Last updated on January 27, 2019
Shopping can be an expensive hobby, especially if you get carried away by either the high-street sales, or the promo codes to add to online orders. If you want to cut down the expenditure for 2014, then there are a couple of things you can do to take your mind off shopping.
If you have a lot of things to donate or perhaps sell, you may even discover that you have enough stock to start an online business which would be a plus. Whatever you decide to do with your surplus items, clearing out your clutter should have a beneficial effect on your mental health.
It can stop you from hanging onto things that you should have let go of, thereby allowing you to move into the future with confidence.
Start or Re-Start a Hobby.
Was there a hobby that you particularly enjoyed as a child or a young adult? Is there a hobby that you have always wanted to take up? In both cases, now is a good time to start or re-start that hobby. Whether it is ballroom dancing or stamp collecting, begin your hobby now and notice how much happier you feel in a few weeks’ time.
In particular, creative hobbies can be good substitutes for shopping as some people attempt to express their creativity through shopping. If you have always wanted to make your own stylish clothes and home accessories, you could, for example, learn the basics by enrolling on a sewing or knitting course, checking out interior decorating courses, or health and beauty courses.
Those are just examples of college courses, you may have your own ideas on what courses or hobbies you would like to take part in, but do look around and weight up your options as there are plenty out there.
Help Out at a Local Charity.
Volunteering can give you an immense sense of satisfaction, that you have actually done something good with your time to help out others that are less fortunate.
Many local charities, non-profit organizations and schools are looking for volunteers for a variety of duties from administration to gardening. Look for an organization whose work interests you and contact them to ask about volunteer opportunities.
When volunteering, Craig from SellMyMobile.com (a mobile phone recycling comparison service) advises to “ensure that you choose an activity that you enjoy, whether it is serving customers in a thrift store, listening to children reading out loud, or looking after abandoned dogs and cats at an animal shelter.” Using some of your spare time to help others through your volunteer work will give you a much deeper sense of satisfaction than shopping ever did.
Once you have begun to replace shopping with other activities that you find rewarding, you will find that the temptation to go shopping decreases. Often, the desire to go shopping comes from a feeling that something is missing in your life.
If you create a life filled with rewarding activities, you will no longer feel that something is missing.
Therefore, you will no longer feel a strong desire to go shopping. Hopefully.
Thanks to Craig, a blogger from the UK who loves to help people save money, make money, and to offer advice for making positive changes in your everyday routines.
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