How To Recover From Shopaholism

My name is Veronica and I am a shopaholic. More than a shopaholic, I am a window-shopaholic. Few things feel better than browsing stores for hours (both online and at the mall), and marveling at shiny new products, perfect tops, gorgeous bikinis... and then I remember that I have bills to pay and I hesitate for a second... perhaps I can live without power for a week?  No, no, I have a toddler, I can't. And the cycle repeats itself countless times.

It all starts when I go online just to take a peak, only for two minutes, at say, the new Bath & Body Works candles. Next thing I know, I am re-planning my whole budget in my head trying to accommodate not only five different candles, but also two body lotions, three hand soaps, one room spray and one body wash. I add them to my cart, but I already know I will never checkout. I stare at them for embarrassing (and creepy!) periods of time, like a zombie. My fiancé has tried and failed to do an intervention. I have carts on several different sites including, but not limited to: Dailylook; Amazon; Target; Lush; Bath & Body Works; Luvocracy, you name it...

**This may or may not have happened to me before**

I started thinking about that thanks to Black Friday. If you don't know what this is, it is the day after Thanksgiving (aka today) when all the stores go on crazy, ridiculous, irresistible specials. Today is the day when us, the shopaholics, suffer the most: either by looking at our credit card statements after we have spent way way way too much, or by having the irresistible urge to spend but not being able to. That is why today I decided I would come up with my very own ways to overcome this addiction, and help fellow shopaholics along the way:

1. First and foremost, NEVER EVER watch "Confessions Of A Shopaholic" again. This movie is extremely counterproductive: I for one, trick myself into thinking that I can buy whatever I want because one day in the future I will just get my act together, easily get rid of all my debt and marry Hugh Dancy.

2. Pull that credit card statement out. It is scarier than watching The Shining on your own, but you gotta do it. Go over each and every item, and start making a plan on how to repay it. You will probably be so exhausted afterwards that you won't feel like going out shopping.

3. Enroll in a program to get rid of said debt, like this one from LearnVest. They will be more than happy to lecture you on your spending habits until you don't feel like doing it anymore.

4. Ask your boyfriend (or any guy, for that matter) to stay with you on a day you are particularly tempted to go shopping. They dread shopping so much that they will do anything in their power to prevent you from going.

5. If you are into alternative therapies, it couldn't hurt to try tapping. Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like: you tap your forehead. This therapy claims that by tapping on specific stress-reducing acupuncture points, you become more analytical and thus less likely to make impulse buys. Just, try and not do it at the mall or inside a store, you don't want to freak people out by going all jedi on them.

6. This one is not for the faint-hearted, and it requires you to be fully honest with yourself: take the 107 retail cards you carry. Study each one and decide which are actually useful (in terms of the rewards you get and how often you use them) and which ones only trick you into buying more unnecessary crap, only to get 20 cents off that unicorn horn powder that you "absolutely must have". Once you have identified them, take them, and snap away... you can do it!

7. Finally, repeat after me: I don't need yet another pair of boots; I don't need yet another pair of boots; I don't need yet another pair of boots... and breathe...