Are you shopaholic? Don’t worry, You still can shop wisely!

The clip above is the trailer of the movie, Confessions of a Shopaholic. Thinking most of girls watched this before.  If you did not, don’t worry, 🙂 I will briefly introduce what the movie talks about.

Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher ornaments), a journalist of garden magazine, lives in New York City.  Growing with the gradually cosmopolitan city, her eyes are filled with different beautiful items. Yes exactly, the beautiful items are brand-new clothes, shoes and handbags such on. This beautiful girl continuously does shopping to fulfill desires and get great catharsis. However, the other side of the coin, it is the financial problems. Even if she tried to quit shopping addition, ultimately she is always defeated by her favorite products.

This story tells us, being an immoderate shopaholic is horrible. It will make your life become a mess and result in many financial problems such as unaffordable credit card debts. But our aim of the blogs is telling you that you also could be a shopaholic if you can shop wisely.

Shopaholic is not a terrible thing because everyone has their rights to pursue the beauty, especially the young girls. However, many of you find you always buy something you don’t have to buy, and it’s an excessive shopping. It’s the bad side of shopaholic because it is a sort of waste.

Otherwise, you could be a healthy shopaholic. It means you can possess different styles of the clothes, but all of them are what you need and what you can fit in. I know it is not easy to become a healthy shopaholic, and it takes time. However, if you can always keep in the mind when you shop, “think before purchase”, “set a budget” and “utlise 24-hour rule” we have introduced in our previous posts, you will be a healthy shopaholic soon.

Take an action from today, clean out your wardrobe find what kind of clothes you are not fit on and you don’t like them anymore. Learn from the lesson, and don’t buy the same style of those clothes in the future. Also, for some basic shirts, you can DIY them by yourself.

Lastly, we highly recommend that if you can donate some clothes you think you don’t need them anymore to those people who suffered from poverty around the world. Be a kind man, we are looking forward to see there is any change happens in the world.

Clothes Donations

Too many excessive clothing will cause lots of stress for many families. Besides the cost of spending money buying them, you will also need to store and care them. Therefore it is time for you to organise and clear out some excessive clothing you don’t need, save yourself some time and trouble! 🙂 In order to avoid yourself these troubles, remember to shop wisely, don’t buy things for no reason – THINK before you BUY! 

If you got too many extra clothes and do not know what to do with them, please read this blog post, Shopwise Shopaholic will help you. 🙂 We recommend you to donate your quality used clothes to charities to help the environment (introduce less waste into the environment) and your community. In this blog post, Shopwise Shopaholic will provide some details for clothes donation (Sydney base) if you have too many clothes!

In Sydney, there are many organisations and charities available for clothes donations. 

1. The Smith Family is a national, independent children’s charity which helps disadvantage Australians to get the most out of their education, so they can create a better futures for themselves. They accept good quality clean, wearable clothing…with no rips/stains or tears, either new or near new. You can simply donate the items that you no longer want by putting them into one of their easy identifiable Collection Bins. For more information, please visit their website: http://www.thesmithfamily.com.au/donate/clothing

2. GiveNow.com.au is also one of the place where you can donate your clothes to help the community and help make a difference to an individual or organisation. GiveNow is an initiative of the Our Community Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation which is supported by Westpac. Please visit their website for more information: http://www.givenow.com.au/otherways/clothes

3. Clothes Line Incorporated is an organisation which support the homeless and needy Australians by providing them with new, or good quality used clothing and other essential items. By donating clothes could help them to make a noticeable difference to their lives, improving their comfort and self image. Please visit their website for more information: http://www.clothesline.org.au/index.php/donate-clothing

If you have too many clothes and they are still in good conditions why not consider donating them to organisations such as those listed above to help more people, our community and the environment. 😀

Shopaholic, remember to shop wisely to avoid buying those extra items that you don’t need. THINK before you BUY! 😉

Shopping Behaviour Change: Are You A Hunter or A Gatherer?

From a lens of economy, there is a change of shopping behaviour due to the recent economic downturn. Retailers and suppliers have to adapt to consumer’s new shopping behaviour, which is more deliberate and purposeful in their spending. So our lovely readers, do you think your shopping behaviour have already changed? If so, congratulations, you are a savvy consumer now. If not, please read our article to figure out why you cannot change your shopping behavior towards more conscious and practical consumerism.

