The bargains were amazing, and when she signed up for the various rewards programs she got free shipping.She received notices of promotions before they were announced to the general public.Lydia would get to work early to log on and see what selections Amazon.com had recommended for her based on her most recent picks.Even big purchases required only a few keystrokes.She started skipping lunch with her colleagues, finding that she’d rather sit at her desk and browse.Searching for and ordering items gave Lydia a thrill, and she became adept at the hunt.It was fun to hand over a package just after signing for it and say, This one is for you.Eventually Lydia found that the arrival of packages became mundane.Often her parcels from Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel stacked up unopened in a spare bedroom.She even sometimes ordered the same items twice because she’d forgotten she’d already bought it.After a while, when the shipments arrived, Lydia no longer felt comforted by her purchases.She felt depressed, alone, and foolish.Her garage was full.Her house was cluttered with boxes.Though at this point Lydia had enough income to pay for her purchases, the impulsive quality of her spending felt unmanageable.She’d promised herself she’d stop making excessive purchases, but her promises were repeatedly broken when the next special offer arrived in her inbox.Internet shopping kept Lydia from using her money in ways that would meet her deeper needs.She wasn’t saving money, and she hadn’t been able to enjoy a vacation for a very long time.Overspenders are often unable to admit to themselves that their purchases are ruining their lives.Buying things helps mask their painful feelings so they can avoid facing them, thus reducing their psychic pain.Many overspenders are unconscious of this motivation, and they try to overcome their spending habit but are unable to do so.It has become a way of life for them.Eventually, the added baggage of shame sets in.Overspenders usually have a conflict between their exterior facade and their inner self.They attempt to possess all the trappings that they believe should fill the emptiness they feel, and no matter how much overspenders earn, their lifestyles evolve to demand that they spend more.This often leads to chronic debting.But as the movie progresses and the blob grows to more and more astounding proportions, you begin to see its real menace.The blob takes over.It oozes its way into every nook of the town, into every home, church, and school.The constant pressure of the blob pushes locked doors open, breaks through dams, busts through unbreakable barriers, crushing and suffocating every living thing in its path.The blob is relentless.Chronic debt is like the blob.At first it seems benign.But progressively, by its sheer mass and constant growth, it takes over our lives.Sonya’s struggle with chronic debting drew her into the Money/Life Drain.It made sense for her to handle the household finances, but she loathed the task.She often put off paying the bills until late notices arrived.Then she would pay the late fees and chide herself for accumulating extra expenses.It wasn’t long before she lost track of her balance altogether and checks were cashed only because of her bank’s overdraft protection.Each overdraft came with a penalty.One time, a check for only ten dollars to her daughter’s school ended up costing fifty dollars in fees.Late fees and interest seemed to eat the credit card payments Sonya made, and even though she paid more than the minimum amount, the balance never seemed to go down.When her credit card company called, Sonya felt embarrassed.She could imagine her husband’s anger and disappointment at how she’d made such a mess of things.But that would just have to wait.They don’t shut off the power right away, she reasoned to herself.To make it all worse, Sonya left work one day to find that her car had been booted because of unpaid parking tickets.She borrowed four hundred dollars from her mom to
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