Recession Survival Guide for Shopaholics
By JESMA MAGILL

Monday, 01 December 2008

Our Homes Today

She shopped till she dropped. A rare sight going forward?

A friend complained to me recently that this recession couldn’t have come at a worse time. After years of retail practice, a few mistakes and some fabulous successes, Robyn can now honestly claim to have exemplary shopping skills.

But it looks as though her stellar shopping career has been nipped in the bud by her husband, who has asked her to stop spending and the greedy American Money Men (and Women?) who have brought down the global banking system.

Men, traditionally the hunters, go in for fishing and shooting, with women the modern day urban equivalent, purchasing items that enhance so many lives in so many ways.

Shopping gets bad press at times and is often criticised for being a frivolous, wasteful activity, but these are clichéd responses to what is a vital activity in the modern world. Think about what’s in the home such as soft furnishings and art work. Now you can’t find those on fishing and shooting trips, can you? (Except for the occasional set of deer antlers and a zebra rug.)

Unfortunately, now is a great time to shop, if you have the cash. How about those sale signs – up to 70 per cent off! And imagine how good the Boxing Day sales are going to be?

For those caught without readies in the bank, the coming months could be bumpy.  In view of that, Our Homes TODAY has compiled a guide to assist those in need.

To those who can still shop, congratulations. Your actions are helping to keep the economy going and people in gainful employment. Here’s to a short recession.  But whatever you do, don’t give up your day job. The first lesson to surviving a recession is that you cannot survive by shopping alone.

<!--page-->Ten Point Survival Plan

1.  Form a support group with other shopaholics. If you can’t shop, you’ll need to discuss the effect this is having on your state of mind. 
2.  Take steps to replace the buying buzz with another activity.  Habit transference is a useful technique and experts advise that if you give up one habit, pick up another healthier one in its place, until the economy picks up, that is.
3.  Keep exercising. You won’t be pounding the streets as much and you’ll need to keep fit for when the economy recovers.
4.  Reminisce over shopping experiences with your support group – the memory might cheer you up. Perhaps take your best purchases along and have a ‘show and tell’. 
5.  Try a spot of virtual shopping, but you need to be strong for this one. Sit on the net and push a few cyber trolleys, but don’t fall off the wagon. Go by the theory that the hunt is more exciting than the kill and exit the system before it’s time to purchase. Make it easier by cyber shopping for things you’ll never, ever want.  
6.  Imagine taking a lawsuit out on the masters of American capitalism. This is akin to cigarette addicts dying of lung cancer, suing tobacco companies. In a similar vein, greedy capitalists have produced shopaholics. You just thought you were shopping; instead you’ve picked up a full-blown addiction that has also blown your bank balance to smithereens. Someone must pay!  
7.  Here’s one for the conspiracy theorists – go into denial about the credit crunch. Have you noticed all the people making announcements about the global credit squeeze are men? Perhaps this financial turmoil is a male conspiracy to get the women out of the malls and back into the home? Food for thought.
8.  In really desperate times, wrap up previously purchased items and try really hard to pretend you’ve just bought them. Another technique is to read through old receipts and bank statements then tally the damage. It’s comforting to know you’re only play-acting and real money doesn’t have to change hands.
9.  If you miss handling money, grab the Monopoly set and deal yourself a huge pile of cash. Throw it in the air or make a bed of it. Visualisation is a powerful tool.
10.  Remember life is a cycle. What comes down goes up again.