Firstly, you have to figure out if you are a Hunter or a Gatherer.  If you are a hunter, you must be a person like the description below:

1. I always know exactly what I will buy before I go to the store.
2. Try on the clothes in the fitting room not means I will buy it later.
3. If I hesitate to buy the items or not, I won’t ask salesperson and I will figure it out by myself.

If you are fitting in the description above, you are a hunter and you are always conscious when you do shopping.

However, most of you are a Gatherer. So, what’s a gatherer mean?

1. I prefer to go to different stores to buy the products, in terms of comparing prices.
2. I always look at the price tags when I am shopping.
3. I usually shop with my friends because it is fun.

If you always do those things above, you are a gatherer. A gatherer does not mean bad shopping behaviour. It means if you a gatherer, you might always buy something impulsively. Therefore, if you want to change your shopping behaviour, you have to do the following things.

1. Set a budget. Make sure you won’t spend exceed than your dollar amount.
2. 24-hour rule. If you really want to buy some items, don’t rush to the cashier. Try to leave them at the store, and after one night, if you still love it you can return to buy it on the next day.
3. Don’t always rely on other’s opinion. Girls are more likely to shop with friends because it is fun. However, you should be caution, don’t let others’ comment influences on your purchase.

Reference:

http://www.kbkwealthconnection.com/money-psychology/gender-influencing-shopping-behavior/

Different ways to relieve stress

As we identified in our previous blog posts, one of the major factors leads people to shop is relieving stress. In this blog posts, we will help you to find other different ways to relieve stress.

Stress, literally, is a personal response to a stressor such as an environmental condition or a stimulus. In particular, stress is a way of reacting to a challenge. People live in 21^st century society of fast-paced and technological, which make them feel under stress. In order to relieve those different stresses, either from workplace or family, people (especially women) tend to do shopping escape from the real work temporarily. In addition, there is statistics shows women were twice as likely as men to use retail shopping a method to cope with stress.

Shopping when you are stressed can become an addiction such as drugs and alcohol. In a biomedical way to explain why shopping can relieve stress is because shopping releases endorphin, which reflects good feeling in people’s brain. However, with an excessive shopping, there is another problem, financial instability. Therefore, doing shopping is neither a smart nor effective way to relieve stress.

Next, we will introduce some other methods that can help you to relieve your stress towards this urban society. The tips are laughter, music therapy and exercises. Firstly, the action of laughing releases nerves and brings positive mood changes. For example, in order to find a way to stress relief, you can watch funny TV shows such as Mr. Bean.

Also, music is another technique can allow you to become more positive. This is a way of enjoyable and easy to stress relief. In addition, there is a formal music therapy session which essentially targets the issues of stress-related.

Moreover, doing exercise is an optimistic way that helps you relieve stress. For example, Yoga combines breathing exercises and meditation, which makes you initially stress relief. Also, take a walk is also another potent stress reliever.

How to control yourself when shopping?

Although it is essential for consumers to shop wisely, it is also important to control yourself when you are shopping! In this blog, Shopwise Shopaholic found some useful tips by prasetio30 on HubPages for you to how to control yourself while shopping.

• Window-shop without money.

Dopamine is a chemical substance in the brain that appears when you do something satisfactory, such as when shopping. Doing window-shop without carrying excessive cash or credit card/debit card. If you are still thinking about these things after two or three days, try to come back. This usually will reduce the sense of curiosity and the impulsive desire to buy new stuff.

• Pay with cash.

Credit cards have the power to deceive people to think that they do not spend money. You can buy something, then forget that you just spend money, because the bill had just arrived at your house for weeks later. Meanwhile, when you buy goods with cash, a deeper impression. We can save about 12-18 percent every time shopping by cash payment.

• Change your attention.

We can do that from the stores that usually makes you cannot resist shopping. For example, you find it difficult not to shop when you arrive in a clothes shop, so limit yourself to spending the maximum amount of money or the amount of clothes.

• Map a store line.

More halfway in the store you pass, more purchases outside of your plan to do. The desire to make a purchase suddenly rose to 10 percent when you pass all the halfway in the shop. Plan what you want to buy, including its location before you go shopping.

