Shopping can be a mood lifter, but when shopping becomes your stress reliever, it can tip you down a slippery slope if you don’t watch out.

Shopping to relieve stress or boredom can have downsides, such as high credit card bills and spending money that should instead be set aside for emergency savings or retirement

Stress shopping, or shopping to relieve stress, can unexpectedly become your source of more stress, especially if your budget is tight and finances start to be drained when spending becomes uncontrolled.

The euphoria from your shopping can evaporate quickly, only to be replaced by remorse and guilt from rounds of compulsive buying.

• What are the Signs of a Stressed Shopper?
• How Does Shopping Relieve Stress?
• How can you Avoid Stress Shopping and Save Money?
• 3 Ways Stress Shopping is Hurting you and Your Wallet
• Why Shopping is a bad Hobby?
• What are the Dangers of Retail Therapy?
• 8 Ways to Avoid Retail Therapy

What are the Signs of a Stressed Shopper?

1. Compulsive shopping:You have a strong urge to hit the shops when you feel stressed, frustrated or anxious and must buy something.
2. Impulsive decisions:It doesn’t take you long to decide what to buy. You are in a “buy first, worry later” mode, and you may buy things you don’t need or didn’t plan to buy.
3. Indulgent purchases:You feel that you deserve to splurge on an item that you’ve eyed for some time. You rationalise your spending and feel defensive about your purchases.
4. Emotional high:You get a rush of positive emotions – of euphoria and excitement – after the cashier hands over your shopping bags. Buying makes you feel good.
5. Shopping aloneYou prefer to shop by yourself, so that you don’t have to explain your purchases or answer to anyone.

Often, the joy from stress shopping pops and buyer’s remorse kicks in.

You may start to regret your actions, or question your buying decisions. You may feel guilty for chalking up bills and debts, or from having less money to spend on other necessary expenses.

Read Also: Tips for Getting a Service Fee Waived

If you already own a lot of things at home, the added clutter from your recent purchases may be overwhelming too.

What’s more, the initial stressors which prompted you to hit the malls probably haven’t gone away.

The stress will build up and multiply as you engage in more stress shopping because you have to deal with the guilt and remorse on top of the stressors you are feeling.

How Does Shopping Relieve Stress?

Have you ever found yourself buying something you don’t need, to make yourself happy? Do you spend more when you’re stressed?

“Retail therapy” is one method of stress relief that many people use consciously or unconsciously—it’s the act of buying yourself a little something to boost your mood when you’re feeling low, and it may be more common than you think.

Retail therapy (and even its more intense cousin, compulsive shopping) may be more common than people realize.

How Shopping Affects Us When We’re Stressed

When we’re under stress, we react to shopping differently. Just as we may naturally crave sweets to lift our moods, and as we respond positively to other pleasures in life, people tend to feel stronger impulses to buy themselves treats for a mood boost when stressed.

The previously mentioned survey of shoppers found that 82% had only positive feelings about these purchases and that the positive mood boost that followed these purchases was long-lasting, demonstrating that purchases made as a “pick-me-up” were largely immune to “buyer’s remorse” feelings.

However, when this type of buying becomes more compulsive, especially when money is tight, it can feel quite different. When shopping becomes primarily and chronically an exercise in mood enhancement, other issues can arise due to unintended consequences.

Those prone to compulsive buying can experience extreme levels of debt, anxiety and frustration, the feeling of loss of control, and conflict at home.

Healthier Alternatives to Retail Therapy

If you find yourself indulging in a little retail therapy now and then, it may not be the most effective way to relieve stress, but it can be a nice mood booster if it doesn’t become a compulsion.

To get the best benefit from retail therapy with the least amount of negative consequences, many people have found the following strategies to be helpful:

• De-Clutter: Rather than going out to get new “stuff,” you may find the feeling of abundance you crave by looking through what you may have forgotten you already have. You can make it a major undertaking (re-organizing all the closets in your house and moving furniture in the process) or a 10-minute project (cleaning out your junk drawer), and you may find yourself discovering things you’d forgotten you had. In the end, the “new” thing you get will be a less-cluttered environment to use how you choose, which can definitely be a mood booster.
• Count Your Blessings: Cultivating a sense of gratitude for what you have in your life can help you to feel a sense of abundance that can lessen feelings of desire for more things. Maintaining a gratitude journal and writing about what you appreciate in each day can be a transformative experience. Counting your blessings the next time you feel the urge to make a purchase can help reduce the cravings to get more. Because compulsive shopping can be an effort to “fill a void,” indulging in activities that fill you emotionally can reduce your cravings for material items.
• Spend Less: Sometimes you’re just in the mood for a treat, and talking yourself out of it takes more effort than it’s worth. If done in moderation and within your means, small treats can be mood-lifters that don’t bring lasting debt. Going to discount stores and purchasing one item on an extreme sale can sometimes be just the thing. Better still, getting something inexpensive that will allow you to enjoy a quiet ‘moment’ (like a cup of tea at a nice cafe, or a scented candle that will brighten up a room) can help you feel that you’re enjoying a small ‘escape’ without going overboard. Positive psychologists recommend the use of ‘pleasures’ in life, and a small ‘retail therapy’ investment can indulge the part of you that yearns for something new, without going too far and creating an expensive habit that you can’t afford, and the guilt and additional stress that comes with it.

