap that is horrible for the environment. I want to cry idk what to do

fine bow squeeze spoon square roof amusing plough swim seemly

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

Hello everyone! This is a rant/advice post. Please if you have any examples of this please share I think we could all benefit from this.

So here’s a list of things I did to “help myself” that just made things way worse:

1. My absolute number one was start selling clothes online. I’ve always been interested in fashion and it started off buying things from places like depop and poshmark. Now I started selling stuff to try and get some money back. Worst mistake. I buy more than I ever do. I don’t break even on most items. And a lot of buyers lie and have given me more stress from having to deal with this. I’ve come across brands I wouldn’t know existed and it’s just all around a bad place for me. Now I have even more clothes I need to get rid of and I always had in the back of my mind if it doesn’t fit I can resell. WRONG. All wrong.

2. Trading belongings for experiences. I would encourage myself not to buy things by treating myself to take out, dinners, concerts, etc. Moderation is good for everyone and people deserve to experience life BUT I went over board.

3. Hobbies. I like shopping. It is a hobby for me a bad one. So to combat that I tried getting actual hobbies and guess what, I spent excess money trying to have those hobbies.

4. Self care. I struggle with depression and from that i’ve struggled with taking care of myself. So I thought let me put money into taking care of myself. Skin care, perfumes (It makes me happy to smell good smells), etc. Well now I have more skin care than I can use before expiring and more purfume than I should ever subject my nose to smelling.

I could go on and on. But my point is, all of my shopping issues stemmed from something I thought would be good for myself. I thought it would be good for my mental health to take more interest in my appearance through clothes makeup skin care. I thought it would be good for my mental health to have more experiences. I thought it would be good to try and make some money back on all my impulse purchases. And moderation is key but I think in a world where any consumption is bordering over consumption it’s hard to figure out what moderation looks like in practice and feel good about that. What I mean is, buying moisturizer might be a good idea. But now i’m in the store and there’s moisturizer for your face hands body lips. And like??? now where is the line drawn. Moisturizer is good but do I really need one for every body part??? Most of the time the answer is no but I can’t convince myself of that in the moment.

I know this was long but I would love to hear everyone else’s experience in this. I think it would help me and many others on seeing things that maybe we didn’t think of!

I'm embarrassed to admit it. I get a strong urge to shop whenever I feel lonely, abandoned, unlovable etc. When I buy an object, it's almost like I gain a new little friend. I know it sounds weird but I've recently realized that I find comfort and acceptance in shopping. When I buy a new lipgloss on my way home from work, I feel less lonely on my commute. When I'm spending time studying at home alone, knowing that a package is coming to me, feels comforting. I have family and friends I can talk to, but deep down I'm really lonely and I try to fix it by shopping.

I thought I was unsusceptible to addiction because I never had the pubescent hunger for substance abuse but now I'm here. I'm 17 years old, powering Autism and OCD. I've just began to have my own income but I can't focus on anything other than spending it all on records and toys. I'm currently waiting for my friend to get paid in a few days so we can go out shopping but Its been painful. My meds aren't even helping me fight the deprived feeling. Any advice to prevent this urge from festering?

I never realized I had a shopping addition and poor impulse control until somewhat recently. I'm autistic and have OCD, so I'm not sure if those things play into it at all. My main problem right now is makeup and skincare, and my triggers tend to be stress and/or buying something and having it "not be perfect" or not work out for me, and then feeling like I need to buy something else to try in its place. I've started keeping track of how many days I can go without buying anything, and I was doing well for about four days but then have just completely failed the last few. I know it's just something I need to continue working on to improve, but I feel so defeated when I fail.

I don’t really know where to even start. Almost two years ago I came clean to my husband about my $40k in CC debt . He was very hurt and upset, but forgave me and we paid it off . I swore to never do it again and I truly meant it . I thought I did anyways. I truly did feel terrible and was so happy I had come clean and ready to move forward . Fast forward to now and I have another $45k in CC debt . Yes, I like to shop, but truly I have not bought anything extravagant. No designer purses or jewelry or anything crazy . Too many Amazon purchases? Yes. Too many target trips? Yes. I myself am confused and flabbergasted as to how I’ve spent so much money . I do pay for all groceries, our two children’s needs and clothes, but most of our bills are paid from our shared checking account that has money set aside for bills. I’m just so embarrassed and want out of this hell I’ve put myself in . I don’t know how I got here …. I don’t even have any fancy items to show for it . I guess I am wondering if anyone has accumulated this much debt and truly not understood how.

