So the Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival(MMSC) is back again. What a relief that I' haven't "terjebak" with the mega carnival thingy yet and spend money buying unnecessary things
.I always end up buying things that I don't really want or need at the first place. Since MMSC started I think I just bought one top for myself and some stuff from Mothercare for my sis in law's newborn though it's killing me to grab some rompers or cute shirts for Hana. (Mothercare is on sale now!!). Ok.Must. keep. that way.
Unfortunately I guess I cannot stop. Yes I can control myself from buying things in physical stores but not virtually. When typing this, I find myself browsing online shopping websites and clicking the add to cart button while doing mental calculation of the total amount in my head. Not to mention the parcel I received almost everyday at the office. I can self claim that I have bad online shopping addiction! Even Facebook becomes the medium that triggers shopping now. Plus it becomes worse when Hana born since I keep checking out baby stuffs and bought them online. I become hooked and obsessed to it .I cant even take my hands off the keyboard browsing the online stores while doing my routine milk pumping session for Hana at 3 am in the morning. I dunno, but even there are so many forms to fill out and clicking, you still proceed to buy the items. Once u pop, u just cannot stop it.
I think I have to be more sensible from now on. I mean starting from today. I have to diet. Here some tips about breaking online shopping addiction found on the net that might be useful:
1.
Tell someone that you have an Internet Shopping Addiction. The first thing that you have to do to break any addiction is to admit that you have a problem. You need to admit this out loud to someone else so that you can be held accountable for the problem.(
most of my friends said shopping is a therapy, that might not help either) 2.
Add up the math. Take a good hard look at your credit card statements, debit card information and PayPal accounts. See how much you’ve spent on online shopping in the past month and the past year. See what you’ve purchased. Getting a good hard look at what you’re spending can make you better understand that this is a serious problem and that you need to get a grip on it.
( my husband used to advise me about this, but I just couldnt do it..
)
3.
Establish some rules for your online shopping. Most people won’t go cold turkey so you need to set some rules. Create a limit for what you’ll spend each month or limit yourself to only shopping at certain online stores.
4.
Figure out a way to enforce those rules. The problem with addiction is that you’ll want to break those rules so you have to find a way to enforce them. Hide all of your credit cards except one with a limit that is lower than your monthly budget or block yourself fro
m certain sites using computer blocking technology.( err I still have maybank2u, so how?
)5.
Delete all of your favorite shopping sites from your favorites. Make it harder for yourself to visit the sites where you spend the most money.
( I cant, I have hundreds or thousands of online websites bookmarked on the PC!!
)6.
Use the Angry Email rule. We all know that we shouldn’t send impulsive angry emails to our bosses or our children’s teachers because we usually don’t mean what we say. Most of us take a breather and wait before composing potentially dangerous emails. Get in the same habit with online shopping. Walk away from the computer and consider your purchase.
7.
Get out of the house. The more that you’re home, the more that you’ll be online. The more that you’re online, the more likely it is that you’ll shop online. Get away from home, go get some exercise and don’t spend that money.
( but i also do online shopping during office hours.)8.
Implement tools for saving money online. You probably aren’t going to give up all Internet shopping so you need to start getting in the habit of using smart online shopping tools like discount codes, comparison shopping and good auction sites. Be careful, though, because it can be easy to worsen your addiction with mis-use of these things.
9.
Assess your spending. This isn’t fun but it’ll give you a good understanding of why you have this addiction in the first place. Look closely at when you shop and why. Many people shop because they get an emotional thrill out of it or they’re getting revenge against a partner by spending money. Address the underlying issues surrounding your Internet Shopping Addiction.
10.
Get professional help. If you can’t get your Internet Shopping Addiction under control then it may be time to get professional help from a support group or counselor.
Yeah,but i dont think the tips work for me..
Help!
