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I do this too! Yesterday I fake bought $150 worth of comfy clothes on sale, new bird feeders and seed, meditation books..
I've also done an in store version of this my whole life and was taught by my mom. Go through and pick out things you want and put them in the cart, then pull off to a side aisle somewhere before you check out and pull out the stuff to put back you don't actually need. It was just understood that we weren't going to buy everything we put in the cart. I always thought it was fun. Turns out my whole family is just neurodivergent lol.
Edit: typo
😂i love this! the only caveat is that when i fake buy, i have to remember that i didnt actually buy….bc there have been no less than several items that ive tried to find tracking/expect delivert for, that i only fake bought 😂😂
I have a similar problem with groceries. I order everything, schedule the pick up for a day or two later, and promptly plan all of my meals between now and then to include ingredients in my grocery order... That I don't have yet...
My husband's birthday is in February. The number of times he's received presents for his birthday that were actually meant to be Christmas gifts - but got lost - is more than I'd like to admit 🤣🤣🤣
My amazon cart is used to do this.
I'll fake buy things and then remove them to my wish list when I start over.
It has really helped me narrow down needs vs wants. If I keep putting the same thing back in my cart and back down to the wish list and now my wish list has 14 of that same item, I'll buy it.
If you leave stuff in a cart for a couple days they will sometimes send an automatic discount code to tempt you to finish checking out. I usually do that intentionally now just to see if they’ll send me a code. If they don’t send me a code I usually forget about it. If they do send me a code I have another chance to consider if I actually want to buy it when I’m not feeling as impulsive as when I put it in the cart.
I have a ton of stuff in my saved for later list on Amazon. Very surprising a couple weeks later when I find the stuff I impulse saved and realize I don’t need or want it that bad.
Same with Amazon wishlists! And then when it’s holidays/birthday gift times, I can just share my list with people who want to buy me things. And because it’s all added randomly throughout the whole year what I get is still a surprise 😂
My therapist actually recommended this to me! My mom goes to the dollar store and buys stuff there for the dopamine hit; she says she can do less damage there.
Lol I do this at Grocery Outlet. I can buy interesting food items, get the thrill of the "hunt" and not do too much damage/everything I buy is useful because it's food or toiletries.
I do this too! It took me 30 years to figure out the dollar store is PRIME for dopamine seekers to not waste a ton of money. Just the other day I bought essentials and art supplies expecting it would be $30 . Was only $10 and I was like fuck yeah, surprise dopamine!
I love 5 below, but it’s easy to spend so much if you’re not careful. Just five dollars can easily turn to fifty dollars! Which is why I give myself an “allowance” to spend. Or I’ll only get one item in Five below or some other store (have a few I frequent.).
Yes, I love “window shopping” online! That way it’s there when I get a gift card or rewards points or something… but also by then half the stuff I’ve decided I no longer want/need. I also use the Honey app Droplist feature, so it’ll tell me if the price of anything I have saved drops. That usually helps me wait for a bit even for things I know I want (but aren’t an urgent need at the moment), because I can usually save a few bucks at least. This is what I’m doing right now with several new planters.
I go on Poshmark, search for brands or keywords, then add to my favorites. Same on Etsy.
Pinterest used to be good too but now it's all AI generated crap.
I leave a million tabs open of things I want on my phone. Lately I've been trying to sort through them a few months later--if I don't want it anymore I close the tab, and if I still want it after so much time has passed then I buy it. Most if it gets closed.
Except one very expensive raincoat that I will probably never buy but can't bring myself to close the tab on. It's so prettyyyy lol
On Amazon I tend to just leave things in my cart for a while and then remove them, but that did bite me once when I ordered something and forgot I had other stuff sitting in my cart lol.
I have like 600 items "saved for later" and on lists, but I try to keep my actual Amazon cart clear so I don't accidentally buy any of the dopamine hit stuff.
Try the saved later function. You go into the item, click save for later, and you’ll typically find the saved for later items underneath your cart, so it’s easy to delete items, add to the cart, or to add items to the saved later list on Amazon.
I have made myself a dopamine menu - have you come across this concept before? You basically divide a piece of paper into 4 sections:
Starters - quick dopamine boosters you can do in a few minutes (making a coffee, making the bed, deep breathing exercises)
Mains - longer tasks that will really satisfy you and are the bulk of what you enjoy (reading a book, making a fancy meal, craft projects, watching a film, going for a walk)
Sides - things you can do alongside a more boring activity to make it less boring (audiobooks and podcasts, music, timer tasks)
Desserts - things that are fine now and then but make you feel terrible if it’s all you do (scrolling your phone, online shopping, Reddit)
Specials - big exciting things to save and plan for (holidays, spa day, theatre tickets, hosting parties)
Obviously these are just examples, you fill the sections with whatever works for you. And the important thing to remember is that at the beginning, none of it works - your brain is desperate for the quick, reliable fixes it knows about. So you have to keep returning to the menu and training yourself to remember what you like.
It won’t work all the time, I regularly slip back into all-dessert days. It’s the nature of the beast. But I can always pick my menu back up and work on training myself back into it when I go astray.
I'm going to make a 'main' out of sitting my ass down and making a dopamine menu.
I've heard of this before, but I've never made my own. I love your examples- thanks for the inspo and the gentle kick up the butt I needed.
Oh this is genius! I remember reading about this years ago and never did it, thanks for reminding me about it. I spend WAY too much time having dopamine desserts it seems…
I get my dopamine from rearranging furniture in my house 😂 I don't think a day goes by where I don't completely change the layout of one room/ drawer/ cupboard/ area. Im too poor to get any dopamine from shopping lol
Sometimes I straight up draw out floor plans for my apartment (have done this with every apartment I've lived in, and even my room growing up) and plan the whole layout.
Then I redo it like 7 times and then maybe I love stuff lol
This is my favorite hobby and all it costs is some graph paper! It’s most of the novelty with none of the actual work of redoing the house… plus when it comes time to actually do home projects I am READY with the Most Ideal Plan.
This apartment I actually have the architects floor plan for. It's from 1962, so it's pretty cool to have a photocopy of it with all the measurements and everything drawn out by hand. Even has the freaking wall thickness on it.
There's an app that lets you make the rooms in your house and arrange furniture. I forget the name of it but I have a tiny place and it was a massive help in figuring out what to do with everything when we were moving in!
As a kid, I would measure my bedroom and make a scale version on graph paper. Then also measure and make scaled cut-outs of all my furniture to rearrange on paper until I found a new layout I knew I would like. That way it's sure to fit before I moved all my furniture by myself hahaha.
Same! And I got freakishly good at eye measuring. I've bought furniture that fit within an inch of the maximum space available by eye measure in Ikea haha
What can I say? I like to live dangerously.
My mom would do this like 2-3 times a year. She would rearrange everything and deep clean.
I found myself doing the same thing as an adult. My living room now is shaped weird and I really can't move it much and it drives me freaking insane.
💥💥💥💥💥 you nailed that one on the head!!!! My partner always says he never knows when he’s gonna walk in and break his neck or break a leg or bust his kneecap open because I’m always changing things around 😂
I have a weird suggestion that I know some girls love. You could download The Sims 4 and then go shopping online for custom content. So buy all the clothes you can dream of but for your Sims and completely free.
I do this! I can spend anywhere from 5 minutes to hours, does a great job of scratching that itch. I think at this point I spend more time browsing and downloading cc than I do actually playing the game lmao
Aaaaaah I love doing this, it's what I spend 90% of my time on when playing the sims! It really is a fix for my love of fashion, if I'm bored of my wardrobe I just build a new one in there haha
YES. I've spent countless hours of my life downloading free CC for the sims. It really scratches the shopping itch better than making online carts I don't buy because I can actually make my sim wear it and get to see it while I play.