Watching my friend post their hauls all the time, especially a haul of stuff from a recent trip, it’s been sitting with me. I’m a hoarder at heart so it’s hard to let go of anything I do buy, and seeing from an outside perspective what it looks like to buy so much has given me more perspective.

You can’t bring this stuff with you when you die, and once you buy it, it often loses value. This friend does has a lot of nice things, and maybe on some level I do feel some jealousy that they’re able to spend with abandon, but I also have to remember the obligations I have that they don’t (and that I’m proud to have).

I’m going on a trip as well and keep considering whether to bring an extra luggage for purchases, but then I remind myself—do I REALLY need to buy that much or am I feeling FOMO? I actually felt some level of stress seeing them unpack everything from their luggage and thinking “where would you even put it all?” Going to try to keep telling myself this when it feels like my money is burning a hole in my pocket.

Anyone else’s shopping addiction change into a new one? I’ve recently become obsessed with skin care and perfumes which is entirely new for me. And well. I bought too much in this new wave. What started off as something that was small and beneficial for me quickly became not so beneficial. How can I realize quicker when something is becoming a problem???

TLDR: I have way more things than I can possibly use… What are ways to re use items in non conventional ways???

Hello! I have way too many clothes. I have donated a lot, but I find myself wishing to be able to use some of these items as well. Do you have any suggestions on ways to up cycle things such as clothes?

Ive thought about turning the clothes into pieces I can actually wear but I am terrible at sewing, so anything simpler would be better. Things in the range of tote bags would be doable.

Are there any other ways to re use clothes in non conventional ways? Something I already do is use them as rags.

I’ve already looked through the upcycle reddit but much of that stuff is too complex for my skills lol.

Anyway, any other ideas for upcycling other items??? What about cosmetics?

If you are buying things because you don't find joy in other aspects of life and rely on it for dopamine and easy gratification, start to live your life in a way that is happy and authentic to you. I know this can seem really hard, and I've been in the depths of depression and poverty so I understand, but you have so much more agency then you realize. No matter your situation, you can always tweak the way you live, starting in small ways, to improve your happiness and your life.

Life has not been easy for me lately, and actually I've started to find a huge thrill in living a frugal lifestyle. I used to always get such a rush when buying something, but now I literally get giddy when I hit the pan on something, when i remove something from my cart, sell a shirt on depop, use up a last squeeze, shop my freezer instead of ordering takeout, or in the same vein use up something in my fridge that was about to go bad.

There is something almost "fun" about being resourceful - it almost feels like I'm playing a game. A video game where you have no resource or time limits would be sort of pointless after a while. It's HARD to live with less means, and it forces you to be resourceful and clever, but once you start getting good at it you have tangible benefits (more savings, less debt) and that rush is what encourages me to get ADDICTED to saving. When I talk myself out of buying something, find an alternate use for something, or give something an extra life, I feel so good about myself, lol. in addition to buying less, ensuring that I use up or get good cost per wear for the things i have spent my money on, because it makes that money better spent and more justified.

Once you start finding joy in one thing, any thing, you are now in a more positive headspace where you are more open to finding more joy in more things. This is a positive feedback loop to you living a happier, more enriched life where you are less inclined to rely on shopping for gratification. I hope that reading this helped somebody!

