Shopping sins 8-10

Many of you really had a positive reaction to the Seven deadly sins of shopping. It struck a chord with many of my clients and opened up many important dialogues about how to keep shopping in a perspective in your life.
I think that the emotional relationships we have can play into impulsive buying and more. Sometimes we aren't aware of what's at the heart of it. So here are a few more for you:

8. Revenge Shopping
Angry with your significant other? Had a super bad day at the office? Well, put down your IPad and avoid logging onto your favorite internet shopping site. When you are overwhelmed with negative emotions avoid online shopping at all costs! This is a time to take a walk or resolve the issue, not to take out your credit card. Learn to recognize the revenge shopping symptoms and then redirect the behavior so you don’t end up with a closet that’s full of emotional purchases.

9. “Sorority Style” Shopping
Is shopping your favorite “go to” activity? Do you find shopping to be a major aspect of your relationship with some of your friends?
Shopping can be a social and fun activity – there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a shopping trip with girlfriends! The problem arises when it is the only thing you do together, and you do it so frequently that it’s starting to do you financial or emotional harm.
If you have girlfriends or family who have also turned shopping into a sport, this can be even more dangerous, as you have ‘partners in crime’ who keep you going.

10. Not Having a Plan
A common mistake many of my clients make is not knowing what they are shopping for before they start. They do not do a ‘wardrobe review’ before they go shopping, to determine where their gaps are and what they really need.
This kind of shopping can often result in a random approach to shopping, where every alluring table display and rack of new items captures your attention, and you roam from store to store with no plan or strategy in your head.
The result is that you have a much higher chance of bringing home ‘orphans’ that don’t work in your wardrobe as well as you would like, and that do not coordinate with other items you have, or even items that don’t fit or don’t work with your lifestyle and personality. These are the items that can sit and hang unworn, unused and unloved in your closet, often with the tags still attached.

It’s no wonder so many men and women feel frustrated with their wardrobes, having a closet full of impulse buys and things that seemed like a great idea at the time truly leave you with "nothing to wear"!