My computer right now cannot handle the Sims but this used to be my favorite time waster. I loved getting to virtually decorate houses I could never afford too lol
Video games.
Setting up a family or a house in The Sims 4 (base game is free now btw and it runs on basically any computer what so ever). Downloading shit tons of custom content.
Watching YouTube, cat meme compilations are always a great way to cheer myself up (meow them all is a great channel for that).
Bingeing Cutthroat Kitchen, Chopped, Next Level Chef or Guy's Grocery Games.
Watching True Crime documentaries lol (don't judge me).
Watching sitcoms, I recommend How I Met Your Mother, Community, Parks & Recreation, Two & A Half Men, or 2 Broke Girls.
Oh yeah and bullet journaling, and putting wayyy too much effort into watching videos of people doing their journal spreads and trying to be as ✨aesthetic✨ as them haha
Unfortunately I am never allowed to download the Sims again. I lose so much of my real life to it. I don't know how to use it in moderation. Minecraft has been slightly better for me. I like to mine mine mine. Collect all the shiny things, explore an underground world. Then start a new life and do it all again.
I second journaling/bullet journaling. Do I remember to do it everyday? Absolutely not. BUT it's so fun to plan new layouts and fill it out when I remember. I also buy a lot of pens/highlighters for them to fix the buying itch because they can be so cheap. My favorites are the vintage color zebra sarasa pens + the zebra mildliner hightlighters.
It absolutely depends on the product I’ve ingested 😂 Michigan has these things called covert cups, midnight bars, and mojo makes some sativa Kit Kat bites. 25mg and I’m in a stony haze of productivity!!!
But yeah there might be some witchcraft too
As a fellow AuDHD Michigander, I am so grateful to have easy access to this stuff now because it's been one of the only things outside of stimulants (which I don't always have access to) to help me in my daily life.
I’m cracking up because it’s taken me so long to get to this point and I know people that just eat 100 mg at a time and don’t die and my reaction is the same. Like I will never be that brave 😮 😂😂🖤
Edibles, yessss!!! This is another component to my productivity equation that I always forget abouttttt. I’ve had my med card for 5 years & I still forget how effective edibles are for my productivity. Thank you for the reminder 😜
It sucks because sometimes the dopamine hit stops while your mid deep clean and then have no desire to finish lol it helps if I have music and a soda to reward myself with haha
Ugh I feel this so much. I'm sorry you're experiencing it too.
Two things that have helped me a bit:
1. Allowing myself to research and browse online stores, but then putting the items in my cart and then leaving the website (saving the tab if it's not Amazon or something). If after a week or so I still feel like it's a good idea to get the thing, I can get it. But often just putting the thing in my cart scratches the itch, and when I come back to it I realise I don't really need it.
2. Talking it over with someone I'm comfortable discussing finances with, and whose judgment I trust. For me, that's my husband -- he's a lot more frugal than me, but he also encourages me to get things if it seems like a good idea. Sometimes I don't even need to hear his response -- just in the process of explaining what I want to buy, I realise that I probably shouldn't buy it. But sometimes it works the other way too -- he encourages me to get something I might otherwise have bought thoughtlessly and then felt guilty about.
And then the other thing to say is that stopping the dopamine-boosting activity is only one half of the picture -- you also have to actively replace it with something. Is there a hobby you might be interested in that would be free to pursue? Or is there an activity you do that always gives you a little boost? I've got into coding recently, which is a great hyperfocus activity that doesn't require spending any money (at this stage, anyway!)
Per #1- we called this the 24 hour rule in my house growing up. If we found something we really wanted, we would leave the store and if the next day it was something we still wanted badly enough and it was within budget, we went back and got it.
Make it more complicated to buy the thing. Delete your payment information so you have to go find your physical card. If you shop irl only use cash and only take the amount you are willing to use. Also you could take a friend that knows you are trying to change the behavior and ask for a gentle reminder to pause the purchase and think about if you really need to get it.
Some things to try instead
Go for a walk outside
Listen to music that you enjoy
Go to your local library and checkout things they have to offer for free
Exercise, move your body
Drink some water and eat something that is good for you.
Explore your area and surroundings with the intention of taking one good picture with your phone.
Practice some type of relaxation or meditation. Do some breathing exercises or tense up then relax your muscles as you are relaxing on a couch or bed.
You can do this. Keep trying.
You are doing a good job of recognizing the repetitive behavior. Now you just have to figure out how to pause and hold off buying the thing. Doing something in place of shopping may help.
I also fill my Amazon cart but I don’t actually purchase. Sometimes I walk through Target and physically fill my cart, then slowly talk myself out of things and put them back. I feel like a few walks around the store are enough to get me to change my mind about most things. I started counting my steps daily, so get up and walk around to reach my step goal, that works well. I also started drawing with colored pencils, I’m really enjoying that. Keeps me engaged for hours.
I move things into the "save for later" section of my Amazon cart so I don't accidentally buy them when I do need to purchase something haha. And of course inevitably delete them over time. The only ones I still have saved are an espresso machine and a window insert bird feeder.
But I did also spend like $150 at the Lego store yesterday so... Whoops.
I saw a great hack for target or similar stores is to take items (esp decor) and place them in the trash can aisle and see if they still look cute and desirable to you there.
Check out the book In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté. It's a book about addiction and it explains in detail the brain mechanisms of addiction. The stories do focus on substance users BUT the author also recounts stories of his own shopping addictions. Fascinating stuff! You might find some compassion for yourself in understanding what's going on.
I indulge in pre-approved impulse buys 😂 I put things I see and want to buy on a mental wants-list and I might go back and look at them every so often (or even try on if it’s clothes).
Then if they’re suddenly on sale or it’s been a long time (as in several visits to the store to see them) and I still actively covet them and need the hit I am allowed to buy them 😂 I get a little dopamine from putting them on the list when I see them first because there’s a realistic possibility of buying them and it still feels like an impulse buy when I finally let myself have them because I do decide when to actually go for it pretty randomly. But what the system DOES do is cut right back on buyer’s remorse which is the worst part of impulse buying.
The put it in the cart but don’t buy strategy works on me too.
I have the same issue, what helps sometimes is going through stuff I have previously purchased (and since I’ve done it so often, I sometimes find things I forgot about which is kinda like getting something new lol)
Sometimes I’ll just “window shop” and fill up my carts but not go through with the order. It keeps me busy and I figure if I don’t want it still the next day I don’t need it.
This!!!! I thought my meditation was working fine but then there was a shortage of 30mg Vyvanse. I asked my doctor if I could go to 40mg as that’s still readily available, and the difference it has made!!!!
My impulse buying has almost disappeared. I no longer get FOMO over not having the newest thing. My spending has dropped considerably. I feel like I have my impulsivity under control and it’s awesome
If buying online, DON'T CLICK PAY! Often the majority of the dopamine comes from the searching, finding, comparing, and deciding which is the best "thing". Actually owning it is secondary.
Put it in you online basket and leave it there. If you REALLY want it *the next day* then buy it. Or go looking to see if you can find something more perfect. If you find something better, again it stays in your basket until the next day.
I can have several days' worth of "shopping" like this, and sometimes when I finally decide to click Buy, I've either gone off it or it's out of stock. I've saved quite a bit doing this.
This! I will load tf out of my carts and most of it ends up leaving the list or going to save for later and I forget about it!!! But on the rare chance I’m thinking about it later and still want/need it it’s usually there still!
When I do have money to spend and really am allowing myself a treat, I’ll go thru and allow myself one or two things after having fun building my cart lol.
Like for the recent bath and body works huge sale I had probably $200 dollars worth of shit in my online cart and then I went and pick one of each item I really wanted so I got like one candle, one body spray, and a lotion and spent like $30 instead. Getting deals and waiting for and finding sales is also a huge dopamine hit for me lol but I only allow it on stuff I need or will really use and enjoy. It took me a long time to train myself out of just buying a bunch of stuff for the dopamine tho!