As with any advice, if you find that you are unable to manage your stress-related spending, and suspect that your shopping is out of control, it’s a good idea to talk to a professional for additional support and expertise.

How can you Avoid Stress Shopping and Save Money?

You can avoid stress shopping if you try other ways to relieve stress, such as exercising, practising mindfulness or spending time with your loved ones.

Let shopping become an occasional perk-me-up activity and not an avenue to escape from your woes. Here’re 3 tips to avoid stress shopping:

1. Plan, Plan, Plan

Start your shopping by decluttering and discarding what you don’t need. Then make a shopping list and know your budget before you hit the shops. This gives you purpose, allowing you to shop for the right reasons.

Consider shopping at fundraising events, flea markets or swapaholic events instead.

As an added precaution, shop with cash and leave your credit cards at home. You become more aware of an item’s cost and avoid buying expensive items on a whim. If there is something you need to buy, have a look online for nordstrom deals or coupon sites. If you can earn money back from shopping, it will help justify your spending. 

2. Avoid Buying on Impulse

Take time to shop instead of feeling rushed into buying. Always compare prices, look for good value and quality instead of falling prey to sales tactics such as “today only” or “last day of discount” offers.

If you shop online, leave items in your shopping cart and mull over them before finally hitting the “check out” button. You can also limit accessibility to online shopping by blocking your favourite shopping sites.

For example, if you get stressed at work, block those sites to avoid making impulse purchases triggered by stress and frustration.

Watch out for other shopping triggers, such as the Great Singapore Sale, during festive seasons, or when pay day comes around. It’s especially easy to be lax on your purchases when you’ve just been given a pay raise, or received a fat bonus.

3. Shop in a Pack

Make shopping a social activity with friends and family. Shopping with company has multiple benefits. You are spending quality time together doing an enjoyable activity that is stress-relieving on its own.

What’s more, you can remind each other not to be impulsive and to stick to the shopping list and budget.

Minimize Temptation 

Stress shopping has become almost too easy. With just a few taps on your phone or computer keyboard, the latest must-have item can be on its way to you.

If online shopping is your weakness, make it harder for yourself to shop online. Unsubscribe from promotional emails, text messages and push notifications. Delete those shopping apps from your phone screen.

Also delete your payment information so that when you do decide to buy something, you have to re-enter your credit card number each time. That will give you extra time to decide if you really want to make the purchase.

Stay Out of Stores 

If you’re more of a browse-and-buy person, don’t put yourself in situations where you’ll be tempted to stress shop.

Instead of walking around the mall or roaming the aisles at Target to banish boredom, head to a museum or an art gallery where you can get that same feeling of discovery — but without the opportunity to take something home with you.

Shop Your Closet 

A frequent shopping habit means you probably have things in your closet you forgot where were even there. Instead of going shopping for more new things you’ll quickly forget about, shop your own closet for what you already have.

You’re sure to find some forgotten favorites. Once you’ve gone through everything, check out Pinterest for some outfit inspiration on new ways to wear what you already own.

Increase Dopamine Naturally 

Shopping isn’t the only way to help your brain produce more of it. Try some of these other ways to get your levels up and keep you feeling good:

• Get regular, moderate exercise
• Listen to your favorite music
• Make something with your hands
• Meditate
• Make to-do lists and check off tasks as you complete them

Participate in a Savings Challenge 

Many people shy away from saving money because it seems boring or restrictive. A savings challenge can make it fun and engaging.

Rather than just saying “I’d like to save some money,” a savings challenge gives you specific short- and long-term goals to shoot for and helps you shift your mindset from spending money to saving it. 

Here’s a list of several ideas for savings challenges to get you started.

Target budgeted products

Rather than going to malls and expensive stores switch to smaller shops or road side shopping. As a result of which you will end up spending less and getting more.

In the recent time there has been a great shift of retail therapy from offline to online. Nearly 68% of Indians buy apparel online. 52% of the Indians prefer shopping online as it is an instant stress buster due to its easy access and 24/7 availability.

Therefore, retail therapy if done with a proper plan and budget is certainly a cost-effective method to reduce your stress otherwise it will add up to you stress

There are better ways to manage stress in life. Be a smart shopper. Not a stressed shopper!

