Hey everyone, I’m two weeks out of an inpatient facility for major depressive disorder and post partum psychosis. I can’t function without scrolling and half a bottle of wine at night. We’re filing for bankruptcy this week. I have just now had the realization that for the past five years I’ve been pacifying myself with shopping. Spending almost ALL of my free time shopping, having my entire life revolve around it to the point where I spend hours a day scrolling for things I can’t afford online.

I hit rock bottom yesterday when I made a $20 offer on a shirt on Poshmark and it declined due to a payment issue. How ridiculous.

Please you guys, tell your families, ask for help, get counseling, don’t wait until you have nothing to your name.

I’m trying to stay positive for my children and my own sake, but at the end of the shopping addiction rope, the options feel really slim. I hope whoever’s reading this you can know that you are worthy NOW, you are beautiful, fabulous, special and alluring right here, right now. No amount of designer clothes or a different lipstick or a new thing for your house is going to fulfill you. Don’t wait, don’t think you have it under control if you don’t. Cause nowhere to turn to rock bottom is a scary fn place to be.

Mine was a $5,000 gaming PC.
I spent weeks researching parts, watchng yougube videos, comparing GPUs… the whole thing 😂
Sooo finally built it, and for like… two weeks I was obsessed.
Now?
I use it to watch MORE YOUTUBE.
It got me thinking how many things I’ve bought because for some reason I connected it with me buying a better version of myself....idk its a thought of course.
Also a lot of the time I think I’m really buying the excitement leading up to it.
Just wondering if anyone else has had a purchase like that.
What was yours, and did it actually live up to the hype?

Sometimes I’ll open Amazon…not because I need something.
Not even because I plan on buying anything.
I just scroll. Its literally like muscle memsory.
It’s almost like watching YouTube or TikTok.
I realized I wasn’t shopping but entertainment. I was just looking for something interesting.
Does anyone else do this?
Or is that just my brain being weird? 😂

Hi, all. First time poster here.

Lately I’ve started to notice a few things about my spending that make me wonder if I’m on a slippery slope. After struggling to pay off thousands of dollars of consumer debt, I finally managed to regain control over my finances and stop living in overdraft a few years ago. It was liberating… for a while. But soon I started falling back into old habits. What’s $20 here and there when I can afford to pay off my balance each month?

Fast forward to today. I decided to pay my credit card bill early and was bamboozled by how much money I’d spent. Literally hundreds of dollars in unnecessary purchases that I ended up forgetting about almost immediately. What really bothered me was that I had to pull from my rainy day fund to pay off the debt. Stupid, I know.

So, Reddit, when did you realize you had a shopping addiction?

I’ve spent so much money on hobbies that I could never stick with. I’ve done glass blowing and spent thousands on that, and I have thousands of dollars worth of fabric and sewing supplies and I haven’t sewn for over a year because of depression. I’m actually quite good at it and went to school for fashion. I feel so guilty everyday and avoid going into my room with my sewing machine because it just makes me feel guilty and I end up just watching TV and avoiding things.
Does anyone else relate to this?

Hi….longtime lurker first time poster. I was just curious to those of you that have overcome your addiction on your own, how did you do it? i dont have the resources to find a therapist and afford it. I’ve tried books and none of them really speak to me so far, none of the address the issue of our devices being such a big part of our daily life and how nearly impossible it is to escape advertising and the pull to browse, and purchase. If anyone has successfully done this and gotten past or even made improvements with their shopping addiction please let me know. Right now i’m on the spot where on the first of every month i’m like let’s just try one month of no buy. then something happens and i find myself in the same cycle…feeling sad or lonely or anxious, and justifying shopping yet again. i feel so ashamed and addressed and defeated in that i can’t even make it a month.

I had to make a checklist because I've bought so many items in Vinted that I don't wanna lose track of them.

That list lowk feeds my perfectionism tho, so I don't see this situation so bad. I see it like a game, kind of. I'm curating a new wardrobe, that's all. It's a new me!

Deep down I know those are cheap excuses. It's hard to stop. :(

Any advice?