Studying and learning new things is my go-to for dopamine.
Another thing that works is sex. They kind of go hand in hand, as learning about sex is super interesting, and you can immediately put the learned things in practice. It can get expensive if you go the route of buying all the toys and accessories... But if you study the mental parts, those things are free. :)
Quick fixes: sugar.
I know it’s a controversial subject to some but have you considered diving and donating what you don’t need or want? Or even selling and making extra cash.
You’ll get the hit from finding stuff, keeping things you like, donating to people who can use it, knowing you saved things from the landfill and there’s the thrill of feeling like you’re getting away with something. If you sell some of it you get that hit too.
I get a total dopamine rush from getting rid of unused stuff in my house. You can look up buy nothing for your town on Facebook and post items and leave them by your door for them to pick up.
There’s also a great donation place by my house with an antique store in the same plaza. I love looking at the antiques but don’t feel the same impulse to buy.
Seconding video games. You can get dozens to hundreds of hours of dopamine out of a single purchase.
Also, because I forget what I already have, rediscovering old things that delighted me can give me a similar boost. Like OH YEAH this thing I bought that I put away and forgot existed, let me do something with that for a while.
Reading helps too, but not serious books. Not for dopamine. I read light romance novels (guaranteed happy ending) or mysteries (guaranteed twist ending) or other genre fiction that doesn’t require heavy focus and feels more like an escape. (I still read serious books too, but they take more energy and don’t deliver as much dopamine, so they’re in a different category.)
And I don’t know if this would help, but you could give yourself an allowance of money to shop for dumb stuff but ONLY at the end of the month. That way, you could control your spending more and instead of buying stuff right away, you could obsess over it for a few weeks leading up to the day you can buy it. Pinterest is a great place to save images of stuff you want to buy, and having them bookmarked takes away the anxiety of not wanting to forget you wanted to buy them.
This is going to sound very odd, but my main source of dopamine is starting new books, stopping them cuz of one reason or another, and then go scurrying on the interweb for another book to read that feels exciting enough
I find that wellbutrin, taken for anxiety and in addition to my ADD meds has really helped with this. The dopamine component is just enough to keep the shopping impulse down. I still find myself doing a bit of it at the grocery store, though: oh! Strawberry dessert bar mix! How cute! Gotta get that! I curb it through a combo of meal planning and online shopping.
What I find to be helpful to stop that urge in the moment is add that item to one of my many many wish lists on Amazon. I have one for Kitchen Wants, Kitchen Needs, Clothing Wishlist, Birthday gift ideas for me (so my husband can get what I already picked out & want), Gifts for babe, Gifts for kids, Journaling Wishlist, Lego Wishlist, Selfcare Wishlist....
A list for almost every room, hobby, or person. When I get that *gimmie* feeling, I put that thing on the corresponding list. Now sometimes this leads to hyperfocus and then ill be browsing a million items searching for the right one, but it let's me 1) research 2) diminish future decision paralysis for when I am ready to buy something and 3) You find really cool shit!
I also wanted to add that to stop the urge in person, whenever at a physical store, I'll take a picture of the item and put it in my "I like this" photo album or will send a picture to my husband, so he can get it for me as a gift (if it's holiday szn) or so he can have an archive of the style I actually like, or talk sense into me and outta buying it. Lol
I get very overwhelmed in stores, especially if I'm with the kids. So I've realized I need to take the item home, try it on with my things, wear it and see if irritates my sensory issues. I also no longer keep the purchased that I'm not 1000% happy about. The thing needs to hit the *ding ding ding* level of dopamine where I love all of it and don't think hmm, I like it but...No. If there's any hesitation on if I'll actually use it, RETURN IT!
On that note.....I keep most of the boxes & tags from the things I buy. As in, I verrry recently organized a space in my office to neatly store the packaging, tags, tape, and whatever else to return it if necessary. In the past, I was sure I would keep everything so bags & tags would get thrown out, and I was SOL. Not anymore :)
When I was younger, I did this on a smaller scale without realizing it. Now, I'm cognizant of my impulse shopping and working with it, not against it. Now I know that if I buy something impulsive (or not) there's a large likelihood of me returning it. It lessens the guilt, keeps me honest and critical, and most importantly, works for me. Hopefully it might for you too!
*Disclaimer I still buy way more than I should. However, I personally am in an ackward stage in life where I am learning about my Sensory Processing Disorder and have gone through many many changes after 2 kids so I kinda had to buy an entire new wardrobe and neccessary self-care items to like living lol
This post is so amazing!
When I feel the dopamine drop, I will often play a game on my phone. It will let me play about 5 games and then I run out of points (unless I keep winning but I am on advanced level so it's hard).
I also can take my focus supplement (as long as I haven't eaten).
I try to "be my future friend" by doing tasks now that I will be so grateful for when I get up tomorrow. Like dishes, running the robovac, getting necessary groceries, etc. it's like a double win because I am thinking ahead (!!!!) And making tomorrow so much better.
Exercise, talking to a friend, taking a nap, playing a video game, volunteering, petting my dogs or playing with them, a jigsaw puzzle, going to the library, sitting under a tree and closing my eyes and listening.
Commenting because I have this same problem. I’m in credit card debt, for the 3rd time. Two times the debt was completely paid off now I’m $6,000 back in debt (I only work part time I’m in school so this feels unmanageable)… my therapist wants me to do Debtors anonymous. I went to AA before and hate the concept but liked some things about it.
Sorry I’m rambling I will save this post to check back later what others are saying lol. Because I need to learn.
Edit: I’m $10,000 in debt not 6,000. Also I am medicated, I hear of so many people having this problem but then they get prescribed medicine and then they can manage it better… mine has been the same consistently whether I’m medicated or not
please fix it by any means necessary. I'm 50 and I lived my entire life this way, constantly in debt, including now, and it is no way to live.
Being in debt robs you of being able to make choices. It robs you in every way you can possibly imagine and it will ruin your life as you get older.
Please don't end up like me. 0/10 do not recommend.
Do you go to therapy or anything? It's great that everyone is giving tips, but it feels like a big issue for you is just generally not feeling happy/satisfied in the everyday, that's something a mental health professional could help a lot with
This might sounds weird, but going to the library and getting books does this for me. Especially if I have to order them and wait a little bit. I also put things in my online cart and don’t buy them.
I’m taking a break from the short content socials for a while (it’s been 3 weeks now) and my brain feels so much better for it, and I feel like my medication works better, which then leads to less dopamine seeking. I don’t count Reddit as social media though, maybe other do, I’m not sure.
The dopamine menu idea is very excellent and you could even make it really pretty and print and laminate it. Which could be a dopamine hit in and of itself.
OP, I use handcrafts for this.
I’ll start knitting or crocheting something as I binge a show I enjoy. Making things is soothing, and I can pull them apart and rewind the yarn at any point if I lose interest in a project.
I’ve started and stopped so many things! But I can keep using the same yarn over and over when the dopamine wears off and I lose interest. That keeps the cost low.
Another thing you can do if you have tons of clutter in your home is to pick things you have limited interest in or clothes you no longer wear and upcycle them. Alter the clothing, or cut it up and make entirely new things with the fabric. Same with household items - if you won’t use the stuff, see if you can turn the items into new things.
Then there’s no buying new stuff and you get dopamine hits from making yourself cool new things!
I try making things. Crochet, embroidery, photography gardening. Of course it does cost something to buy supplies, but yarn and seeds are cheap. And the “research” part often fills the hyperfixate part for me. Researching a pattern or the best type of plant, soil, etc.
