Shoes and bags and clothes and jewellery and computers and cars and ipods ....

I'm not a big shopper i like to take my time and look round read reviews get the best price regardless of what it is but as for the actual buying I have a 48 hour rule. I wait 48 hours and if i still need it then i buy it because I cam get caught up in impulse buying so thats my trick to stop myself. I particularily hate food shopping so I'm worst at that because sometimes i dont even look for the best price i just want it done lol I guess I don't run with the whole women love to shop thing. Now whether that would be different if I had money and didnt have to worry I'm unsure because i've never been in that position but even when I get money I'm careful with it. I didn't even own a credit card until I finished uni (i know people who had 2 or 3 at uni and lived off them) and I started a full time job and then it was only for emergences and to get a some sort of credit score cos I was off the map. I even got my sofa off ebay for 350 ha ha ha The one time I do like to shop is when i'm finding presents for someone I love finding something really specific to that person and knowing that they're going to love it when they open it. Which is why i'm usually go to girl for everyone at birthdays xmas, leaving do's etc shame i can't charge for being a personal shopper eh!

I'm more of a "window shopper" than a shopper... even when it comes to groceries. I get as much (if not more) pleasure from looking at something as I do actually owning it. I know the difference between "want" and "need", and there's really not that much that I need, other than a self-cleaning house and wardrobe.

Erm... nope. I hate shopping. I don't mind grocery shopping if I have to and if the shops aren't too busy and I quite like shopping for presents for people. Other than that, I would rather not. I think it's partly having to budget all the time. I find shopping less of a chore when I have enough money not to have to tot everything up as I go along but I still don't enjoy it!

pikey hi why did that thing pop into my head lions, and tigers, and bears oh my. guess it was triggered by your title and oh I used to love to go shopping like that but I never got realy addicted. for one thing when you do not have a lot of money you tend to try and spend wisely; oh I did get off the rails,I got a JcPenny card, and a Mervins Card, and oh woe is me a Sears credit card. My son was grown and I felt oh my I have got credit. Oh I went on a tear, just paying Sears the minimum then one awful day my hours at the library were cut back drastically and I now had over a thousand dollars on my Sears Card, I got on one of those debit reduction companies and they got JC Pennys to cut their charges down to almost nothing and Merwins the same so I got them paid off, but Sears oh my G they would not budge. I finally quit making any payments to them as our county went broke and my hours were cut again. So now after yearsthe bill is erased. but I had never imagined I would get off my trolley like that and spend so crazily. Like I told my son I never even bought tnything expensive but as he said it all adds up. So now I do not use any store cards and only have a debit card. If I cannot pay for it in cash with my debit card then i do not buy it. too bad I had not learned that earlier.. I had always said I would never run up debt on a store credit card,and yet I did. It is so easy to buy with credit but one must stop and figure can I really afford this, and do I really need this. Then put it back and leave the store.Yes for that period Pikey I was really addicted and I still do not know how I did that as I had always been such a careful shopper, not overspending and not wasting money.So after realizing what a pickle I was in it was lions and tigers and bears oh my. thats out of the Wizard of Oz by the way, when Dorothy was so scared.So now I enjoy shopping and keeping out of debt. If I do not have enough in the bank to cover it , I do not need it. so now I am debt free and thus no worries about credit charges either.

I'm not much of a shopper myself. Not because of the spending money part, but because of the crowds. I love watching them, but not being part of them. Especially at checkout lines. Don't mind going to the mall for a light lunch and gawking while I eat, but for shopping I'd rather get the stuff I need online when I can. I've also gotten to the age when I've realized that the more junk I have, the longer it takes to organize and clean my house...and the longer until I can go to the mall and gawk again. Of course, all these nice thoughts go my the board when it comes to kitchen gadgets. Put me in a kitchen store and I'm elbowing with the best of them.

Hi! I also love shopping but I don't want to go broke, lol. So, what I do with money is I set aside for savings, for bills and the rest for shopping. If I want to buy something expensive I just need to earn more or save more for it. I also go to the mall just ones a month and eat out just ones a month. I save a lot doing this.

I hate shopping. I rarely overspend, unless it's on groceries, because I go out for a specific item and come home with it if possible. Mr Croc could shop for England but I take his money off him first.

I like to shop...but I don't really shop. I window shop...sigh and then go back home..lol.I'm very diligent about accounts and even if it's something I like so much and want to buy, I get necessities first and then think if I have money to spare. I don't use the card and prefer cash...so that I know what I'm spending. I just saw the most adorable pair of shoes at the mall next door. Each time I go, I look at it...try it on...look at my husband...shrug and walk away. That man ought to be happy that I'm not spending so much money but he doesn't like window shopping either!! Grrrr!

