It hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year.

So you text a friend: "I need to go out for some retail therapy."

It's a cutesy way of saying "I'm going to shop my way out of my bad mood." Many of us say it without giving it a second thought.

But it's also a coping mechanism to protect your mental well-being—one that, left unchecked, could turn into an addiction that cripples your financial well-being.

The Tea

If you've noticed that your holiday-season spending habits have spilled over into January and February, well … join the club. You're hardly alone.

The winter months are peak season for depression, and, as a result, retail therapy: the simple act of shopping to feel better. It all feels relatively normal during the holiday months when we're buying gifts for others as part of an annual ritual. But it takes on quite a different vibe as we're buying ourselves stuff for what at the time feels like no good reason whatsoever.

Young and the Invested Tip: People often confuse frugality and simply being cheap. But there are important differences that make the former much better than the latter.

Of course, the reason so many of us indulge is because … well, it works. Take it away, Cleveland Clinic!

"Dopamine, serotonin and endorphins are just a few of the chemicals our brain releases when we engage in behaviors like shopping. 

This response is the reward center of our brain's way of urging us to keep doing things it sees as necessary for our survival — and the survival of our species. The same chemical reaction happens when you eat a meal, kiss someone special or go dancing with friends. 

"Some people think these hormones only get released when you actually purchase an item, but it begins well before that," [Psychologist Susan Albers, PsyD] explains. "It can start before you even leave the house because you're delighting in all the possibilities. Your happy hormones surge through the whole journey."

And that's far from the only reason retail therapy quenches our sorrowful thirst. Other effects include, per Cleveland Clinic:

• It gives you a sense of control. When you shop, you're actively making choices and determining outcomes for yourself. It promotes visualization of positive outcomes: 
• It provides visualization of positive outcomes. "Visualization is a powerful tool," Albers says. "It's why so many people enjoy making vision boards and elite athletes work closely with sports psychologists. Visualization creates positive anticipation and reduces anxiety." 
• It stimulates the senses. Think about the last time you were in a mall. The sounds of people talking around you. Smells from perfume stores and food stands. Bright displays and colorful clothes on mannequins. This applies more so for in-person shopping than browsing online, of course. 
• It encourages physical activity. Also an in-person benefit: When you go out and shop, you're walking around. And "when we're up and moving, we're producing serotonin, endorphins and dopamine," Cleveland Clinic says.

The Take

Retail therapy might very well be effective—a little too effective. Which is why, if not kept in check, retail therapy can rapidly devolve from solution to problem.

So, how do you know you might have a problem? A few warning signs:

• Spending a lot of time researching items you have no ability to buy (or even actual interest in buying)
• Spending a lot of time mindlessly thinking about things you'd like to buy
• Shopping reflexively as a response to negative news or emotions
• Impulse buying other items when you're out shopping for specific items

And of course, a sign that goes well past "warning" and straight into "you already have a problem" is accumulating debt because of your shopping habits.

Listen: Like with most things, retail therapy is fine in moderation. No one's saying not to treat yourself to a little creature comfort after you break up with a long-term partner.

Young and the Invested Tip: One way to shop less is to want less. Here are a few first steps toward becoming more minimalist.

But the key word is moderation—which means you ultimately have to find a way to exercise self-control.

On that front, we're happy to share a few tips from U.K. financial comparison site Compare the Market, which recently published its "Shopping Habits and Wellbeing" guide.

• Make it harder to shop: Depending on the study, roughly 70%-80% of Americans do at least some shopping online. It's ultra-convenient, but online shopping also makes it incredibly easy to pull the trigger on impulse purchases. You don't necessarily have to stop shopping online, though—just change a few related habits. For instance, delete any shopping-specific apps from your mobile devices, unsubscribe from retailers' newsletters and marketing emails, and delete your card details from online stores (which forces you to fill in information every time you want to buy something).
  • If you shop mostly or entirely in person, you can stay your hand by committing to not making any discretionary purchases until you've thought about it for at least 24 hours. You also can commit to not buying anything explicitly because it's on sale.
• Plan out your shopping trips: When it comes to shopping for basic necessities like groceries, always check to see what you already have before you shop to avoid unnecessarily purchasing things you don't actually need. Also, planning meals out in advance results in more efficient shopping—rather than buying items that sound good individually that you can't collectively turn into meals, you'll only buy items specifically targeted for what you'll actually eat during the week. And no matter what you're shopping for, always make a list beforehand and stick to it while you're out.
• Make a budget: The simple act of knowing how much money you really have to spend will make it more likely that, whenever you're about to make an impulse purchase, you'll quickly think about that hard number and exert a little self-control.
• Practice "mindful spending": Whenever you shop, make it a point to think about your financial goals while you're doing it. That won't cut down on all of your spending—but that extra consideration likely will result in smarter financial choices.

Thank you for spending a little time with us! Enjoy the rest of the weekend, and we'll see you in another seven days!

Riley & Kyle

Young and the Invested

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