Confessions of Real Shopaholics

In 2008, Claudia F. began using a shopping as a way to adjust to her new life in the “real world.”

“I had lost my grandma, just graduated college, and I felt a sense of lost identity,” says the mother of three, who now runs an online maternity store. “I was trying to fill something inside and I was lost.”

But what started out as a weekend pastime quickly evolved into an obsession when “after about six or eight months, I had racked up $30,000 in credit card debt,” Claudia says. “I would hide things in my husband’s car trunk, or put them in a closet downstairs. Months would pass by, and I realized I hadn’t even looked at the stuff.”

Things came to a head when Claudia and her husband were rejected for a home loan modification. Claudia was forced to confront her addiction, and her husband threatened her with divorce. “They ran a final credit report, so that was a really big wakeup call to realize I’d put my family in jeopardy.”  Today, Claudia says she has recovered and calls herself “a conservative spender.” But the lessons she learned that year have stayed with her. “It took me realizing that I am enough, or do have enough to finally stop.”