‘I Didn’t Shop for a Year’: How One Woman Conquered Her Secret Addiction

Photo: Corbis

The morning of Sunday, Sept.15, 2013, I woke up earlier than a normal human being should. The reason? To wait in front of my local Target for the 3.1 Phillip Lim collaboration launch. As soon as those doors swooshed open I attacked those racks, snatching up sweaters, blouses and skirts. Then I went home and bought more of the collection online. That not being enough, I drove to a second Target in another town and grabbed a few more pieces. Did I mention that the week prior I had attended the collaboration’s launch party in NYC, where I purchased three bags? I managed to spend two paychecks in no time. I had hit my version of rock bottom, albeit a very chic rock bottom.

You see, I am a shopping addict. Most of the women on my mother’s side of the family are. From an early age, visits with grandma meant going on a euphoric shopping spree. It was how we bonded. We would hit up the local mall and wear out her credit card, filling up bags from Macy’s and more. She taught me how to sneak the purchases past my grandpa so he wouldn’t know how much we spent. (Tips included putting smaller bags into bigger ones, and always leaving any surplus in the trunk to fetch when he’s not around.) To me it was a game, a really fun game that ended with me getting tons of new clothes.

It wasn’t until college, when I got my own credit cards, that I realized how dangerous a game it truly was. Despite only having a part time retail job, I shopped as if I had an endless supply of cash at hand. When one credit card maxed out, I would just open a store card somewhere else and pay the minimum balance to keep me going. The more stressed I became about money, the more I shopped. It was a vicious cycle, one that left me with a horrible case of insomnia. I stopped going to classes and ended up not graduating from college. I was twelve credits away from a diploma, but managed to accumulate four years of student loans and over $10,000 in credit card debt.

I hit rock bottom, which led me to enroll in debt consolidation and cut up my credit cards. But here’s the funny part: Although I was living paycheck to paycheck, paying off my debt and student loans, I still shopped. Any extra money I had was gone in the blink of an eye, spent on the latest mascara, or dinner out at my favorite restaurant, or a new stream of MP3 tracks.

Victoria Locke credits her husband for helping her stop shopping. Photo: It’s a Versayce/Tumblr

Things began to shift when my husband came into the picture. He is the complete opposite of me when it comes to finances. He is frugal when I am frivolous. For the first time in my life, I had a savings account. However, give this addict an inch and she goes on a shopping spree. Having two incomes gave me a false sense of security. My spending increased, especially when I learned about flash sale sites, which played right into my addictive nature. I found myself using the tricks my grandmother taught me: put it on the credit card with the bill he doesn’t check every month; run home with your packages before he gets back from work; remove the tags and hang it in the closet so he won’t know it’s all new; leave it in the trunk if he beats you home. And if he does happen to catch you with the goods, make sure you can rationalize the purchase.

And that’s how I found myself hitting rock bottom again: also known as the Phillip Lim for Target Shopping Spree of 2013. After I spent those two paychecks, horrendous sense of guilt crushed me, like no other spree before it. My husband and I had been trying to bulk up our savings account, but every time it got to a substantial number I had to use those funds to pay a hefty credit card bill.  I realized a drastic change was necessary.

That night, I announced that I was going to stop shopping for a whole year.

My cold turkey method of treating my shopping addiction began the very next day. The plan: I could not spend any money on clothing, accessories, undergarments or shoes for myself for 365 days straight. I began a Tumblr page, It’s a Versayce, to document my daily outfits and keep myself honest. (Sidenote: If you don’t get the “Versayce” reference, you need to watch Showgirls immediately.) Making this whole undertaking public was essential for holding me accountable.

Many of my friends wondered how I would get by for a whole year without new clothes, but that part was not difficult. As a shopping addict, my closets were overloaded. It may seem counterintuitive, but by keeping myself from buying anything new my style actually improved.

When you have to work with a limited set of tools, you need to become more creative in how you use them. I made my spring and summer dresses work throughout the winter by rocking leggings and layering with sweaters, oxfords and cardigans. Graphic tees and blouses that never saw the light of day were dusted off and paired with blazers, skirts and skinny jeans.  I experimented with different color combinations.  I learned the importance of using accessories to breathe fresh life into an otherwise boring outfit.  I took my fedora off the hat rack and it became a signature piece.  With limitations, my wardrobe became more versatile than ever.

While taking a year off from shopping was much easier than I thought it would be (I truly underestimated my willpower) it was not without its tough days. I felt jealous pangs when the new Target collaborations were released, especially Joseph Altuzzara’s line for the store that came out this past fall. I hit major closet fatigue at the end of each season, especially during the final stretch. Also, as a plus-sized girl, my jeans and leggings wear in the thigh area at a quick rate. My closet staples needed to be mended in order to make it through the year. In the past, I would have just tossed them out without a second thought and used it as an excuse to buy new stuff. Instead, I was forced to pull out my little sewing kit and do mending jobs.

In the end, those little discomforts were majorly outweighed by the positive outcomes from my year off of shopping. Without my crazy spending, my husband and I were able to travel to England twice without dipping into our savings account. Those memories will last a hell of a lot longer than a temporary shopping high.

I also accomplished something I often feared would never happen. By halting my shopping, I could finally afford online college courses to complete my degree. This no-shopping experiment proved that I was no longer satisfied with the status quo and that I had the ability to change the parts of my life that I was not proud of. After 11 long years, I received my bachelor’s degree. The feeling of failure melted away the moment I received my diploma in the mail.

Like a person addicted to drugs or alcohol, I will always be a shopping addict. But this experience has taught me that I am stronger than I ever gave myself credit for. From this point forward I will have a strict $100 per month budget from which I must decide whether what I want is what I really need. (And I’m still documenting everything on It’s a Versayce so that my reader’s can hold me accountable.) I can tell you from experience, I don’t need nearly as much as I thought I did. This time around, give this addict some boundaries and she may surprise you.