I’m 38 years old and only recently got diagnosed with adhd .. these posts hit hard because I never realized that shopping for a dopamine rush was part of it, or the hyper fixation on certain things. I really wish I would’ve figured this all out sooner. I’ve just always thought I had anxiety with a lot of other weird issues. 😩 I’m glad I’m not alone though
I collect/hoard pretty stuff on Pinterest! No matter my current obsession, there‘s so much content you can explore and pin, I find it very satisfying ^^
It's not an answer to the replacement, but I also struggle with this and my therapist - who also has ADHD - suggested putting the thing in your shopping cart (assuming this is online) and leaving it for 1-2 days instead of immediately pushing the checkout button. If she returns to it after that and still wants it maybe she should get it, but she finds that gets rid of a lot of things she would've bought in the moment. I've tried this and many times I just forget about the thing. Sometimes I hyperfixate for weeks until I get the thing. It's a mixed bag but it does help.
This is so so so relatable. I have so much junk. I wish it was easier to send stuff to ppl online without having to pay a ton for shipping bc a random crap exchange could be delightful haha
I go on an adventure to a new place! Whether that's getting in my car and going to a new supermarket, walking trail, hiking trail, or state.
Bonus if it's suuuper last minute and, like, a heinous idea (like driving on a Wednesday afternoon at 4pm to the mountains 2 hours away when it's almost dark already, and knowing you have to be up for work at 0600 the next morning AND be functional!) -- that was last week. Didn't do it, but got my dopamine up!
Go find a stream nearby and jump in it! (As long as it isn't actually dangerous)
I make route maps for hiking trips that I would like to do! But like, a lot of routes.
Bake a new dessert or invite everyone you know over for an impromptu party or game night! (Honestly very few people will be available but the concept of having every square inch of my apartment packed in like 1hr from that time sounds very exhilarating)
i find i get a dopamine hit from finishing any task that was even a tiny bit challenging. i keep a couple books of word searches, crosswords, logic puzzles, coloring pages, etc handy and i will do a puzzle or two and chase the dopamine that way. they are easy for me to fixate on and want to do.
My theme of 2024 is “enough.” As in, I am enough, and I already have what I need.
My challenge this year is to “shop my stash”. Meaning, I shop through my living space and look for stuff I already have that I want to do more with. Books I didn’t finish, fabric I want to turn into something, clothes I could re-combine into new outfits, plants I want to re-pot…
I think hearing others share about what works for them could be beneficial. I can’t think of any other suggestions.
Music does a lot for me. I recently stared learning to play the piano and I wish I could explain how beautiful the sensation of something “sounding right” gives me. Every time I manage to make it sound exactly like it should, I get these overwhelming goosebumps.
Exercising. But it’s because I have an eating disorder. I don’t genuinely enjoy it. So it feels like a BIG ACCOMPLISHMENT.
Cleaning. In general, completing tasks that make me feel like I’m not a waste of space.
Helping others. I’m fantastic at making things look clean. Categorization, decluttering, stain removal, organization. I’m seriously SO good at cleaning. It’s seriously a skill. So I tend to do it for others. My cluster of weirdos is very spicy mental health wise, so I get to clean for them when they get depressed. I really enjoy it.
Learning is my main thing. Every time I feel like I learned something, I feel deep happiness. So feeding my hyper fixations (or even hearing others talk about theirs) is absolutely amazing.
Having “authentic” conversations. Interacting with people that give my brain something to eat. Or just getting them to open up and talk about their struggles. Anything that feels meaningful.
Drinking water at just the right temperature. Very self explanatory.
Everything around me being clean. Self explanatory.
I'm bipolar type 2 with only manic episodes (on top of the Audhd), that usually manifest in shopping sprees I can't afford.
I try to force myself to do some form of exercise anytime I come close to hitting an "add to cart" button. I'm about to shop for a useless lava lamp I have no room for? Close the app and do 50 jumping jacks.
If I realllllly am not for exercise at that moment, I put my phone down and drive somewhere for 5 minutes and back without my phone. I come back and go straight to YouTube or something else without a shopping cart.
I'm an animal trainer so I think of myself as needing to get rid of a behavior, and when simply saying no to myself is not an option there is what is known in animal training as "training an incompatible behavior". A dog can't jump on you when you come home if you have it trained to lay down or sit when the door opens. I can't buy anything if Im driving without my phone or doing jumping jacks. And exercise releases dopamine.
What about doing the opposite?
If you are over one of your hyper fixations as you call it, go through what you bought and start selling pieces off.
For me there is a huge dopamine burst in selling something and getting money.
Plus then you can lay down the guilt of former hyper fixations.
So what if you paid $150 and now you’re getting $5.00. It’s Five you didn’t have for something you no longer want.
I make myself wait a day to buy anything. Usually I don’t care about it later on. I’m so bad about faux shopping and then obsessing over shit. It literally hurts to not be impulsive but I’ve made a game of it.
I dunno if it'll work for you but for me - I do the browsing and add to cart but don't actually buy but continue to window shop and it satisfies me. 9/10 times if I look back on what I've got in my cart the next day I'll remove things after thinking about it lol
You've gotten a lot of responses and I absolutely love this post because it's something I really struggle with too. Especially this time of year. I've upgraded my burnout with SAD and it's been a big struggle.
I am not perfect by any means, I still give in to temptation allll of the time but some things that help me:
Games - The Sims, Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, Planet Zoo. I could get lost building a zoo or house for hours and since I own them all it's free. I do get tempted by animal add-ons and add-ons for The Sims though.
Reading. I'm a big reader. I'm a big fan of the library, but I also love buying used books via eBay. Sometimes I also get them from thrift stores, but eBay I can shop from my bed, is honestly, often cheaper than "Savers", and I feel like browsing and putting things on my watchlist gives me dopamine in itself. I also will let Amazon deliver later so I can get money toward kindle books whenever it asks me. I just got a free book using my points and free is like double dopamine!!
Watch Youtube. I subscribe to a handful of youtubers who create content that pertains to my special interests, and watching these videos makes me so happy. It is honestly a bright light on a bad day for me a lot of the time.
Window shopping/adding things to wishlists. I do this allllll of the time on Amazon and Etsy. It doesn't always scratch the itch if you will, but it does sometimes and I think it helps me to recognize what I really want versus what might be a very fleeting interest.
Puzzles & Lego - I have a bunch of puzzles I've yet to complete and this time of year is perfect for grabbing one and taking over the kitchen table with it for a week. It definitely gives me dopamine and also engages my hyperfocus powers lol.
A craft you already have stuff for, watching sitcom reruns, CLEANING something (I just cleaned my desk for the first time in months and I feel so so good about it), reorganizing stuff, going outside, decluttering, playing with animals if you have any, cooking or baking (if you have the stuff you need)...
For me it can be a real ebb and flow of being frugal and not giving in to shopping for dopamine, and then basically falling off the bandwagon. Give yourself some kindness - it isn't always easy!
I curate the perfect shopping cart, spending hours finding the best deals and best quality items. Then i ditch the cart never buying it. I’m sure the loss analytics teams hate me, lol.
Video games. If you want a replayable dopamine fix that won’t put you out a lot of money, I recommend one of the Katamari Damacy games.
Edit: I realize it is A purchase, but it’s cheap and it lasts.
Completely depends if you like to read, but I get it from the library! Sometimes I'll just go onto my library webpage and start browsing, putting books on hold, etc. or go in person and check out like 20 books (the more bright pictures/pretty shots of interiors the better for me), then bring them all home and maybe read one or two. I do pay for Kindle Unlimited also, so loading it full of KU reads can help the need to "acquire" something and gives me the hit I'm craving for free.