What’s yours? Introspectively trying to find out what triggered this behavior for me and am struggling. Doing better with some help from y’all and this sub! 🙏🏻

Hi there, I am a 29 year old F who has struggled with spending my whole life. A little background, I grew up up incredibly blessed. With incredible hard working and supportive parents. I would get what I asked for my birthday or Christmas probably 95% of the time growing up. I would get monthly allowances and instead of saving some of it, I'd spend it on whatever I'd want, like most kids with allowances would do. I never worked in highschool because I was an athlete and focused on my studies and sports. That was it. My parents are all about education so it was more important for me to focus on that and getting a scholarship for college than to work. I did not get my first job until I was 18 working as an aid at a school. Even then, I did not save very much. I'd save a little here an there for concerts, gas, food. But even then I'd squandered it mostly on things I wanted and would result asking my parents for extra money. They didn't care too much because I was going to college full time while working part time at the school. As long as I was in school, I didn't have to pay them rent or need to buy my own groceries. My parents are well off so they didn't need extra help around the house. I did make sure to always keep a tidy house for them as contributions.

Another part of my background is I am the youngest of 4. The closest sibling to me is 8 years older. (My oldest siser passed of cancer when I was 11 and my two older brothers fell down the rabbit hole of drugs while I was in middle school). I was also homeschooled and attended co ops once a week. So most of my childhood I felt like an only child, buying things or getting something always filled me with some sort of comfort and I believe because of the heartache my parents went through with my siblings, they always gave me what I wanted and needed. ( I do not blame them at all for how I turned out. I could have figured this out years ago on my own).

When I turned 19 , I met my now husband. I got pregnant at 21, and then we married when I was 22, and then he joined the Marines. I never finished my degree because of all the life events that happened.

Fast-forward to now at 29 with 3 kids. Throughout our 7 years of marriage I am still struggling with spending on whatever I want. It makes it even harder because we use credit cards. Growing up I always used a debit card or cash. It has never been as bad as it is now. For the past two years, we've been living paycheck to paycheck. We're at a point now where we go $1000 over budget a month. And I know most of it is because of me. My husband says he can do better too but it's mostly me buying things out of convenience, things I or our kids don't need like extra clothes, toys, house decor. Especially clothes. I gained some weight after giving birth to my kids, so my confidence is non-existent and wearing nice outfits make me feel a little better. But now I will now no longer be able to buy anything unless with a gift card until our debts and my spending is fixed. I also shamefully confessed I had a PayPal account and I gave all the info to my mom. I would use it to buy Free People, or anthropology or any other useless store. I got up to $3000 worth of debt because of my spending and my mom took it over. How can stop this? How can I change these habits and feelings about shopping? I have hobbies I do. For example art, the gym, chicken tending, gardening. But those things are things I am only able to do in the morning, nap time, or after bedtime. So I end up scrolling through Amazon or free people etc. My awful habits are hurting my marriage. My husband grew up the complete opposite of me so he's extremely smart with money and understands how to be cheap and tell himself no. I never learned that or taught myself that. Why is it so hard to tell myself no??? I am tired, embarrassed ashamed, and just want change myself or I fear I will lose my husband. If you made it this far, thank you for reading. I'd appreciate all the tips and tricks others may have when coming out of such a privileged life style. Or if anybody has a similar upbringing. Thanks.

Hello I’m wondering where you all sold some of your items successfully? To make some money back and declutter. I’m trying Poshmark but are there any options.

Hi everyone. I've just found this page and I'm so happy that I'm not alone. I keep searching for new things because I like fashion and I like feeling beautiful, but the joy lasts only until I receive the package. I want to be able to appreciate my possessions more and live in the moment. I believe there is something mssing and I'm trying to fill a hole with this compulsion, but I still can't find it. However I've noticed that I intend to buy things when I feel alone, sad or stressed. For example today I had a stressful day and yesterday my mum went to the hospital because of lightheadedness, so today I cought myself say "ok. I should buy something for myself". I will get better and fight this because now I found you guys.

Hi everyone. I've just found this page and I'm so happy that I'm not alone. I keep searching for new things because I like fashion and I like feeling beautiful, but the joy lasts only until I receive the package. I want to be able to appreciate my possessions more and live in the moment. I believe there is something mssing and I'm trying to fill a hole with this compulsion, but I still can't find it. However I've noticed that I intend to buy things when I feel alone, sad or stressed. For example today I had a stressful day and yesterday my mum went to the hospital because of lightheadedness, so today I cought myself say "ok. I should buy something for myself". I will get better and fight this because now I found you guys.