Confessions of a Shopaholic: Are you a Spendthrift like Rebecca Bloomwood?

Confessions of a Shopaholic hits theaters this weekend and is sure to be a box office hit. Based on the book series by Sophie Kinsella, the story follows 25-year-old Rebecca Bloomwood through her addictions to designer clothing and her growing credit card debt. Her bills are piling up and her job at a financial magazine (a topic she knows nothing about) isn’t cutting it. She tries cutting back her shopping trips and tackling her piles of debt, but it’s not working. While Confessions of a Shopaholic is a fun, entertaining story, there are definitely people with a dangerous addiction to spending money– even when it’s money they don’t have. Research shows compulsive shopping affects mostly women, while alcoholism affects mostly men. So how do you know if you’re a shopaholic? According to RecoveryConnection.org there are several signs and symptoms of compulsive shopping and spending:

Breaking Your Budget: Many times you will break your budget by spending more than the limit you have set. This can create tremendous financial strain as you spend well above your means.
Compulsive Buying: When you go shopping you may go with the intention of buying one shirt, but before you know it you end up with six of them.
Chronic Problem: A shopping addiction is a continuous problem and generally gets worse over time. Typically, you experience it regularly. As with other addictions, the problem gets worse.
Hiding the Problem: You tend to hide your purchases due to financial and family problems your addiction has created. You may even try to conceal your problem by opening secret accounts.
The Return Cycle: You might return your purchases, hoping to fix the problem you created, but that puts you back in a shopping environment, making more slip ups likely.
Impaired Relationships: It is not uncommon to find yourself surrounded by unhealthy relationships.

There are some behaviors indicative of compulsive shoppers:
* Shopping or spending money as a result of feeling upset, depressed or stressed.
* Arguments develop over your shopping habits
* Feelings of withdrawal without credit cards.
* Consistently buying items on credit, rather than paying with cash
* Describing a rush when spending money
* Feeling guilty or ashamed after a spending spree
* Lying about how much money or the situation around your spending
* Juggling accounts or bills to accommodate the habit