Case Of The Shop-A-Holic

Detective Case No. 6

Crime reported 12 / 7 / 2009 at 2:45 pm

Detective Notes:

Unsolved Case – “Case of the Shop-A-Holic”

Cindy Paterson

Cindy Patterson has a serious addiction. She is addicted to shopping. No matter how much she tries to contain her spending habits it just doesn’t work out. There is always something new in the shops that she is tempted to buy and then unfortunately there always seems to be something that crops up that she just needs to spend her money on. She spends hundreds and thousands of dollars each and every year out shopping. She knows that she has a problem and has made a self confession to our Detectives. Cindy’s case is known as the “Case of the Shop-A-Holic”.   

The Facts                          

• Cindy 24
  
•  Accounts Officer
  
•  Salary :
  
  • $48.000 per annum – full time
    
• 1 Credit card held:
  
  • Total amount owing $2,200
  • Total card limit $4,000
    
• Housing:
  
  • Living at home with Mum and Dad
  • Paying $20 a week for board
    
• 1 bank transaction account
  
  • Used for EFTPOS and ATM transactions
  • Balance $900
    
• Goals
  
  • Stop being a Shop-A-Holic
  • Eventually move out of home and into shared accommodation
  • Become a flight attendant working for a major airline

The Investigation                                     

• Cindy is a self confessed Shop-A-Holic who admits that she has no control over her spending especially where shopping is concerned
• Cindy has asked for Money Detective to help her overcome this problem
• A good deal of money is spent in clothes boutiques. Cindy has a weakness for clothes and shoes and would spend on average $650 a week keeping up with the latest fashions
• Her wardrobe is absolutely bursting at the seams with clothes not to mention the number of shoes she has in her shoe cupboard
• Lots of money is also spent on accessories such as handbags and jewellery
• A major weakness is cosmetics and beauty products
• Cindy is a very generous person and loves to buy things for other people. This is a way of dealing with the addiction of buying so much for herself. It stops her feeling guilty spending her money
• Her parents say it isn’t unusual for Cindy to come home with expensive items for them for no particular reason at all
• Cindy adores her 2 nephews and is always buying them new toys and clothes. Her sister gets very frustrated with this as she feels it is teaching the boys to want expensive things
• Cindy is a really quiet girl that keeps to herself and doesn’t have a very active social life
• Outside of her work and shopping Cindy just watches TV and DVD’s with her parents
• Cindy has a really low self esteem and feels that a way to deal with this is by buying new clothes and shoes and looking the best that she can
• She is earning a good salary, but really hasn’t done anything with her money over the last 6 years of employment
• She has no commitments. Her food and living costs are paid for by her parents. She pays them a token $20 a week for board
• Most of the shopping has been paid for by cash using EFTPOS transactions, however of recent times a bit has started to creep onto the credit card
• Cindy doesn’t know how to kick her shopping habit

 The Case Solved                                              

• Cindy acknowledges that she is an out of control Shop-A-Holic and is aware of the seriousness of her situation
• She is committed to working at any programme that will help her change her shopping habits
• Cindy is concerned about her future and feels that this habit now could lead to serious problems as she gets older and has to take responsibility for herself
• The fact that the credit card is now helping to feed this habit is a major issue that could lead to very serious consequences if not controlled now
  

The Detective’s suggestion to stop this occurring is for Cindy to:

• Be given this opportunity to change progressively. With any addiction it takes time to change so Cindy needs to work at this
  
  • She needs to be allowed to go shopping but with limitations
  • The number of times a week that she shops should be reduced
  • The amount of money she spends each week on shopping should be limited. Ideally Cindy should set a budget for the amount of money she spends on clothes / shoes / personal splurges each week / month / quarter / year
  • Cindy needs to be encouraged to write down a list of items that she needs to buy before she goes off shopping  – she will probably find that over time she realises that she doesn’t need anything as her wardrobe and cupboards are already full
  • Maybe Cindy needs to get rid of clothes and shoes she is not wearing anymore. Maybe sell or donate to a charity. Helping those less fortunate might help her realise she does not need as much either.  If she shed what she does not want she might feel like a new person
    
• Limit the amount of money she has available when she does go shopping
  
  • She should take a set amount of cash out shopping – once this is gone it is gone. This cash amount would need to fit within the amount that she has budgeted for her clothes / shoes / personal splurge allowance
  • If using an EFTPOS card have it linked to an account with very minimal funds in there – remove card access to all other accounts
  • Don’t take the credit card shopping. Remove this card from her handbag / purse and ensure it gets locked away in a safe place or cut it up or give it to her parents
    
• Become involved in some social activities to limit the time she has available to shop
  • Cindy should look at what hobbies she enjoys and consider joining a club or social group
  • Try and arrange some social outings with her work colleagues
  • Build up a network of friends that she can spend time with
  • Look at doing some volunteer work and use her generosity to help those less fortunate by devoting time to a local charity
    
• Look at ways to change her spending habits
  
  • If there are certain days / times that Cindy is prone to go shopping then try and fill that day / time with another activity
  • If Cindy shops when she is in a particular mood, she needs to try and look for other activities to do when she feels that mood coming on – how about grabbing a packet of tim tams and going for a swing in the local park or taking the pets for a walk or reading a book, instead of using retail therapy to solve the issue!
  • Cindy could carry around some reminders in her purse / handbag that will hopefully stop her before she rushes in and buys something that she will regret. This could be a sticker / post it note with Stop and Think! or Do I need this?
  • She needs to speak with her family and sister about her generosity towards them and work out a solution to this
    
• Set some solid foundations around her goals
  • Cindy needs to look hard at her goals for the future and to start to work toward these goals
  • She needs to focus on these goals as a motivator to stop the habit of just going off to the shops and spending money
  • Cindy should find someone she can discuss her goals with so that she becomes a bit more accountable to them and is more likely to stick to them. This might be her Mum and Dad or a professional coach
  • A new goal that Cindy might like to work on is building up her self esteem and this might be achieved by building up a social network of friends and acquaintances
  • She should be encouraged to think longer term about her goals and the option of buying her own home and maybe having some friends share this house with her to help with the costs  She should also look at her career options and how she can start to work toward realising her dream of becoming a flight attendant
    
• Protect her money by starting a savings plan
  • If Cindy had somewhere that her money was committed to she might be less reluctant to just go out and spend her money
  • She needs to set a portion of her salary aside into a savings account as soon as she gets paid. This will protect this money from being spent on shopping
  • Ensure this savings account doesn’t have access to it via an EFTPOS card or internet banking
  • With minimal commitments in her life right now, Cindy should be able to save upward of 50% of her salary
    

The Money Detective Tools that Cindy can use are:

• How to Save section of website
• How to Set Goals section of website
• How to Budget section of website
• Annual Budget Tracker
• Savings Calculator 
• Savings Tracker

Detective Notes compiled by Detective Heather