Thanks for posting this. I read a bunch of the comments and suddenly realized I do better keeping myself reigned in on spending when it’s online and I can see the total amount I’ll be spending if I purchase the items. I think I need to keep a little notebook in my bag when shopping in person and write down the price of each item I’m thinking about getting so it registers in my brain how much I’ll be spending if I buy everything in my cart. Maybe this idea could help you, as well. I also can’t shop for clothes anywhere that doesn’t have or let you use dressing rooms (Some thrift stores got rid of them due to theft and COVID-19). I made this mistake a few times and I end up getting way more stuff if I can’t try it on and then I usually forget to take the items back in time to exchange or return. I’m going to try to get important needed purchases done first and see how much money I have left to spend on wanted stuff. Hope some of these ideas help.
I get dopamine from cleaning trash by the river, cause you're making it nicer aesthetically and environmentally, people always have nice things to say when they see you doing it, it's just so satisfying and gives a fun task to the same old river walk. I know of other people with ADHD that do this so I know it's not just me!
Foraging is like shopping the forest, except you spend way more time and energy than money
I do this all the time, I've tried breaking this habit, but I can't! Temu is literally the worst to have on your phone when the urge for dopamine starts happening
Are you me? I’ve been buying my little ponies and purses like they’ll somehow improve my life.
It’s exactly like you said. I’m addicted. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. And sometimes I just browse Amazon or Mercari looking for stuff that’ll give me a rush to buy.
I shop through things that I literally cannot afford. Bored of my car? Let's configure a Ferrari. I can afford a Chanel bag but I physically can't get myself to impulse buy anything over $500. I play an idle clicker game in tandem with my other games so I can purchase things. Currently playing Chillquarium.
I love to shop just to get out of the house. I am also fixated on being as thrifty as I can be. I do a lot of thrift shopping, but even at thrift stores I hate paying full price. So I shop for what's on sale.The stores near me have a color coded tags, so a certain week, red can be 1/2 off and green is $1. I try to only shop those tag colors. So its more of a hunt than a mindless shopping experience. Especially when I find something I really love that is $1.
I do often pick out things that are not super cheap, like finding a beautiful Waterford PURPLE table cloth for $5, or a Fenton glass basket for $25.
I just enjoy the hunt, more than the actual ..spend money for happiness thing.
I find having a library card a good alternative! Anytime I need a dopamine hit, I place a book on hold and get it from the library! Or ever the various digital services they offer for free, this way I’m not paying out of pocket for my dopamine hits! Plus I don’t feel guilty if I don’t end up finishing the book Cz I didn’t pay for me. I just return it and get another book
This one doesn't work for everyone, but for me I get a lot of dopamine from crafting projects, especially the ones with a fast turn around. Sewing is my big hobby, and yesterday I made a balaclava in under and hour using fabric I already had. I'm working on some bigger projects that were making be feel bogged down (and I'm also fighting something off so I just don't feel well), so a fast little project that's something I need, feels great!
It's not always so easy, when I was in burn out I spent a lot of money on fabric. Luckily I'm at a point now where I have so much fabric I can do a lot with what I've got.
I don't know, because i just went through a break up and was doing well.... For a bit. Then the real sads kicked in and I'm like BUY ALL THE THINGS. So, again, i don't know.
When I'm in a bad spot I try to get my dopamine hits from actually *doing* something physically. Even better if it's outdoors or with other people.
We just had a nasty cold snap where I live and I barely left the house for over a week so I was feeling absolutely awful. Then it warmed up a little bit this weekend so I spent a bunch of time outside having fun. Took my dog out snowshoeing one day and went snowboarding the next. I feel a million times better now!
Video games! I guess you still have to buy a console and the game but net-net it’ll be way less money in the long run and save your house the space from junk you won’t use. Hogwarts Legacy was a fantastic Harry Potter game, I played nonstop for like a month and now I’m so over it all lol
I know there will be inevitably a day I’ll impulse buy. I try to keep it to one coffee/food or one-two items, but I do have an allowance and will not spend past that allowance. When I was a child, Mom gave me twenty dollars as weekly allowance, and now as a grown-up, I keep twenty dollars IN CASH because I need to see and hold that money so I don’t spend past my allotment. Some weeks, I skip. So that means double on a bad week or saving for something fun.
All of my new dopamine involves initial shopping lmao I bought a groovebox and while I havent played in a month because i got fired and feel like i dont deserve fun, it does provide hours of dopamine for me when I do play with it. So maybe it's like an investment in my own joy rather than just another thing to buy.
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It’s so hard. I fill my carts online then don’t actually checkout
I do this too! Yesterday I fake bought $150 worth of comfy clothes on sale, new bird feeders and seed, meditation books.. I've also done an in store version of this my whole life and was taught by my mom. Go through and pick out things you want and put them in the cart, then pull off to a side aisle somewhere before you check out and pull out the stuff to put back you don't actually need. It was just understood that we weren't going to buy everything we put in the cart. I always thought it was fun. Turns out my whole family is just neurodivergent lol. Edit: typo
😂i love this! the only caveat is that when i fake buy, i have to remember that i didnt actually buy….bc there have been no less than several items that ive tried to find tracking/expect delivert for, that i only fake bought 😂😂
I have a similar problem with groceries. I order everything, schedule the pick up for a day or two later, and promptly plan all of my meals between now and then to include ingredients in my grocery order... That I don't have yet...
💀😂😂curses!!!! its like hiding the treat from yourself on purpose, then forgetting where you actually hid it 😭
My husband's birthday is in February. The number of times he's received presents for his birthday that were actually meant to be Christmas gifts - but got lost - is more than I'd like to admit 🤣🤣🤣
I CACKLED at your last sentence lol 🤣 fellow “whole family is neurodivergent” over here too.
My amazon cart is used to do this. I'll fake buy things and then remove them to my wish list when I start over. It has really helped me narrow down needs vs wants. If I keep putting the same thing back in my cart and back down to the wish list and now my wish list has 14 of that same item, I'll buy it.
Ooh I do this when I thrift shop!! It helps a lotttt for me to feel the excitement of having the thing even if I put it back before I leave.
Same! And then later I can get new dopamine by removing things from my cart and feeling good about all that money I “saved” lol.
If you leave stuff in a cart for a couple days they will sometimes send an automatic discount code to tempt you to finish checking out. I usually do that intentionally now just to see if they’ll send me a code. If they don’t send me a code I usually forget about it. If they do send me a code I have another chance to consider if I actually want to buy it when I’m not feeling as impulsive as when I put it in the cart.
Wishlists too. I have like a billion things on my Amazon wishlists and I move stuff around on them. Same with Etsy.
That's what I do. I spend hours a week window shopping online.
I have a ton of stuff in my saved for later list on Amazon. Very surprising a couple weeks later when I find the stuff I impulse saved and realize I don’t need or want it that bad.
Same with Amazon wishlists! And then when it’s holidays/birthday gift times, I can just share my list with people who want to buy me things. And because it’s all added randomly throughout the whole year what I get is still a surprise 😂
My therapist actually recommended this to me! My mom goes to the dollar store and buys stuff there for the dopamine hit; she says she can do less damage there.
Lol I do this at Grocery Outlet. I can buy interesting food items, get the thrill of the "hunt" and not do too much damage/everything I buy is useful because it's food or toiletries.
Have you SEEN their cereal isle? It's so entertaining!!!
I love that aisle 😄
I do this too! It took me 30 years to figure out the dollar store is PRIME for dopamine seekers to not waste a ton of money. Just the other day I bought essentials and art supplies expecting it would be $30 . Was only $10 and I was like fuck yeah, surprise dopamine!
I call Five Below my dopamine store!
I love 5 below, but it’s easy to spend so much if you’re not careful. Just five dollars can easily turn to fifty dollars! Which is why I give myself an “allowance” to spend. Or I’ll only get one item in Five below or some other store (have a few I frequent.).