• Differentiate between what do we wants and what do we needs.

When you are buying goods, ask yourself, do I have this kind of stuff at home? This decision make us more save in buying things.

Hope these tips would help you to learn how to control yourself while shopping! 😉

 

Reference:

http://prasetio30.hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Shopping-Wisely

Shopwise Shopaholic! Tips to save money!

Everyone loves shopping and is something everyone do weekly or monthly. We should spend our money wisely and save ourselves and families some money if shop wisely and resist those impulses to buy whatever we want. In this blog post, we will be discussing about some ways to shop wisely and save lots of money. Follow the following tips to shop wisely. 🙂

1. Compare prices on different types of items with other stores, before making purchases

When you are purchasing products such as clothing, shoes…Compare prices at different stores, such as discount stores, department stores, garage sales and online stores.

2. Refuse to pay regular price for an item. Keep up to date with weekly sales, specials and clearance items.

You can sign up to shop’s newsletter by knowing when’s on sale, do not hurry to make purchases.

3. Restrain Yourself from Impulse Spending

When you are going shopping, commit yourself to buying what is on your list. Always pay close attention to the things you need, but put the things you want on hold for the moment. Beware of shopping when you are stressed, depressed or lonely, you can be tempted to buy items you do not necessarily need.

4. Do not always purchase items that on sale that you normally would not purchase, whether it is groceries, electronics, clothes or whatever it is

Ask yourself what is the budget before purchasing and think whether this is a need or a want.

5. Do not succumb to the temptation to use coupons to buy items you don’t regularly buy or need

6. One or two weeks of month, declare a week where you don’t buy anything else other than groceries, gas and bills during that week

You can set a goal for yourself for not spending money on buying clothes

7. When going shopping, take a certain amount of cash to cover the cost of items you intend to buy

Reference

http://janellegems.hubpages.com/hub/7-Smart-Ways-to-Shop-Wisely-and-Save-Lots-of-Money

Too many clothes? How Many Clothes Do I Need?

“My wardrobe is so messy!…My wardrobe has no space left!” These are the common words I heard from all my friends especially girls. So why do you have so many clothes? There are different reasons. In this blog, we will be discussing some reasons why so you have so many clothes, and how many clothes do you need? We will be also providing some tips for you to shop wisely to avoid buying excessive amounts of clothes that you are not going to wear.

The first reason why you have some many clothes would definitely be you LOVE to shop and enjoying creating beautiful outfits and then the biggest problem is you don’t have the space for all the clothes you bought. So what are you do? Before buying any clothes think carefully whether you really need or want it? And one important point: peer pressure. There’s a fine line between helpful advice from BFF, mother, sister and friendly sales woman and making you to buy things you don’t like. Who needs to an extra thing in their wardrobe that you don’t like? Yes, sometimes you can say you want to step out and try new things. However the more you can feel self-confident knowing what you like and what you don’t like, the easier it will be to say no instead of buying things you don’t like.

So now you can sit back, and think how many clothes do you actually need?

We have found some guideline on the website for you to get started if you are unsure how many clothes do you actually need.

Women

7-9 work/dressy outfits
5-7 casual outfits
2-3 outfits for relaxing at home
3-4 pairs work shoes (depends on your work. Only 2 if you wear tennis shoes or similar shoes to work)
3 pairs casual shoes

Men

2-3 pairs of “casual” dress pants like Dockers
5 button down “casual” dress shirts
2 pair of jeans
1 pair of grunge jeans
1 pair of sweat pants
3-5 t shirts
2 pair of shorts
1 pair of really nice dress pants
1-2 ties
1 pair each tennis shoes, casual dress shoes and dress shoes

References:

http://www.divinecaroline.com/fashion/whats-hot/style-tip-10-reasons-you-have-too-many-clothes

http://www.livingonadime.com/how-many-clothes-do-i-need/

Decision process of editing your wardrobe

Our Facebook fans asked us to provide some tips about how to downsize the wardrobe. Today, we are going to offer some detailed tips to let you know how to edit your wardrobe. And we also hope that when you finish reading, you will be motivated to manage your wardrobe.

