Page 18 - Book5E

10
Why We Spend
were keeping you from wisely handling the money you do have and limiting your ability to make more.
Mary’s problem began with clothes shopping. “I had a $200 clothes allowance that I took to the mall with me, but I would still charge all my purchases—usually double my allowance. Then I'd use the cash to buy myself something else, maybe makeup or shoes. I moved from clothes shopping to buying jewelry—really expensive jewelry.''
Mary found it was relatively easy to get a jewelry store credit card. She didn’t have to have her husband co-sign so he didn’t even need to know. Soon she had a card to every jewelry store in the mall. “The stores gave me as much as $5,000 worth of credit. Soon I was charging jewelry all the time. I had to sneak it into the house. I would go out on my lunch hour and come back with a $1,000 worth of merchandise.” Before long, the bills started pouring in and Mary’s husband couldn’t believe the debt she had incurred. “I finally ended up with nearly $63,000 in debt, and my marriage started falling apart.” That’s when Mary knew she needed help. She had a compulsion, an obsession with shopping.
Ellen couldn’t resist shopping for bargains, shoes, and art supplies. Sue loved books and reading and couldn’t help buying books all the time, every time. Joe felt he needed to buy things to please his wife, even if he couldn’t afford them. Shopping has become an incredible obsession with many people—credit card shopping, catalog shopping, and all those television shopping services. You are probably thinking of someone right now who exhibits symptoms of impulsive buying. He or she has an unbelievable CD or DVD collection, more shoes than could be worn in a month, or a stack of unread magazines on the coffee table. Lives and marriages have been and are ruined because of the inability to control spending.
If you’re reading this book, chances are you’ve already realized that your own spending habits need to change. We congratulate you. The first step to recovery is acknowledging you have a problem. And you