u/WorkingArticle393

I am four days out from not shopping impulsively for a month, but the urge to shop is strong today. My problem area is beauty products and especially lip products. I have pretty much cut myself off from all ads and sites to buy these products but I saw an ad for a new product in a line I really like.

I feel like my brain is trying to self sabotage as I am coming up on a milestone I have never hit before and I am fighting everything to stick to the promises I made to myself around buying things.

I am going to go to the gym for a hard workout to get out some of the uncomfortableness I am feeling, and hoping I will feel better after that. I also have a dopamine menu that I created a few months back and will be taking some ideas off that for tonight and tomorrow to ease the tension I am feeling by not getting the high of buying something new.

I ran out of one of my products in a category where I only had the one product. I did my research, decided the one I was using was the best option, and set up a plan to mindfully buy it.

I am so proud of myself, I walked into the store picked up what I needed checked out and left. Didn’t browse other products to see what was new, and stuck to my plan. I did have my husband there for support which was great!

I REALLY wanted to buy a different product in this category for the high of trying something new. But then I realized the product I was using was just fine, and buying something new to me would just feed the desire to buy more things.

So proud of my progress. I’ve had a few lapses, but this is a step in the right direction for me!

I took this idea from other people online, but I have started putting the same amount of money I spend on non-essential purchases into an HYSA (high yield savings account). It’s humbling… I’m buying a $50 gift card for my friend’s graduation today, so I mustered up the courage to actually move another $50 into my savings account. I feel like it is the first time I have felt the actual impact of $50.

Having to make room in my budget to actually do this, has made me realize my monthly $800-$1000 or so of impulse purchases is utterly ridiculous!

This change in habit is part of a list of spending promises I made to myself. Making them promises instead of rules is helping me reshape my relationship with my spending. Rules make me want to rebel, promises are things I keep with myself and others.

I keep having shopping dreams, which feel very similar to my drinking dreams (recovering alcoholic). Last night's was I bought something frivolous outside of the promises (gentle term for rules) I made to myself.

In my dream I started to panic that I fell into the shopping habit again and bought something frivolous outside my designated shopping day! I keep thinking I really did make a purchase, but I finally realized it was a dream lol Funny how our brains process addictions.