3 Ways Stress Shopping is Hurting you and Your Wallet

Retail Therapy has proved to improve the mood of a lot of people. However, when this shopping becomes too much and beyond budget it causes negative effects.

Sometimes, without having any cash in hand people buy the products on credit and are unable to make the payment on the due date. Thus, the method which was used to reduce the stress is actually adding to the stress.

A person has to be very cautious while shopping. Just because one CAN buy a product doesn’t mean one SHOULD buy it. We all have been there, after a long and tiring day at work just browsing through the web and buying things we like.

Here are the three main ways that stress shopping might be hurting you and your wallet.

Compulsion

Excessive and over shopping is not good. Shopping once in a while for reducing stress is acceptable, but going on and on without a limit proves to be harmful. It should not become a habit.

Huge Debt

Shopping without a budget can empty one’s pocket. If a person does not know where to stop and set his limits he/she may fall in huge debts in the future.

Unwanted products

Sometimes you may end up buying unnecessary and unwanted products. The product may seem useful and attractive but is not of any actual use.

Alternatives to shopping while stressed

If you find yourself slipping into the pattern of managing stress with shopping, know that there are plenty of other satisfying activities you can do instead.

Even if we feel compelled to purchase more practical items, there can still be guilt or shame associated with stress shopping, — not to mention depleted bank accounts — which, Bash notes, could result in even more stress. Here are a few alternatives:

Move your body

If, like Carrie Bradshaw, shopping is your cardio, the good news is that there are plenty of other forms of exercise you can do that cost a lot less.

According to Metzger, a good workout has the same benefits of providing instant gratification and a distraction, but it burns calories instead of your wallet.

Bash recommends running, biking, hiking, swimming, walking, or other physical forms of exercise to shift you out of stress mode.

Don’t have time for dedicated exercise? It’s totally possible to sneak it in throughout your day when you run for the bus, vacuum the house, or take the stairs instead of the elevator.

Tap into mindfulness

Mindful practices like yoga and meditation have been around since ancient times for a good reason: they work. We now understand more of the science behind why they’re so effective, and know that taking the time to meditate can help clear our minds and reduce our stress levels.

Do something creative

For starters, being creative can be extremely rewarding, Bash explains. Whether it’s art, music, writing, cooking, acting, or dancing, allowing ourselves to express our creativity can help create a sense of calm and flow more than most things.

And similar to shopping, creating puts you in total control of something, which can help with stress.

Why Shopping is a bad Hobby?

Let us look at two main reason why shopping isn’t a great hobby to have in the first place:

1. Besides the fact that a shopping hobby will undoubtedly make you spend more money than you would like to, it also isn’t great from an ethical perspective because the more you shop (especially from fast fashion brands), the more you are contributing to the negative effects the fashion industry has on workers and the environment.
2. You are also not doing your own closet any favours by adding to it on a weekly basis (or even more often). If shopping is your hobby, you buy stuff for the experience: to have fun, to relax, to be creative, right in that moment. Things like whether you’ll actually wear that piece, how it fits in with the rest of your wardrobe and even how much you like it, come secondary. Eventually, you end up with a jam-packed closet full of stand-alone pieces that were fun to buy, but that don’t reflect your style or work with your lifestyle.

What should you do instead?

People love to shop for different reasons. Some find it ridiculously relaxing, for some it’s their go-to creative outlet, for others a fun, low-stress way to spend time with friends. What’s your reason?

Think about what situations and times you usually want to shop. What mood are you in? What mood are you in post-shop? Really try to dig deep here. Then: Find something that gives you the same experience that shopping does.

Because there are plenty of other ways to be creative, have fun with fashion or just relax after a long day at work, that don’t involve spending money and adding yet another so-so item to your wardrobe.

For example, if you tend to shop online to unwind at night, think about what else might give you that same feeling of relaxation. A bubble bath perhaps? Or curling up with a good book?

To help you figure out your personal most effective shopping replacement, I’ve created a little typology of the most common types of “hobby shoppers”. 

Each profile contains a quick description and a few recommendations for shopping alternatives. Read through each profile and see which ones you identify with.

Use the suggested alternatives as a jumping off point to write your own list of activities. Then try them out the next time you feel like hitting the shops or buying something online.  

What are the Dangers of Retail Therapy?

Is retail therapy really such a bad thing if it seems to be saving our sanity?

Here are some areas of our lives that both researchers and shopaholics agree can suffer at the hands of retail therapy if we don’t shop responsibly.

Financial Security

Maybe you can see yourself driving the truck of your dreams all over town, but if you can’t afford to fill the tank, is it really worth it? Saying “I deserve it” and splurging on big-ticket items isn’t worth putting your financial security at risk.

