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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think we a nation of shopaholics?

93 replies

TimeBurglar · 30/12/2022 10:11

Since before Black Friday it has been a feeding frenzy in the shops. Yesterday I had to meet someone in our city centre and we went into a department store. It was chaos, like Christmas Eve. People were rummaging through bargains, pushing people out of the way and getting stroppy in queues at tills.

I came away feeling quite disgusted actually. Most of us got things on Christmas Day, why do we need more crap the second the shops open?

My Christmas presents were not great, but TBH I don't need anything. I'd rather just not swap presents.

It got me thinking though. Why is shopping such a British thing? I have relatives overseas, and they don't go through a house metamorphosis every 2 years, nor spend hundreds on clothes a month. They have fewer things, but better quality.

It just feels obscene.

OP posts:
Afterfire · 30/12/2022 10:14

I have been wondering this too, and I am someone who enjoys shopping. 🙈 I do wonder if some of it is that our weather is so rubbish we can’t do so many outdoorsy stuff that other countries seem to do. When it’s pissing it down outside - like it is today where I live- it’s quite tempting to head to a warm, bright, welcoming shopping centre and wander round for a few hours and have lunch….. If the weather was nicer all the time I’d probably go for walks or swim more.

Crackstone · 30/12/2022 10:15

I think a lot of people are trying to buy things in the sale that they might need in the difficult year ahead.

Dogsgottabone · 30/12/2022 10:17

Agreed. I used to love shopping as a hobby in my 20s but now I hate it and buy almost everything I NEED online or on ebay.

KnickerlessParsons · 30/12/2022 10:17

Crackstone · 30/12/2022 10:15

I think a lot of people are trying to buy things in the sale that they might need in the difficult year ahead.

Shopping has become a hobby and a day out. Out of town, covered shopping centres (and IKEA) have promoted this by making the shopping experience attractive for the whole family.

lightand · 30/12/2022 10:20

KnickerlessParsons · 30/12/2022 10:17

Shopping has become a hobby and a day out. Out of town, covered shopping centres (and IKEA) have promoted this by making the shopping experience attractive for the whole family.

Show quote history

Yes this.
Combined with the weather this time of year.
When people kept saying city centres will die, I thought no they wont.
People need somewhere to go that can be free if you choose it that way.

Ariela · 30/12/2022 10:20

I've not been shopping online or in a shop since 2 weeks before Christmas other than 1 shop to pick up an item, not even been in the supermarket other than the week before the run up to Christmas week and then a brief jaunt to check what was reduced post Christmas (got a nice blue cheese at 1/3 price in Waitrose).

It's not everyone...but if you don't like it don't go!

HoneyIShrunkThePizza · 30/12/2022 10:20

I don't get it either. I don't shop as a hobby. Never go for a wander or browse. If I need a new jumper I will call into a specific shop on the way home from work or order online. Done. Not wander aimlessly seeing if there's anything I fancy. It seems so dull as well as wasteful.

Bagzzz · 30/12/2022 10:25

Some people will only be able to afford things they need in sales, some will have gift vouchers. Some just enjoy shopping or looking. Unless you know that people are getting into unmanageable debt or buying things you know that that they will not use/enjoy/give as a present what is wrong with this?

Scabetty · 30/12/2022 10:26

I think the talk of a difficult year ahead makes people stock pile. I am sure it is a plan to make us spend. As a terrible shopaholic I am planning a no spend for 2023 but have 2 parcels in the post 😂😂

Blueberry7699 · 30/12/2022 10:28

I only buy what I need when I need it and have a small house so that works. I work in town once a week (city centre) and generally I find it much quieter than it was a few years ago (and much, much quieter than it was when I was a child). I think the sales have brought out more people than usual (I think due to cost of living more people may have received money than gifts to spend in the sales?).

The spending continues online as well of course - I do think we, as a nation, buy a lot of material items. A lot more than we need to buy. I think it is a problem, a massive problem but difficult to change.

pizzazze · 30/12/2022 10:29

It's so (too) easy in this country to shop a lot (too much). There are so many shops with so much stock, a lot of it is quite cheap even to start with. Online shopping and returns are so easy. It actually makes me feel a bit nauseous when I see all the sale stock and think how much will end up in landfill. It's a bit obscene the disposable shopping culture here.

bibbif · 30/12/2022 10:29

why were you in the shop?

ADifferentKindofChristmas · 30/12/2022 10:31

It's not just the UK.

Have you ever been to the USA?

Consumerism is global.

BadShepherd · 30/12/2022 10:32

OP - I think it’s very British (although probably not unique to our isles) - I lived abroad decades and people bought fewer, higher quality items.

I find it baffling and endlessly dull. Probably the same types who watch reality tv. 🤷‍♀️

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 30/12/2022 10:34

There might be lots of good reasons - been waiting for the sales to buy something needed, spending vouchers etc - but also there’s a dopamine hit involved in buying new things, which people look for.

That’s obviously a less than healthy thing, and it’s important to make sure we’re not just satisfying that sort of craving when we go shopping.

bibbif · 30/12/2022 10:34

I do think the weather plays a part.

Treedecsandtinsel · 30/12/2022 10:36

This morning I’m starting to clear through the house. There is so much stuff!
poor poor planet!

literally piles of stuff that will never be used, yet more toy guns (every year), 13 selection boxes!, novelty drinks sets.

just piles of stuff that have been bought.

every year we say please don’t, just get the one nice thing that will be cherished (favourite toy so far is the second hand tuff tray) . Every year the shopping fest. Ditto birthdays, Easter etc. the kids hate it, it’s too much.

I used to love a sales shop in my teens. Now I have all the stuff I need or things come from vinted. There’s just to much consume, consume, consume.

OneRingToRuleThemAll · 30/12/2022 10:37

I'm doing a no spend on stuff 2023. I think the mindset might be shifting. We are such a wasteful nation as a whole.

Oohahhalittlebitmore · 30/12/2022 10:38

Shopping has become a hobby and a day out.

This.
I always feel so sorry for the kids being dragged around shopping every weekend because the parents can’t think what else to do with them. It’s a crap day out.

DreamingOfAGreenChristmas · 30/12/2022 10:38

One of the many things I hated about Wife Swap was the cliche of ‘a girly day shopping’ as a bonding activity.

LlynTegid · 30/12/2022 10:39

I expect OP you would agree with my wish that non-food shops were shut not just on Christmas Day but Boxing Day and New Year's Day as well.

bibbif · 30/12/2022 10:40

I don't think that's completely true, I loved going to the toy shop as a kid & my dc do too, we don't go very often though.
Plus shopping centres can also have restaurants, cinemas, soft play etc so people may have gone for that & just popped into one shop.

Worklessplaymore · 30/12/2022 10:40

ADifferentKindofChristmas · 30/12/2022 10:31

It's not just the UK.

Have you ever been to the USA?

Consumerism is global.

That's true but I think the UK is quite consumer-driven as opposed to many of our neighbours in Europe.

Thesinisterdiagram · 30/12/2022 10:40

I mean, our entire economy pretty much relies on everyone constantly buying stuff. If we all started buying much less we’d get told how we’re destroying businesses and to think of all the poor people who are going to lose their jobs. There’s no winning really.

bibbif · 30/12/2022 10:41

every year we say please don’t, just get the one nice thing that will be cherished (favourite toy so far is the second hand tuff tray) . Every year the shopping fest. Ditto birthdays, Easter etc. the kids hate it, it’s too much.

who is buying it though? why don't they buy one thing & put the rest into a savings account for the dc?

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