hello, my name is lisa and i am a spender.
*sits down quietly*
ok.. well not anymore thanks to this forum.
but i still get the original trigger feelings!!! shopping
use to give me a high, although now it just usually gives me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when i think of the better things i could be doing with our cash. my shopping triggers are
anger at someone
sadness / frustration
self-hatred ("i need a new hairdo, my clothes dont fit, blah blah")
ideas for business ventures
self-denial (during our first few months married, my husband use to get weekly cash and i didnt..self imposed..led to mass spending sprees)
i find that when i stay out of stores i dont spend.
so i just dont go much anymore and im happier too.
Last year, after we first married and before we ripped the credit cards up in nov. 06, i believe i spent more than $2300 duing my spending sprees (when i succumb to a trigger, i spend big -- 300 to 400$ at a time or more) ... $1500 of which was for supplies for a pet gift basket making business that failed. all of which was put on a credit card!
This year, thankfully, i only succumbed ONCE to a trigger (yay!) - in early august my husband and i had a fight one morning and i left for the day ...spent the entire day shopping for clothes ($160), having french tipped nails put on for the first time ($30) and my hair cut & highlighted ($120). this time around though it was all from surplush cash we had sitting around (which was a wee bit better than a credit card shopping spree).
although that august spending spree wasn't aaaaalllll that terrible - our baby was..uh..produced that very night. :-D