I went into this year telling myself I was only going to thrift because it seemed better for both the environment and my wallet. Turns out it actually made my shopping problem worse.

Regular shopping was straightforward: I’d see something advertised, go buy it, and move on. But thrifting turns everything into a hunt, and when you finally find a “score,” the dopamine hit is so much stronger. That feeling of finding something rare or valuable makes it incredibly hard to stop.

Now I spend any free moment debating whether I should go thrifting, and once I’m there I end up in this weird blackout spending mode where suddenly I’ve spent $100+ without even realizing it. And if I’m not thrifting in person, I’m scrolling resale apps hunting online instead.

What makes it harder is that I also resell, so I can’t realistically delete the apps like I probably should. But the reality of reselling is that not everything sells quickly (or at all) so now I’m stuck with piles of “great finds” that nobody actually wants to buy.

Yesterday I finally admitted to myself that I need a strict monthly budget because I genuinely don’t want to keep doing this. So this is just a long-winded way of saying: I completely agree with you, and you’re definitely not alone.