In the Red? Spent?
How to Give Up Shopping
(or at least cut down)
Three Intimate Conversations
hosted by April Lane Benson, author of To Buy or Not To Buy:
Why We Overshop and How to Stop
Keys to Stopping Overshopping
from Women Who've Been There...
and Triumphed
In these live 1-hour conversations, I’ll talk with three remarkable
women, each one a serious shopaholic who’s come out the other
side and then written the story of her unique recovery.
- You'll hear actual live stories from people who were in the throes of compulsive buying disorder and developed, on their own, skills, tools, and strategies that they'll tell you about.
- You'll be able to e-mail questions during the conversations to get on-the-spot answers to your most pressing concerns--directly from those who've been where you are now.
- You'll have access to session recordings so that you can review the powerful experience we've shared, reinforce learning, and even pick up things you may have missed on the calls.
A Conversation with Alexis Hall
author of In the Red: The Diary of a Recovering Shopaholic
Thursday Evening, May 14th, 8:30-9:30 p.m., E.S.T.
“Thirty-one thousand, six hundred and thirty-seven pounds and eighty-four pence. That’s how much I owe. I feel sick looking at the display on the calculator. I try turning it upside down to see if that helps. It looks like ‘hOLEgIE’, which probably means ‘loser’ in some long-forgotten language. When your debt is more than your share of the mortgage and your partner’s threatening to not only leave, but to tell your mother how out of control your spending is, then you know it’s time to face reality and take drastic action.”
In the Red is the story of Alexis Hall’s struggle to do just that. For a whole year, she sets out to buy nothing except the bare essentials in a bid to reclaim her life from the retail rollercoaster. Her book is humorous and imaginative as well as deeply serious. To economize, Hall changes her mode of transportation to a scooter—which, she tells us, affords her “a vroom with a view.” When tickets to a Woodstock-like concert prove unaffordable, she and long-time partner Kevin find a low-cost, high-fun way to experience it anyway: they get out their camping lantern, set up their tent, and watch it on television! Roughing it in their living room, they have a great view of the stage—and don’t have to stand in line for the bathroom. Lest it all seem easy, however, we also see how in a split second Hall’s powerful intentions can be interrupted by irritability, murderous thoughts and glances, jealousy of Kevin’s new clothes, and occasional slips.
Alexis Hall is a media relations officer and former broadcast journalist. She lives in Glasgow, Scotland, with her partner, their furry, four-legged child, and her large collection of shoes.
A Conversation with Avis Cardella
author of Spent: Memiors of a Shopping Addict
Thursday Evening, May 21st, 8:30-9:30 p.m., E.S.T.
“Sex in The City” and so-called “chick lit” novels may have glamorized fashion fanaticism and over-the-top spending, but what happens when the money runs out and real life comes huffing and puffing at the door? In Spent, Avis Cardella lets us ride shotgun on the heady and harrowing journey of her overshopping misadventures. It started innocently enough—”I was a teenager in Staten Island who liked to read her mom’s Vogue magazines and saved up all her cash to buy clothes”—but culminates in a life-altering crescendo. Set to the tom-tom beat of New York City in the 90’s, the book follows Cardella’s entry into a world of luxury labels, classic cars, Hamptons homes, polo matches—and all the requisite shopping that goes with them.
As the decade ended, so did her grand lifestyle—but her shopping addiction was just getting started. “Before long, I found myself sliding into the particular Manhattan rabbit-hole known as keeping up appearances. Pretending that little in my life had changed, I struggled to continue to play the part of the well-off single woman. Credit card debts mounted, rents went unpaid, money was borrowed, and unscrupulous men appeared. Ultimately, I was faced with this choice: have the courage to confront my addiction and what’s really fueling it—or watch my life go into freefall.”
Avis Cardella began as a fashion journalist based in New York City and currently works as a freelance writer specializing in the areas of art, photography, fashion, and lifestyle. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Soho Journal, Marie Claire, Fashion Reporter, and Women's Wear Daily. She now lives in Paris.
A Conversation with Neradine Tisaj
author of How To Give Up Shopping (or at least cut down)
Thursday Evening, May 28th, 8:30-9:30 p.m., E.S.T.
Where do you start? How do you go from finding refuge in retail therapy to being able to walk past the shops with your bank balance intact? Stressed, time-poor, and addicted to the buzz of new purchase, Neradine Tisaj had a debilitating shopping problem. But when she sought advice about solving it, she found recommendations that were either uselessly overgeneral or impossibly at odds with her lifestyle. For the first sort, “a financial planner telling an over-shopper like myself to simply ‘save money’ was as useful as a marathon runner telling an over-weight person, who can barely get off their sofa, to simply exercise more.” For the second, one book told her to find a husband and live off his salary. Another told her to stay in on Saturday nights and eat boiled eggs.
Determined to save money but still enjoy her life, Tisaj devised her own way back to conscious, healthy spending. How to Give Up Shopping is a call to action for anyone who would like to save but also to live. Candid and entertaining, it's peppered with genuinely helpful tips and leavened with anecdotes.
Neradine Tisaj has had a varied career in the media in both Australia and the United States. After an internship at HBO in New York City—where she once did Chris Rock’s make-up very badly—she’s worked as a magazine journalist, an online producer, and a television publicist.
Dates:
May 14 - Alexis Hall / May 21 - Avis Cardella / May 28 - Neradine Tisaj
Time: 8:30-9:30 p.m., E.S.T.
Cost: $45 for the series
When you register, you'll receive access to
these three live overshopping conversations and the call recordings.
Can't make a call live? Need to come on a call late? No worries!
Each call will be recorded and available for download
so you won't miss a single word.