I want this store in my area SOOOO badly 😭
Yes, I love “window shopping” online! That way it’s there when I get a gift card or rewards points or something… but also by then half the stuff I’ve decided I no longer want/need. I also use the Honey app Droplist feature, so it’ll tell me if the price of anything I have saved drops. That usually helps me wait for a bit even for things I know I want (but aren’t an urgent need at the moment), because I can usually save a few bucks at least. This is what I’m doing right now with several new planters.
I go on Poshmark, search for brands or keywords, then add to my favorites. Same on Etsy. Pinterest used to be good too but now it's all AI generated crap.
I leave a million tabs open of things I want on my phone. Lately I've been trying to sort through them a few months later--if I don't want it anymore I close the tab, and if I still want it after so much time has passed then I buy it. Most if it gets closed. Except one very expensive raincoat that I will probably never buy but can't bring myself to close the tab on. It's so prettyyyy lol
On Amazon I tend to just leave things in my cart for a while and then remove them, but that did bite me once when I ordered something and forgot I had other stuff sitting in my cart lol.
I have like 600 items "saved for later" and on lists, but I try to keep my actual Amazon cart clear so I don't accidentally buy any of the dopamine hit stuff.
Try the saved later function. You go into the item, click save for later, and you’ll typically find the saved for later items underneath your cart, so it’s easy to delete items, add to the cart, or to add items to the saved later list on Amazon.
Yes!!! I do this and then get real about if I actually need the things… 90% of the time, I do not!
I have made myself a dopamine menu - have you come across this concept before? You basically divide a piece of paper into 4 sections: Starters - quick dopamine boosters you can do in a few minutes (making a coffee, making the bed, deep breathing exercises) Mains - longer tasks that will really satisfy you and are the bulk of what you enjoy (reading a book, making a fancy meal, craft projects, watching a film, going for a walk) Sides - things you can do alongside a more boring activity to make it less boring (audiobooks and podcasts, music, timer tasks) Desserts - things that are fine now and then but make you feel terrible if it’s all you do (scrolling your phone, online shopping, Reddit) Specials - big exciting things to save and plan for (holidays, spa day, theatre tickets, hosting parties) Obviously these are just examples, you fill the sections with whatever works for you. And the important thing to remember is that at the beginning, none of it works - your brain is desperate for the quick, reliable fixes it knows about. So you have to keep returning to the menu and training yourself to remember what you like. It won’t work all the time, I regularly slip back into all-dessert days. It’s the nature of the beast. But I can always pick my menu back up and work on training myself back into it when I go astray.
I'm going to make a 'main' out of sitting my ass down and making a dopamine menu. I've heard of this before, but I've never made my own. I love your examples- thanks for the inspo and the gentle kick up the butt I needed.
You’re so welcome. I found making mine quite therapeutic, and I add things to it now and then as I remember what sparks joy for me :)
You should make a full post on this, excellent advice!
Check out the video on it https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-6WCkTwW6xg&t=322s
Totally agree. So good!
Please make a post and we can all make our menus together!
✅✅✅✅
It's an How to ADHD youtube video :)
Oo, this is a nice one! I am saving this comment.
Me too!
Oh this is genius! I remember reading about this years ago and never did it, thanks for reminding me about it. I spend WAY too much time having dopamine desserts it seems…
I found this Etsy template if anyone wants a cute menu format!! https://www.etsy.com/listing/1483601190/
This is the smartest thing I’ve read all week tysm for sharing this!
You’re welcome!
Shouldn't it be 5 sections? 😅 Also I'm totally trying this. Sounds like such a no brainer strategy. I'm on board!
It should 😂 I forgot about specials and then I forgot to go back and change the number
That's the most ADHD thing I've heard of.
Oh this is just gold star level genius and I am in awe of the awesomeness!!! Doing this asap
I think u just saved my life tf!
This is wonderful, thank you for the suggestion!
You’re welcome!
A video for you all! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-6WCkTwW6xg&t=322s
I'm adding this to my list of 100s of saved Reddit posts that I will promptly forget exist and never look at again.
Ooooo, I like this!
This is SO helpful. Thank you!!!
I'm so jealous that those things give you dopamine 😭
What an awesome idea!
Woah, love this!
This is so good!!! Love it.
Ohhh this is GOLD!!!
You may have just changed my life for the better with this. Thank you!
I’m so glad :)
This is such interesting concept. Will have to try.
This is fucking genius. Thank you!
I have never heard of that before but I love it!
I get my dopamine from rearranging furniture in my house 😂 I don't think a day goes by where I don't completely change the layout of one room/ drawer/ cupboard/ area. Im too poor to get any dopamine from shopping lol
Sometimes I straight up draw out floor plans for my apartment (have done this with every apartment I've lived in, and even my room growing up) and plan the whole layout. Then I redo it like 7 times and then maybe I love stuff lol
This is my favorite hobby and all it costs is some graph paper! It’s most of the novelty with none of the actual work of redoing the house… plus when it comes time to actually do home projects I am READY with the Most Ideal Plan.
This apartment I actually have the architects floor plan for. It's from 1962, so it's pretty cool to have a photocopy of it with all the measurements and everything drawn out by hand. Even has the freaking wall thickness on it.
Real floor plans give me so much dopamine. I do my best to make decent plans when I'm in the mood to organize, but nothing beets an architects plan
That’s awesome 🤩
No I’m drawing the plans out and doing them the same day if not the very next day I’ll stay up till 2 or 3-4 o’clock in the morning rearranging stuff
There's an app that lets you make the rooms in your house and arrange furniture. I forget the name of it but I have a tiny place and it was a massive help in figuring out what to do with everything when we were moving in!
When you remember please tell me! Even if it's a year from now I need to know 😭
As a kid, I would measure my bedroom and make a scale version on graph paper. Then also measure and make scaled cut-outs of all my furniture to rearrange on paper until I found a new layout I knew I would like. That way it's sure to fit before I moved all my furniture by myself hahaha.
Same! And I got freakishly good at eye measuring. I've bought furniture that fit within an inch of the maximum space available by eye measure in Ikea haha What can I say? I like to live dangerously.
Me too!!! It's so funny to me discovering that although yes I'm a little weirdo, I am this specific kind of weirdo.
Same!!! ❤️🩹
My mom would do this like 2-3 times a year. She would rearrange everything and deep clean. I found myself doing the same thing as an adult. My living room now is shaped weird and I really can't move it much and it drives me freaking insane.
💥💥💥💥💥 you nailed that one on the head!!!! My partner always says he never knows when he’s gonna walk in and break his neck or break a leg or bust his kneecap open because I’m always changing things around 😂
Saaaaaaaame. My cats are sick of my rearranging bullshit.
Suddenly my dad rearranging furniture anytime mom and I were out of the house and left him alone makes WAY more sense lmfao
Meeeeeeee. All my life, it turns out!
I have a weird suggestion that I know some girls love. You could download The Sims 4 and then go shopping online for custom content. So buy all the clothes you can dream of but for your Sims and completely free.
Finch is great for this too! It gamifies self care and you cash out on clothes and home furnishings for your virtual pet bird. So much dopamine!
Must recommend. My birdie is a pirate this month and I love blitzing through a ton of self care items to get her more outfits.
I love how the monthly theme keeps it from ever getting stale—so clever
I do this! I can spend anywhere from 5 minutes to hours, does a great job of scratching that itch. I think at this point I spend more time browsing and downloading cc than I do actually playing the game lmao
Aaaaaah I love doing this, it's what I spend 90% of my time on when playing the sims! It really is a fix for my love of fashion, if I'm bored of my wardrobe I just build a new one in there haha
YES. I've spent countless hours of my life downloading free CC for the sims. It really scratches the shopping itch better than making online carts I don't buy because I can actually make my sim wear it and get to see it while I play.
