Why does it feel so good to shop?

**GrimJack** · 12-13-2008, 07:33 PM

Maybe it is your hunter/gatherer genes responding to the closest they get to proper functioning.

**MoneyTrev** · 12-13-2008, 10:21 PM

Is it because you feel you have money?

I know some people that just go shopping once they think they have money.

**mrpaseo** · 12-13-2008, 10:53 PM

Oniomania.

Please look this up.
Ray

**ScrimpAndSave** · 12-14-2008, 04:25 AM

MrPaseo...I don't think it is an addictive thing. I don't know, maybe not. I guess I start to feel a little stir crazy and just want to go and look around and pick up a few things.

I dunno...maybe it is an addiction...but I don't think I would have been able to save up $15,000 in 9 months if I had that disorder! Haha!

**kork13** · 12-14-2008, 06:07 AM

Originally posted by ScrimpAndSave View Post

MrPaseo...I don't think it is an addictive thing. I don't know, maybe not. I guess I start to feel a little stir crazy and just want to go and look around and pick up a few things.

I dunno...maybe it is an addiction...but I don't think I would have been able to save up $15,000 in 9 months if I had that disorder! Haha!

Actually, it can be just as real as a drug addiction. Best comparison is to Cocaine. Chemically, shopping (or more accurately, the anticipation of buying something you will enjoy in some way) releases dopamine into your brain, which is a neurotransmitter related to pleasure, excitement, passion, etc. The presence of dopamine in the brain gives you pleasure, and your brain learns that shopping leads to pleasure. Thus, you want to do it so that you can experience that same pleasure again. Same thing with cocaine... it keeps dopamine in the brain longer, thereby enhancing its effect... really, a coke addict is addicted to pleasure rather than the drug itself (unlike niccotine, for example).

As for saving, that's when your brain's higher functions (frontol lobe) such as reason, willpower, and the ability to think ahead overrides the impulse to seek that pleasure. Some people, however, simply do not use this ability of the higher brain, leading to the addicted shopper.

sorry for the science lesson. just some interesting little tidbits on the technicalities behind it....

**red92s** · 12-14-2008, 08:01 AM

Honestly, I get just as big of a kick out of going to the mall, grabbing a coffee, walking around to stores and checking out the wares, and leaving with nothing but an empty coffee cup than I do when I actually buy stuff.

I guess I've just "turned the corner" on a lifestyle of saving money, and like saving more than I like spending now?

**disneysteve** · 12-14-2008, 08:41 AM

I think there can be something very satisfying about identifying a need and going out and purchasing the item. For example, a few months ago, I realized that I needed 2 new suits for my daughter's upcoming Bat Mitzvah (among other things). When I went to the store, picked out and bought the suits, it did give me a sense of accomplishment, one more thing I could check off my To Do list.

That is different than recreational shopping, though, shopping just for the sake of shopping. I'm not really one to do that a lot, though I will sometimes buy something I didn't set out to buy specifically. I think that as long as you are shopping responsibly, not going into debt or overspending and not buying a bunch of stuff you truly have no use for, it isn't a problem.

**ScrimpAndSave** · 12-14-2008, 08:41 AM

Kork, I think you misunderstood me. I believe that there are definitely people that are horribly addicting to shopping.

I am just saying that isn't me. If I don't go grocery shopping or window shopping for a few weeks, I love to get out and look around.

**kork13** · 12-14-2008, 08:59 AM

Originally posted by ScrimpAndSave View Post

Kork, I think you misunderstood me. I believe that there are definitely people that are horribly addicting to shopping.

I am just saying that isn't me. If I don't go grocery shopping or window shopping for a few weeks, I love to get out and look around.

haha oh no, I didn't mean to say anything about you, or anyone else--sorry if I was unclear there... I was just more or less answering the original "why does it feel so good to shop?" question

**ScrimpAndSave** · 12-14-2008, 09:50 AM

I agree...and I think it has a lot to do with endorphins, too. At times, I can't help but think..."I work really hard...I earned it...I should be able to spend it."

That is part of it, too.

**Gruntina** · 12-14-2008, 09:55 AM

I think for some people, shopping feels like they have a higher standard of living.

Myself, I enjoy shopping but I admit I do aim in clothing’s and home interior things. I like anything that would make our home or my family and I look/feel happy and feel put together. I do looks for the best deals and do go to goodwill stores and the like. But I have a limit of like 500 dollars a year on these items annually. I do have a savings fund to save for home improvement and bigger ticket items but that will not be indulged yet until at least several years when the timing is right and all of my finances are in place.

**kork13** · 12-14-2008, 09:56 AM

Originally posted by ScrimpAndSave View Post

At times, I can't help but think..."I work really hard...I earned it...I should be able to spend it."

That is part of it, too.

definitely.... that tends to be the justification I give myself when I make one of those more frivolous purchases, or just something I hadn't originally planned on. haha sure, not the best way to go, but it keeps me happy.

**Cassandra** · 12-14-2008, 04:25 PM

Originally posted by ScrimpAndSave View Post

I agree...and I think it has a lot to do with endorphins, too. At times, I can't help but think..."I work really hard...I earned it...I should be able to spend it."

That is part of it, too.

I justify it the same way when I want to buy something expensive. I also compare myself to others sometimes and think, "If they can afford, surely I can too!" And then I realize, "They may or may not be able to afford and I can't really afford it myself...".

I find that I can get my shopping "fix" just by window shopping now. I think I like searching for items and trying clothes on more than actually buying the stuff.

**Goldy1** · 12-15-2008, 04:29 AM

I was going to say there are books written on the subject and on the advertising aspect of it. Obviously for women, it is the gatherer instint. I think many women just like fancy clothes and shoes etc. That never really clicked with me too much. Don't get me wrong. I like nice clothes etc myself but I am not insecure in my appearance so I never really became a big shopper. You don' t need expensive duds to look great.

Think about those shopoholics on the talk shows. I have a relative who blew like half a million in a few years from an inheritance on nothing but clothes and dining out. That is sad and pathological.
I have a coworker with an admitted shopping addiction I tried to reason with.
I said to her. "When I am in a store and I look at the price of an item I tell myself how many hours I have to work to buy it, and ask myself if it is worth it?"
She looked at my blankly and said "I never think of it that way." HOW CAN YOU NOT. lol

Why does it feel so good to shop?