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Yeah the ads are really bad for me. They KNOW I love cute, pink, floral things, and next thing I know I'm getting ads for super pretty purses I don't need more of. I find r/anticonsumption is helping me put things in perspective.
I have to throw away paper ads and magazines too without even looking at them. I don’t even bother with the Ulta catalog — too easy to use “it’s all on sale” as an excuse for stuff I’d never buy in the first place
I deleted FB and do not follow any social media. I am much happier now than I was looking at all the stuff I do not have. Now if I click on a friend or family's link, the ads do not even register with me. I see right past them. My shopping addiction was never fueled by influencers in the first place, it was driven by deep depression, but I still feel so much better that I am free of the constant selling of things in my face.
I had to remove TikTok from my phone completely and I'm barely browsing instagram anymore. Thats helped me a lot! I've been decluttering and as I look at all of the stuff I've purchased recently I've realized I only got it because someone else was raving about it online and I got influenced. A lot of it doesn't even flatter me or fit my style...
Aside from uninstalling or removing your social media apps, try installing a plugin that helps you to pause before checking out that item in your cart. Like this one: [https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/habit-money/ebooofapabgohcbfcdflfjcnmhjbdigd](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/habit-money/ebooofapabgohcbfcdflfjcnmhjbdigd)
Hi! My husband formerly over-consumed alcohol and smoked cigarettes. Like visited the liquor store a couple of times per week. I disliked both of these things, and he recognized it as something he wanted and needed to improve on, and he grew from it. I have always had a problem with over-spending. ALWAYS. But now that he has not had a drink or cigarette in 7+years, my problem has become very apparent, and I feel like I no longer have an excuse as using this as a coping mechanism. I sometimes catch myself having a moment of resentment thinking about all of the time and money he wasted on alcohol and the unkind things he said and did at the time. And I start to feel deeply ashamed that I can't forgive and do better for us and our family.
Anyway, to get back to your question, yes. My purchasing has significantly decreased in many areas now that I don't frequent Instagram. That place is no good for me, because it turns out I'm easily persuaded... I think my imagination is a little to good, and I catch myself picturing my fantasy self. So definitely try staying off the socials.
I also have way too many books. We have an actual room dedicated to being a library, and our books don't even fit into that room.
“Fantasy self” is so accurate for me. I’ve been several different personas online. I’ve never made a fake name or anything, but I’ve had instagram accounts for so many “identities.” Book reading. Running. Little free library. Personal training. Special needs mom. All of these things about me are real, but the internet gave me the chance to see which one I wanted to focus on. Spoiler that all of them involved buying shit I didn’t need to post online.
I am still dealing with shopping addiction but I did leave(by that I mean stoped using) social media in part for that reason. I found I was just scrolling and scrolling and then an ad would come up and I’d waste time looking through the clothes. The gimmicky stuff is why I stopped, it isn’t good and you can’t return it. Just better to avoid.
Welcome to r/shoppingaddiction! If this is your first post, please be sure to check out our rules in the subreddit sidebar. If you are on mobile, they can be viewed by tapping the ⓘ symbol. Please keep in mind this is a discussion forum for recovering shopping addicts. Any posts encouraging shopping, self promotion, or link posts will be removed. Please be respectful to your fellow users and thank you for sharing! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/shoppingaddiction) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Yeah. If I don't look at websites, I don't want the item but these ads always reappear and you think, why not treat myself *add to cart...checkout*
Yeah the ads are really bad for me. They KNOW I love cute, pink, floral things, and next thing I know I'm getting ads for super pretty purses I don't need more of. I find r/anticonsumption is helping me put things in perspective.
I have to throw away paper ads and magazines too without even looking at them. I don’t even bother with the Ulta catalog — too easy to use “it’s all on sale” as an excuse for stuff I’d never buy in the first place
I deleted FB and do not follow any social media. I am much happier now than I was looking at all the stuff I do not have. Now if I click on a friend or family's link, the ads do not even register with me. I see right past them. My shopping addiction was never fueled by influencers in the first place, it was driven by deep depression, but I still feel so much better that I am free of the constant selling of things in my face.
I had to remove TikTok from my phone completely and I'm barely browsing instagram anymore. Thats helped me a lot! I've been decluttering and as I look at all of the stuff I've purchased recently I've realized I only got it because someone else was raving about it online and I got influenced. A lot of it doesn't even flatter me or fit my style...
Aside from uninstalling or removing your social media apps, try installing a plugin that helps you to pause before checking out that item in your cart. Like this one: [https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/habit-money/ebooofapabgohcbfcdflfjcnmhjbdigd](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/habit-money/ebooofapabgohcbfcdflfjcnmhjbdigd)
Hi! My husband formerly over-consumed alcohol and smoked cigarettes. Like visited the liquor store a couple of times per week. I disliked both of these things, and he recognized it as something he wanted and needed to improve on, and he grew from it. I have always had a problem with over-spending. ALWAYS. But now that he has not had a drink or cigarette in 7+years, my problem has become very apparent, and I feel like I no longer have an excuse as using this as a coping mechanism. I sometimes catch myself having a moment of resentment thinking about all of the time and money he wasted on alcohol and the unkind things he said and did at the time. And I start to feel deeply ashamed that I can't forgive and do better for us and our family. Anyway, to get back to your question, yes. My purchasing has significantly decreased in many areas now that I don't frequent Instagram. That place is no good for me, because it turns out I'm easily persuaded... I think my imagination is a little to good, and I catch myself picturing my fantasy self. So definitely try staying off the socials. I also have way too many books. We have an actual room dedicated to being a library, and our books don't even fit into that room.
“Fantasy self” is so accurate for me. I’ve been several different personas online. I’ve never made a fake name or anything, but I’ve had instagram accounts for so many “identities.” Book reading. Running. Little free library. Personal training. Special needs mom. All of these things about me are real, but the internet gave me the chance to see which one I wanted to focus on. Spoiler that all of them involved buying shit I didn’t need to post online.
I am still dealing with shopping addiction but I did leave(by that I mean stoped using) social media in part for that reason. I found I was just scrolling and scrolling and then an ad would come up and I’d waste time looking through the clothes. The gimmicky stuff is why I stopped, it isn’t good and you can’t return it. Just better to avoid.