In describing money personalities, from time to time I’m certain each of you have decided to do a little “shopping therapy” where you go to the mall to just look around, see what is in the shops, you may or may not buy something, and like magic you feel uplifted. However, Ms. Thing finds this approach part of everyday life.

Someone like Ms. Thing enjoys the stimulation she receives from the experience of purchasing. There are the sights, the sounds, the smells, the touching, and the thrill of the chase related to spending money. These are the people we continually see at the mall. One day a friend that falls into the category remarked to me that she was in the Mall so often she was certain some of the clerks thought she worked there. And then, to her surprise, as she placed her purchase on the counter the clerk asked for her Mall ID to give her a discount.

Ms. Thing is driven by impulse and the desire to act on the impulse to buy something occurs often. The internet has not helped her situation because there is ever present access through websites. She continually finds deals for herself and has been known to find great gifts for others as well.

Unlike Mr. Bling the price or cache of an item is unimportant, and she continually convinces herself that it is a bargain that simply cannot be passed up. She rarely will keep track of the money in her bank account which allows her to experience a type of money distortion where she imagines she really has not spent as much as the account would actually show. “Easy monthly payments” or “I’ve only spent a small amount” fall into this money distortion. She some how never seems to add up the long list of small purchases or the unending number of easy payments which in their totality are no longer so easy.

Ms. Thing in the extreme has been known to collect to the point of hoarding and may have whole rooms of unopened items that were “such a great deal I couldn’t pass it up.” They may also be collectors of first one type and then another. Their homes will have shelf upon shelf of all types of collected items.

Ms. Thing has made a series of terrible connections and views her purchases as being nice to herself or that she is actually saving money by spending money she does not have. The connection also extends to equating shopping = purchase. Frequently you will hear them remark “I just need to buy something and then I can go.”

The unspoken message Ms. Thing is giving herself is that spending is entertainment and she is a failure if she somehow cannot spend what she wants on herself. Once a Ms. Thing becomes aware of her behavior, the goal is to re-balance the spending trait and there are several ways of doing that.

Before any purchase ask the following questions:

• Where will I put this item?
• Will this work with what I already have?
• Is there a lower cost or no cost way to have it?
• How many hours do I have to work to pay for it?
• Can I use this money to pay down debt?

The purchase exercise mentioned above helps disrupt money distortion in that it requires the spender to do a degree of mental calculation that has not been present in the past.

Establish a waiting period

No matter how good the offer, establish an amount of time you are committed to waiting before you make a purchase. Any salesman worth his salt can smell a compulsive buyer and one of the basic rules of selling is to create a sense of urgency (only for the first 100 people, limited time offer, only five per household). Break the hold of the impulse by establishing the rule of a waiting period because it gives you time to think, compare prices, and ask yourself if you really need it.