KeepPedaling

Just curious if any one has any experience with that addiction.

barb dwyer

Not in a long time.
But there was someone I wenty to high school with
who developed something like that

she got to the point she was forging her mother's name on credit card apps
and getting credit cards in her mothers name.

her house was so full of stuff
(furniture, decorations, etc.)
you couldn't walk...
it looked like the gfift shop at a cracker barrel and that's no exaggeration.

I think it's just another sideroad
\the addiction takes.

LIke Peter Gabriel says-

"I can hear the distant thunder o
of a million unheard souls...
watch them reach for creature comforts
for the filling of their holes..."

empty is empty.
we can either fill it with booze
food
pills and dope
horses (for me)

or we can seek the Light of the Infinite

and go from there.

Ceres

I transferred to a goodwill/thrift store shopaholic. I spent a LOT of money on a LOT of crap. However, it was short lived. I guess if one gets addicted to shopping, Goodwill and thrift stores is the way to go. ;-)

LucyA

My aunt is probably a shopoholic.
She's having her share of problems at the moment, lives alone by choice but gets lonely sometimes.
She shops all the time.
We've all had to start being careful about saying we'd like something in conversation.
You know how I mean, 'Oh yes, I would so love whatever' or even, I was going to tie up that rose but I've run out of ties'
Say it and it appears!

Still Waters

My AH is one, in my opinion. Or maybe it's just part of the insanity, but telling me we're broke and he's going to shut off the cell phones one day and then spending $500 at the store the next don't jive.

Then again, it might have just been more of the abuse.

spinner

The book In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté, M.D. deals mainly with alcohol and drug addictions but also with shopaholism (is that a word?) as the author suffers from it himself.

Amazon.com: In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction (9781556438806): Gabor Mate M.D., Peter A. Levine Ph.D.: Books

Lilya

Yes, I have that addiction, although I haven´t bought excessively in five years.

I still get urges if I have strong cravings for drugs and alchohol.

Once I was in Bangkok and wanted to do drugs. I didn´t know anyone in Thailand and found no AA meetings, so I decided to buy stuff.

I went to their biggest shopping centre and started buying.
I still have the stuff I bought, it´s quite beautiful, but the Visa bill afterwards... terrible. My family was at home so I bought presents for everyone.

It´s a dangerous addiction, because it can break you financially. I´m learning how to live on a budget. I joined DA, Debtors Anonymous, and it really opened my eyes. I´m still learning, but it´s much better.

jcfollower

Oh my word, yes! My mother is a recovering shopaholic...I can't give her credit for making the choice to recover, though,...it's tough to keep shopping and spending money when A) you are laid off, and B) you find yourself in debt up to your eyeballs and are being sued by creditors. No $ = No Spending.

It was a major point of contention in our relationship. I hated going to the mall with her because she'd ALWAYS buy something. And it just made me angry and sick. She would go to the mall on her lunch breaks, shop online constantly, spend hundreds of dollars at a time on department store cosmetics, shoes, jewelry, clothes, on and on and on...she always bought for herself, though. Never gifts for anyone else. Even now I can see how it's a bit of a hoarding compulsion for her. If some is good more is better. She'll buy 8 tomatoes when we reasonably will only use 3 or 4. Hmmm....

roxiestone

I could have written jcfollower's post about my mother as well. I've always come behind and cleaned up the messes, covered the hot checks, paid the utilities, but now more. She's not a dirty hoarder, but I have no idea how many storage units she rents. You hardly walk in her house.

She does buy gifts, but I think that's just so she can use that against you later if you bring it up. So I'm now debating on not accepting anything anymore, no matter if it stays where it lays. The last pair of shoes she bought me, she gave them to me in a paper sack, no box, no receipt. She didn't want me to tell her to take them back.

What do you all think about refusing to accept anything ever again?

jcfollower

Gosh, Roxie, that's an intereting question. Something to chew on for a while, for sure. I mean, we're not supposed to drink with the alcoholic, or use with the addict...so I can see not shopping with the shopaholic...I guess one has to dive deeper into the motive behind the gift...?

roxiestone

Oh, I'm not shopping WITH her. I avoid that. She just buys me things. Which on the surface is nice, but it comes with a high price. I've asked repeatedly for her not to do it, but to no avail.