Is Our Overspending Encouraged By Society And Women’s Magazines?

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By Cynthia Curry

Personal debt is out of control in the UK and USA. It has become tolerated and even expected that we each have credit cards, loans and mortgages, and most of our wages now go to keeping up with these debts. and yet, we can’t seem to stop spending. Why?

Alongside the shrieking headlines about the global credit freeze are equally gloomy highlights about recession caused by lack of consumer confidence. ie. we’re not spending. So, is it our moral duty to carry on building debt to keep the economy alive?

Consider magazines, newspapers and tv; all carry advertisements extolling the virtues of the next ‘must have’ item. Most editorial in women’s magazines is about what you should be wearing now and next season and where to get it. Spend now to look fashionable.

An almost rabid encouragement for us all to spend, spend, spend seems to have become the default editorial for all publishers, who extol the virtues of the many products supplied by their advertisers.

We all have fallen for this societal peer pressure, shopping is now longer a pursuit to be undertaken when you need something, now it is every weekend occurance, and for some an every day, habit.

I used to be just as guilty as the next person of excessive shopping. Being a spendthrift is portrayed as glamourous and exciting, whilst being frugal is seen as being sensible and dull. Again, why is spending vast amounts of money on fripperies you don’t have any need or real want for seen as having fun?

I remember those crazy shopping days, after all, I only really quit about a year ago. Every weekend was spent in some shopping centre or other, often coming home with bags and bags of goods every week.

The first purchase was the most important because that loosened me up to spend more. Until I made that first buy, I wasn’t able to relax, I would be thinking about what I needed, whether or not I could afford it, and that I shouldn’t really be shopping at all. After I first handed over my card for the first purchase of the day, it was as if a veil came down, and I went into a shopping trance. Now, there were no further worries about affordability, just if something was pretty enough to catch my eye, and get me to buy it.

… Click here for part 2 of this article.

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