Thanks to the popular chick flick “Confessions of a Shopaholic” we are all fully aware of the danger of escaping reality with some retail therapy only to suffer heart-failure when the credit card bills roll in.We are at the mercy of shrewd marketers who inundate us on pay day with glossy advertisements for 'must-have' shoes, clothes and handbags. We are all, at times, guilty of paging through magazines and web pages before setting off to the mall with single-minded intent. And we don’t really need a fucking thing!We toss out perfectly good clothes because suddenly they are “so last season” that we wouldn’t be seen dead in them.We are slaves to cunning retailers and marketers who turn our every want into an absolute need. We toss out or give away boxes full of make up, skin and hair products to replace them with products so far superior that we would be doing ourselves a gross injustice if we did not upgrade. Suddenly we wouldn’t dream of applying a moisturiser containing anything less than SPF 15 and collagen. We spot a wrinkle in the corner of an eye and immediately invest in an expensive eye cream that claims to work as well as Botox. There isn’t one, Bitches!When it comes to pharmaceutical products, you may not even realise it but you could be as addicted as a bloody drug addict. Many of us buy into the idea of pill-popping as the solution, no matter what the problem. It’s so much easier... As with the “must-haves” in the clothing, toiletry and cosmetic stores, we are being suckered by very sneaky marketing and advertising into thinking that we need so many pills! Vitamin supplements are a “necessity” these days because our diet is so poor being a busy working mums. We think popping the latest and greatest vitamin will cover us for that.We may not actually be addicted to drugs, but it seems we are addicted to spending our hard-earned cash on items which the scheming marketers make us believe we can’t live without, but which we don’t really need.I am not suggesting that you give up your calcium supplement and get osteoporosis, or that you put on your big-girl knickers and just live with a migraine, or even that you give up your multivitamin if it makes you feel better. I am suggesting that you think about what pills you really, really need and do you truly need the expensive branded ones that all the chemist skanks try and fob off on you? You could probably get them dirt-cheap in a brown paper bag at the dispensary at a fraction of the price.Maybe we would be kinder to ourselves, our bodies and our purses if we invested in healthy, organic, seasonal foods, went out and bought a good pair of running shoes and started exercising regularly. We would almost certainly be much healthier and save ourselves a fucking fortune - which we could then spend on regular holidays to the seaside to reduce our stress levels instead of taking yet more drugs and supplements. Just don’t be tempted to spend that extra cash on a shopaholic binge at the mall, resulting in financial stress which will have to be cured by popping handfuls of Prozac!