I have never been a shopper. I was raised in a very poor household, though I wasn't really aware of it. We made do with what we had. I remember my mother buying me a gray wool winter coat, very warm, but I hated it. My best friend had a beautiful red coat with a fur collar that I really wished I had but Mom would not buy me one like that--my friend froze on the way to and from school while I was toasty but it didn't matter, I hated that coat! So I learned from an early age that what you want isn't always what you need. I sometimes like to look at things but I rarely buy. Most of my clothes are ten years old or more but they still fit and function well. Sometimes I'll go on eBay and look around at the pretty things. I buy something nice for myself maybe twice a year and it's never more than $10. The exception was the marcasite and silver earring I bought two years ago. They were $70 but I kept checking on them. Months later they were marked down 80% so I got them for $14! Patience pays off. I'm a cheapskate but if my income was to be cut off suddenly I wouldn't lose my house or go hungry because I save my money. I sometimes wish I could shop with the joyous abandon that others do but I just can't bring myself to enjoy spending money I don't need to, at least not very often!

Hon, when I had the big bucks and worked in the city, as a Legal Secretary, I was also inclined to shop at my whim. But I have curbed my appetite for shopping unecessarily now that I am farming, party by necessity, because my earnings just won't justify it. But also, partly because society is too inclined to throw out and replace perfectly good clothing, just at the drop of a whim, ie. "I'm tired of this outfit, and 'want' another". I believe that 'reduce, reuse and recycle' are good mottos for all to follow. It is better for our planet, than whimsically discarding still useful apparel.

I'm resisting the urge because my darn health insurance went up like $300 per month, and I have 2 kids with braces on, another $300 per month, etc. etc.

Oh my goodness! There is so much temptation to spend! The answer for me is to stay home and not visit shops at all! I should Be making more money, not spending them all away

It is consumerism gone mad. Far too many people spend way too much these days because they can! Credit cards have made it far too easy to spend beyond our means. I too have been guilty of this, even though I do not buy things very often. I do not tend to buy lots of small things like my wife does. Every time she goes out she seems to come home with something new. This is why I try to keep her tied up inside most of the time! When I do tend to buy things, it is something big that I intend on keeping for a while, or I spend on an experience like a weekend away. But it is still spending money that I really do not have.

I like it and everything, but I do not do it too much, since I know it will just cause problems and not really make me happier anyway. So I try to keep it under control. I have a small budget for shopping "girly" things, so I do get to do it, just not in huge amounts, which I feel really helps, because I do not feel like I am not able to do it at all.

I find the best way to avoid spending is not to go shopping and so I buy in bulk the things I use every day and stock up on other items as I'm about to run out or as soon as I open the last jar/bottle/packet. When I shop I find it's easy to spend $200 on just groceries and fuel so I try to go as little as possible...it's an over 200klm journey for a start so I don't want to do it too often. As for my 3 monthly trip to the big smoke, I go with a list and stay away from the places where I can easily drop $$$$s like clothing or shoe stores. I buy what I need these days where as a couple of years ago, one pair of shoes became 3 and one outfit became a selection of mix n match articles. If I went to a store and they didn't have what I wanted I would buy something anyway. I am very determined nowe and walk out empty handed. I just don't have the money to throw around now...I read somewhere the other day where we can expect the price of food to increase 50% next year. Most of my shopping is generic brand and "reduced for quick sale" items but even those are becoming too expensive for me.

Hi there Pikes, I am not much of a shopper for material things like that which you mentioned. I have one pair of flip flops and one worn out pair of boots which I really need to replace before winter sets in and one pair of good snow boots. All my clothes are either gifts or 2nd hand. All my furniture is 2nd hand and I re-did it myself so it looks pretty cool. I just don't buy "things" and never did even when I was a teen. I mean, I'm normal in that I like nice things but I am also patient and creative and don't need a lot of things. As frugal as I am, I do have some debt. I have used it for things like food when we've needed it or if my daughters have needed something when I didn't have the money etc. I struggle but am not behind in any of my bills and it was seriously on things needed...not just wanted. I only have one daughter left at home so I figure that in a couple of years when she is on her own then I will catch up on it all. I agree with you that it is an addiction...the shopping thing.

Hi P1key, I used to when I was working, now that I don't, I cannot afford to shop for the many things that I would like and me being old fashion, my motto is if you don't have the cash in your hands, you can't spend, that is why I don't go shopping anymore, hugs. Tamara xxxx