The one change that worked: I used to be a compulsive shopper until I hit upon a simple trick

"One day at work two years ago, a notification hit my phone: my paycheck had come through. It was a fair amount for someone still at university, so I did what I always did when payday arrived: I opened every shopping app on my phone. Amazon, Vinted, Etsy, Depop, Zara, you name it. Within the space of an hour, I had spent 90 on clothes, decorative items and a completely useless weighted blanket I never touched."

"Eventually, I decided to try something new. Before buying anything, I'd put it in my basket, wait 24 hours, then decide whether to check out. The best part of this method was that it gave me space to think something I'd never done before. For the first time since I turned 18, I began asking myself: Do I actually need this? Can I afford it? More often than not, the answer was no."

"Maybe it was because I grew up in a poor family, where we'd go months without buying new clothes or anything to brighten up the house. So any time I had some disposable income, there was always a subconscious yearning for new and exciting things. Or maybe, and definitely more likely, I was just financially irresponsible and gave in easily to capitalism's demands."

The narrator frequently engaged in impulsive online shopping whenever payday arrived, buying clothes, decor and unnecessary gadgets. Boredom, stress and doomscrolling triggered shopping binges, and small rationalizations escalated spending. Childhood scarcity created a subconscious craving for new items whenever disposable income appeared, while financial irresponsibility and consumer pressure reinforced the habit. A new rule required placing desired items in the basket and waiting 24 hours before deciding to purchase. That pause created space to evaluate necessity and affordability, leading to clearing baskets and substantially reducing purchases of items that would never be used.

Read at www.theguardian.com