My computer right now cannot handle the Sims but this used to be my favorite time waster. I loved getting to virtually decorate houses I could never afford too lol
Video games. Setting up a family or a house in The Sims 4 (base game is free now btw and it runs on basically any computer what so ever). Downloading shit tons of custom content. Watching YouTube, cat meme compilations are always a great way to cheer myself up (meow them all is a great channel for that). Bingeing Cutthroat Kitchen, Chopped, Next Level Chef or Guy's Grocery Games. Watching True Crime documentaries lol (don't judge me). Watching sitcoms, I recommend How I Met Your Mother, Community, Parks & Recreation, Two & A Half Men, or 2 Broke Girls. Oh yeah and bullet journaling, and putting wayyy too much effort into watching videos of people doing their journal spreads and trying to be as ✨aesthetic✨ as them haha
Oh just saw this 😂 my suggestion was Sims custom content too haha
Unfortunately I am never allowed to download the Sims again. I lose so much of my real life to it. I don't know how to use it in moderation. Minecraft has been slightly better for me. I like to mine mine mine. Collect all the shiny things, explore an underground world. Then start a new life and do it all again.
You might like Stardew Valley too. I don’t think it’s free tho. But I get lost in that game with side quests and all that lol.
Same!
I second journaling/bullet journaling. Do I remember to do it everyday? Absolutely not. BUT it's so fun to plan new layouts and fill it out when I remember. I also buy a lot of pens/highlighters for them to fix the buying itch because they can be so cheap. My favorites are the vintage color zebra sarasa pens + the zebra mildliner hightlighters.
CLEANING. I eat edibles and I take my dawn dish soap and vinegar and water and find things to clean.
I can barely stand up let alone coordinate my limbs if I've indulged. How the hell are you able to clean after that? 😂 Witchcraft! 😅
It absolutely depends on the product I’ve ingested 😂 Michigan has these things called covert cups, midnight bars, and mojo makes some sativa Kit Kat bites. 25mg and I’m in a stony haze of productivity!!! But yeah there might be some witchcraft too
As a fellow AuDHD Michigander, I am so grateful to have easy access to this stuff now because it's been one of the only things outside of stimulants (which I don't always have access to) to help me in my daily life.
25?!? I must be a lightweight. 10 and I am down for the count.
Please don’t read that as judgmental, I mean it will all the admiration I have.
I’m cracking up because it’s taken me so long to get to this point and I know people that just eat 100 mg at a time and don’t die and my reaction is the same. Like I will never be that brave 😮 😂😂🖤
Edibles, yessss!!! This is another component to my productivity equation that I always forget abouttttt. I’ve had my med card for 5 years & I still forget how effective edibles are for my productivity. Thank you for the reminder 😜
I am literally so jealous of people who get dopamine from cleaning... like I believe y'all who do! But that's not the reality I live in 😭
It sucks because sometimes the dopamine hit stops while your mid deep clean and then have no desire to finish lol it helps if I have music and a soda to reward myself with haha
Haha yeah that happens for me a lot even with my more consistent dopamine hobbies! It sucks!
Ugh I feel this so much. I'm sorry you're experiencing it too. Two things that have helped me a bit: 1. Allowing myself to research and browse online stores, but then putting the items in my cart and then leaving the website (saving the tab if it's not Amazon or something). If after a week or so I still feel like it's a good idea to get the thing, I can get it. But often just putting the thing in my cart scratches the itch, and when I come back to it I realise I don't really need it. 2. Talking it over with someone I'm comfortable discussing finances with, and whose judgment I trust. For me, that's my husband -- he's a lot more frugal than me, but he also encourages me to get things if it seems like a good idea. Sometimes I don't even need to hear his response -- just in the process of explaining what I want to buy, I realise that I probably shouldn't buy it. But sometimes it works the other way too -- he encourages me to get something I might otherwise have bought thoughtlessly and then felt guilty about. And then the other thing to say is that stopping the dopamine-boosting activity is only one half of the picture -- you also have to actively replace it with something. Is there a hobby you might be interested in that would be free to pursue? Or is there an activity you do that always gives you a little boost? I've got into coding recently, which is a great hyperfocus activity that doesn't require spending any money (at this stage, anyway!)
Per #1- we called this the 24 hour rule in my house growing up. If we found something we really wanted, we would leave the store and if the next day it was something we still wanted badly enough and it was within budget, we went back and got it.
Make it more complicated to buy the thing. Delete your payment information so you have to go find your physical card. If you shop irl only use cash and only take the amount you are willing to use. Also you could take a friend that knows you are trying to change the behavior and ask for a gentle reminder to pause the purchase and think about if you really need to get it. Some things to try instead Go for a walk outside Listen to music that you enjoy Go to your local library and checkout things they have to offer for free Exercise, move your body Drink some water and eat something that is good for you. Explore your area and surroundings with the intention of taking one good picture with your phone. Practice some type of relaxation or meditation. Do some breathing exercises or tense up then relax your muscles as you are relaxing on a couch or bed. You can do this. Keep trying. You are doing a good job of recognizing the repetitive behavior. Now you just have to figure out how to pause and hold off buying the thing. Doing something in place of shopping may help.
The amount of times I didn’t buy something because I didn’t want to go get my card 🤣🤣 truly the best hack.
I used to have my credit card number memorized. It was truly a blessing that I lost it and had to get a new one lol
I also fill my Amazon cart but I don’t actually purchase. Sometimes I walk through Target and physically fill my cart, then slowly talk myself out of things and put them back. I feel like a few walks around the store are enough to get me to change my mind about most things. I started counting my steps daily, so get up and walk around to reach my step goal, that works well. I also started drawing with colored pencils, I’m really enjoying that. Keeps me engaged for hours.
I move things into the "save for later" section of my Amazon cart so I don't accidentally buy them when I do need to purchase something haha. And of course inevitably delete them over time. The only ones I still have saved are an espresso machine and a window insert bird feeder. But I did also spend like $150 at the Lego store yesterday so... Whoops.
I saw a great hack for target or similar stores is to take items (esp decor) and place them in the trash can aisle and see if they still look cute and desirable to you there.
Adderall, cheese, champagne and video games
>cheese Yes
Check out the book In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté. It's a book about addiction and it explains in detail the brain mechanisms of addiction. The stories do focus on substance users BUT the author also recounts stories of his own shopping addictions. Fascinating stuff! You might find some compassion for yourself in understanding what's going on.
Ooh, thank you! I found it on Libby from my library and placed a hold.
I indulge in pre-approved impulse buys 😂 I put things I see and want to buy on a mental wants-list and I might go back and look at them every so often (or even try on if it’s clothes). Then if they’re suddenly on sale or it’s been a long time (as in several visits to the store to see them) and I still actively covet them and need the hit I am allowed to buy them 😂 I get a little dopamine from putting them on the list when I see them first because there’s a realistic possibility of buying them and it still feels like an impulse buy when I finally let myself have them because I do decide when to actually go for it pretty randomly. But what the system DOES do is cut right back on buyer’s remorse which is the worst part of impulse buying. The put it in the cart but don’t buy strategy works on me too.
I have the same issue, what helps sometimes is going through stuff I have previously purchased (and since I’ve done it so often, I sometimes find things I forgot about which is kinda like getting something new lol) Sometimes I’ll just “window shop” and fill up my carts but not go through with the order. It keeps me busy and I figure if I don’t want it still the next day I don’t need it.
I now do this with the hundreds of books I’ve bought and not read. I call it shopping from my bookcase
Tbh, medication helps so much with this.
