In the Media – Is Your Shopping Buddy Making You Spend Too Much? (U.S. News & World Report)
July 1, 2015
In U.S. News & World Report, journalist Geoff Williams talk about how to handle the dilemma of a shopping buddy that makes you overspend.
He writes:
When you shop with friends or family members, you’re often doing it not to spend money but to spend time.
Mona Wood-Sword, who owns a public relations firm in Honolulu, Hawaii, says that shopping for her is a form of therapy. “Especially as a woman, we need our friends around us, filling that void only they can fill with girl talk, gossip, laughter, tears,” she says. “Although we just say we’re going shopping, a day at the mall with a friend lowers the blood pressure and all that laughter increases endorphins.”
Interviewing a number of other experts he quotes Dr. Irene S. Levine:
“Large disparities in income or spend can topple the equilibrium of a friendship, especially if both people can’t respect and understand the differences,” Levine says.
“The friend with the larger budget should be sensitive about where she shops and how much she spends when she’s with someone who can’t afford those luxuries.”
Click here to read the U.S. News & World Report article in its entirety.
Category: IN THE MEDIA
Yes I agree with Irene when she says one should be sensitive with a friend who is not cash rich.
However no one can make you spend more than you have. You are responsible for your own purse strings. Others can encourage you to spend but just decline from using your cards or opening your purse.
Discipline should be practised. Try with a small thing at first. NO rather then Yes. Once you say NO it will be easier the next time.Every NO you say you could put some money into a NO BOX. Just a small amount. Then when you go shopping treat yourself to something that you really desire.
Do not flaunt your wealth with friends or you could end up with non. Lottie