Long-Term Goals

Hoping to get out of debt, buy a house, save up for your kid’s college tuition, or even pay for in-home care for your elderly parents?

Satisfying short-term desires without factoring in the future can come at a cost, not only to us, but also to those around us.

Self-Control

Thanks to the rush of dopamine released when we shop, retail therapy can easily become addictive and taxing on our self-control.

For those who are already prone to addictive-type behaviors, not practicing self-control on what may seem like small things could lead us to chase that dopamine release through other addictions.

Health

Let’s have some real talk: Retail therapy might work in the short term, but it can never cure what’s driving us to shop in the first place—it just numbs the pain for a moment.

Pile a load of guilt, shame and anxiety from all that money we just spent on top of the pain that drove us to shop, and we’ve got a royal mess of stress on our hands when the dopamine fades. 

So, the next time retail therapy calls your name, do your health a favor and make the wise choice. 

Relationships

If we’re using retail therapy as a coping mechanism to deal with life’s ups and downs, the relationships that are most important to us can easily feel the sting of neglect while we chase the next thing that’s sure to make us happy.

But as Derek Thompson humorously wrote, “Shopping bags aren’t a great replacement for friendships.” Do we really want our legacy to be that we invested our time in things, rather than in those we love?

8 Ways to Avoid Retail Therapy

“If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail.” Ever heard that saying? You need a plan to keep those roller-coaster emotions far, far away from your shopping cart.

Here are some simple steps to help you shop responsibly and avoid buyer’s remorse:

1. Make a budget—and stick to it

Imagine waking up in the morning after a big purchase and breathing easy because—being the financially savvy person you are—you already made room in your budget to splurge. Now that would be a good way to start a new day!

Your budget is the path to freedom and fun. As you’re planning the budget for the upcoming month, decide how much of your income will go toward your essentials (like rent and utilities), how much will go toward giving, and how much will go toward your money goals (like paying off debt or building your emergency fund).

If you’re out of debt and have an emergency fund in place, be sure to include things you enjoy in the budget, like adding new pieces to this season’s wardrobe, splurging on a new set of tools, or taking a date night out with your spouse.

But if you want to make a purchase and there’s no room in the budget—sorry! Not today, retail therapy. Not today.

2. Window shop

Believe it or not, even window shopping can release a surge of dopamine, giving your brain that fix it craves. But this time, it doesn’t cost you a thing!

3. Put it on hold

As you’re waiting in line at Target with a product in your arms that’s going to make you feel better, ask yourself:

• Why do I want this item?
• Will I really use it?
• Does it fit within my budget?

If it checks all the boxes, simply ask an employee if they’ll let you put it on hold. My rule of thumb is, when you find yourself wanting to impulse buy, think about it at least overnight. If you’re still excited about that “must-have” purchase tomorrow, it’ll be there when you get back!

4. Narrow it down to necessities

Instead of buying your 15th pair of running shoes because they’re just the right shade of navy blue, funnel your need to shop into buying necessities like food, toiletries or household cleaners.

5. Shop smart

Stretch your pennies by shopping smart. Use coupons, wait for sales and always compare prices. With a little patience, research and planning, you could get twice as much for your money!

6. Put boundaries around your social media

The always-perfect, forever-polished, we-really-are-a-flawless-family lives presented on social media are enough to make even the most accomplished person feel like they’re not measuring up. 

Follow the people who inspire you to be a better you—not the ones who make you feel like you need more to make you happy.

It’s almost impossible to be satisfied with your own life if you’re constantly looking at what someone else has. So, if this is a real struggle for you right now, shut off your social networks entirely.

And while you’re at it, unsubscribe from all those email newsletters that show you how much you’re “missing.”

7. Steer clear of your triggers

If you know you can’t be trusted in certain stores when emotions are high, do your best to avoid them. Come back when your financial feet are safely on the ground and you’ve got room in the budget to buy.

8. Live generously

Still itching to shop? Try putting that budget to good use! Giving is a key character trait of people who win with money. 

Read Also: How to Calculate Your Financial Freedom?

So, purchase a pair of slacks for a veteran so he can nail that job interview, or deliver diapers to your sleep-deprived neighbors who have a newborn and are struggling to make ends meet.

Don’t know of anyone in need? Check with your local church or rescue mission to find out how you can make an impact by giving back in your community.

Final Words

Now, you can ask yourself, do you really want to spend your life hauling your retail therapy purchases to Goodwill, with a broken budget and a future shaped by choices that came at a cost you never intended to pay?

No one wants that to be their story. And it doesn’t have to be! Half the battle is knowing yourself and knowing how to help yourself.  

You can enjoy shopping without the pain of regret by making choices that are not only right for today, but also for the days ahead.