Follow this decision tree, we will find what kind of clothes that we don’t have to keep. Firstly, the question is do you absolutely love it? Umm, I know it’s hard to say you actually love or not love one piece of clothes. But here is an advice that demonstrates that you don’t really love those clothes: you bought the clothes when they were on sale and you did not wear them for more than three times after you made the purchase. Follow the decision process, if you say yes, you will be asked if it is fit, damaged or get repaired. Also, you will be asked depends your situation now such as pregnant or postpartum.

Basically, we will get the glue that the clothes worth still staying in your wardrobe are those you wear often and still are in style, special occasion dress, costume, wedding dress, uniform and sentimental clothing items such as the dress you wore when you were proposed before.

Now you are aware that what kind of clothes should be got rid of or should be kept in the wardrobe. Also, when you are editing your wardrobe, you also should know why those clothes are thrown out and won’t buy the same clothes afterwards. Let’s shopping but shopping wisely.

Interview

According to The Guardian stated that one woman in five is a shopaholic. Experts believe that 10% of the population, and possibly 20% of women are compulsive shoppers. Most shopaholics are seriously in debt, and the condition has led to family break-ups, depression, homelessness and even suicide. So why women love shopping? In this blog post, we will be interviewing with one of our Facebook page fan. We will be discussing with her about her impulsive shopping experiences.

Stephanie Lam, 19, student at the University of New South Wales stating that “I just simply love shopping for no reason! I love buying clothes, therefore I have too many clothes. My wardrobe doesn’t have space to fit all my clothes in”. I believed that there are many young women like Stephanie loves shopping due to several reasons. Firstly, WE LOVE TO DOLL UP! It is a well known fact that outfits, footwear, eye wears, jewelries, bags, skincare and make up products…that raises our style quotient deserves a place in our shopping list. Therefore buying one item on the list will automatically paves a way for the rest of items in our shopping cart. And one of the most important factor: SALES AND DISCOUNT OFFERS! Stephanie added, “when there’s sales or discount offers, I would immediately go into the shop. I believe that if I don’t buy anything, it is kind of a waste of chance for not getting the products! And also being a woman itself qualifies as a reason for shopping! ”

“When I am feeling stress or low, retail therapy can help me to combat depression” Stephanie stated. It is notice that there are many women would just retail therapy to combat depression or relieve stress. Stephanie asked us during the interview, “Are they any ways to help me to shop wisely and to save lots of money?”

In the upcoming blog posts, we will be providing different tips for people like Stephanie to downsize her wardrobe and different ways to shop wisely and save lots of money! So please stay tuned shopaholic! 🙂

 

Brand loyalty and compulsive buying

According to the online dictionary, brand loyalty could be defined as “when consumers become committed to your brand and make repeat purchases over time”. Brand loyalty, literally, for the brand it self, it means successful. However, for the customers, sometimes, it means compulsive shopping. When you ask yourself, what brand you are always loyal to, you might find those brands have many other rival brands. Yet, you did not even consider these rival brands even they are good. That’s the influence of brand loyalty.

We make decision every day, ranging from signing a contract to buy a three dollars latte. You may always think you’ve done enough research about the market and you did price comparisons, and you made a right decision. Step back and think, sometimes you might be wrong.

Buyers, especially girls, they are easily attract to a specific brand. And the reasons they are loyal to the brand because they simply love the brand, style or even the models. In particular, the luxury brands are the most easy to build the brand loyalty because of its reputation. People will logically think that their products are the best because they gained huge reputation.

Sometimes, when you simply think the products are the best because you are not aware how much those products are valued. It’s hard to define how much a pair of Chanel shoes valued because value of the brand is priceless. And people cannot assess the value by comparing it to things that are just in the environment next to it. However, just assessing the cost of a pair of Chanel shoes, it might just be $100. So, here is a question? What do you buy? Do you buy a pair of shoes or the brand?

We are not against the luxury brand, here we just want to let you know sometimes what you buy might not be valued as their price tag shows. You have to be aware the purposes of shopping, buying the physical products or brand itself?  Therefore it is important for you to think wisely before purchasing the products.

In the next blog, we are honored to invite one of our Facebook fans to tell her compulsive shopping experience. And you might find yourself the same in the story. Please stay tuned with Shopwise Shopaholic! 🙂