When does Shopping Become BAD for your Financial Health?
Bankruptcy Lawyer in El Dorado Hills asks
When does Shopping Become BAD for your Financial Health?
As an attorney providing bankruptcy services for the Sacramento area, I often hear how consumer spending gets out of hand. It happened slowly. Nobody I have counseled had won the lottery and spent it all, although I’ve heard even that’s possible.
Consumer spending never starts out with the intention to become overwhelmed by debt, but it happened to the 1.53 million people who filed consumer bankruptcy petitions in 2010, according to the news. Even with a job and opting for a payment plan [Chapter 13] or having no job/no way to pay [Chapter 7], that’s a lot of unwanted consequences — not what any these people initially planned for.
Yet the fact is that people are generally encouraged to “shop til they drop”. And be sure that retailers are not sitting there waiting for you to enter their store to purchase. They want to know exactly what motivates you to pull out your wallet and pay. Not enough cash on hand? No problem – just charge it – “would you like to apply for a [store] credit card?” Everyone is so eager to please you: “did you find what you were looking for?” Sure . . . .
Look at the bookshelves in libraries and bookstores and just read titles: Why We Buy – The Science of Shopping, published in 1999 by Paco Underhill; Why We Shop – Emotional Rewards and Retail Strategies, by Jim Pooler (2003). In a 2009 publication, GEN BUY – How Tweens, Teens, and Twenty-Somethings Are Revolutionizing Retail, Ph.D. Kit Yarrow teams up with USA Today reporter Jayne O’Donnell to bring us “An insightful trip into the heart of consumption . .. . read the book with fascinated horror,” according to Paco Underhill’s note on the cover.
So why do we shop, why do we buy, and what’s so horrible about the growing buying power of Gen Y?
Save your money – no need to buy the book(s) — the answer’s not rocket science!
The reason everyone shops (and buys) is the reason we do anything – to feel good – to be happy, even for a few minutes (many people return merchandise after they realize they can’t afford it – after they get it home). Save your receipts.
Here’s the facts:
- pretty much everyone loves to shop for different reasons;
- we’re encouraged to shop, we’re needed as shoppers by our consumer-driven economy;
- we need to wake up and realize we’re being manipulated as much as humanly possible by marketers and the psychologists hired by the top guys in the retailing industries.
Your friendly, local products/services companies and stores want you to spend your money today, RIGHT NOW, if possible, at their places of business – online and offline, virtual and actual, whether you can afford to or not, as long as your cash, debit/credit card clears.
Don’t you think there should be a WARNING sign at the store entrance? Something simple and to the point: “Too much credit card debt may cause bankruptcy – now shop til you drop!”
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