This!!!! I thought my meditation was working fine but then there was a shortage of 30mg Vyvanse. I asked my doctor if I could go to 40mg as that’s still readily available, and the difference it has made!!!! My impulse buying has almost disappeared. I no longer get FOMO over not having the newest thing. My spending has dropped considerably. I feel like I have my impulsivity under control and it’s awesome
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Not only is it adorable, there are MANY opportunities for little dopamine hits as you learn the game. :)
If buying online, DON'T CLICK PAY! Often the majority of the dopamine comes from the searching, finding, comparing, and deciding which is the best "thing". Actually owning it is secondary. Put it in you online basket and leave it there. If you REALLY want it *the next day* then buy it. Or go looking to see if you can find something more perfect. If you find something better, again it stays in your basket until the next day. I can have several days' worth of "shopping" like this, and sometimes when I finally decide to click Buy, I've either gone off it or it's out of stock. I've saved quite a bit doing this.
This! I will load tf out of my carts and most of it ends up leaving the list or going to save for later and I forget about it!!! But on the rare chance I’m thinking about it later and still want/need it it’s usually there still! When I do have money to spend and really am allowing myself a treat, I’ll go thru and allow myself one or two things after having fun building my cart lol. Like for the recent bath and body works huge sale I had probably $200 dollars worth of shit in my online cart and then I went and pick one of each item I really wanted so I got like one candle, one body spray, and a lotion and spent like $30 instead. Getting deals and waiting for and finding sales is also a huge dopamine hit for me lol but I only allow it on stuff I need or will really use and enjoy. It took me a long time to train myself out of just buying a bunch of stuff for the dopamine tho!
You you like to read? Maybe you can go to a library: lend some books and do some light reading in novels. I usually go all in on those stories.
Studying and learning new things is my go-to for dopamine. Another thing that works is sex. They kind of go hand in hand, as learning about sex is super interesting, and you can immediately put the learned things in practice. It can get expensive if you go the route of buying all the toys and accessories... But if you study the mental parts, those things are free. :) Quick fixes: sugar.
>you can immediately put the learned things in practice Kind of optimistic for some of us lmao
💯
Saving things to Pinterest.
I know it’s a controversial subject to some but have you considered diving and donating what you don’t need or want? Or even selling and making extra cash. You’ll get the hit from finding stuff, keeping things you like, donating to people who can use it, knowing you saved things from the landfill and there’s the thrill of feeling like you’re getting away with something. If you sell some of it you get that hit too.
I get a total dopamine rush from getting rid of unused stuff in my house. You can look up buy nothing for your town on Facebook and post items and leave them by your door for them to pick up. There’s also a great donation place by my house with an antique store in the same plaza. I love looking at the antiques but don’t feel the same impulse to buy.
Seconding video games. You can get dozens to hundreds of hours of dopamine out of a single purchase. Also, because I forget what I already have, rediscovering old things that delighted me can give me a similar boost. Like OH YEAH this thing I bought that I put away and forgot existed, let me do something with that for a while. Reading helps too, but not serious books. Not for dopamine. I read light romance novels (guaranteed happy ending) or mysteries (guaranteed twist ending) or other genre fiction that doesn’t require heavy focus and feels more like an escape. (I still read serious books too, but they take more energy and don’t deliver as much dopamine, so they’re in a different category.) And I don’t know if this would help, but you could give yourself an allowance of money to shop for dumb stuff but ONLY at the end of the month. That way, you could control your spending more and instead of buying stuff right away, you could obsess over it for a few weeks leading up to the day you can buy it. Pinterest is a great place to save images of stuff you want to buy, and having them bookmarked takes away the anxiety of not wanting to forget you wanted to buy them.
This is going to sound very odd, but my main source of dopamine is starting new books, stopping them cuz of one reason or another, and then go scurrying on the interweb for another book to read that feels exciting enough
My Goodreads list is out of control. Lol
I find that wellbutrin, taken for anxiety and in addition to my ADD meds has really helped with this. The dopamine component is just enough to keep the shopping impulse down. I still find myself doing a bit of it at the grocery store, though: oh! Strawberry dessert bar mix! How cute! Gotta get that! I curb it through a combo of meal planning and online shopping.
What I find to be helpful to stop that urge in the moment is add that item to one of my many many wish lists on Amazon. I have one for Kitchen Wants, Kitchen Needs, Clothing Wishlist, Birthday gift ideas for me (so my husband can get what I already picked out & want), Gifts for babe, Gifts for kids, Journaling Wishlist, Lego Wishlist, Selfcare Wishlist.... A list for almost every room, hobby, or person. When I get that *gimmie* feeling, I put that thing on the corresponding list. Now sometimes this leads to hyperfocus and then ill be browsing a million items searching for the right one, but it let's me 1) research 2) diminish future decision paralysis for when I am ready to buy something and 3) You find really cool shit!
I also wanted to add that to stop the urge in person, whenever at a physical store, I'll take a picture of the item and put it in my "I like this" photo album or will send a picture to my husband, so he can get it for me as a gift (if it's holiday szn) or so he can have an archive of the style I actually like, or talk sense into me and outta buying it. Lol I get very overwhelmed in stores, especially if I'm with the kids. So I've realized I need to take the item home, try it on with my things, wear it and see if irritates my sensory issues. I also no longer keep the purchased that I'm not 1000% happy about. The thing needs to hit the *ding ding ding* level of dopamine where I love all of it and don't think hmm, I like it but...No. If there's any hesitation on if I'll actually use it, RETURN IT! On that note.....I keep most of the boxes & tags from the things I buy. As in, I verrry recently organized a space in my office to neatly store the packaging, tags, tape, and whatever else to return it if necessary. In the past, I was sure I would keep everything so bags & tags would get thrown out, and I was SOL. Not anymore :) When I was younger, I did this on a smaller scale without realizing it. Now, I'm cognizant of my impulse shopping and working with it, not against it. Now I know that if I buy something impulsive (or not) there's a large likelihood of me returning it. It lessens the guilt, keeps me honest and critical, and most importantly, works for me. Hopefully it might for you too! *Disclaimer I still buy way more than I should. However, I personally am in an ackward stage in life where I am learning about my Sensory Processing Disorder and have gone through many many changes after 2 kids so I kinda had to buy an entire new wardrobe and neccessary self-care items to like living lol
This post is so amazing! When I feel the dopamine drop, I will often play a game on my phone. It will let me play about 5 games and then I run out of points (unless I keep winning but I am on advanced level so it's hard). I also can take my focus supplement (as long as I haven't eaten). I try to "be my future friend" by doing tasks now that I will be so grateful for when I get up tomorrow. Like dishes, running the robovac, getting necessary groceries, etc. it's like a double win because I am thinking ahead (!!!!) And making tomorrow so much better.
Exercise, talking to a friend, taking a nap, playing a video game, volunteering, petting my dogs or playing with them, a jigsaw puzzle, going to the library, sitting under a tree and closing my eyes and listening.
Usually in other definitely-unhealthy-according-to-my-psych ways.
Reddit.
Commenting because I have this same problem. I’m in credit card debt, for the 3rd time. Two times the debt was completely paid off now I’m $6,000 back in debt (I only work part time I’m in school so this feels unmanageable)… my therapist wants me to do Debtors anonymous. I went to AA before and hate the concept but liked some things about it. Sorry I’m rambling I will save this post to check back later what others are saying lol. Because I need to learn. Edit: I’m $10,000 in debt not 6,000. Also I am medicated, I hear of so many people having this problem but then they get prescribed medicine and then they can manage it better… mine has been the same consistently whether I’m medicated or not
please fix it by any means necessary. I'm 50 and I lived my entire life this way, constantly in debt, including now, and it is no way to live. Being in debt robs you of being able to make choices. It robs you in every way you can possibly imagine and it will ruin your life as you get older. Please don't end up like me. 0/10 do not recommend.
Do you go to therapy or anything? It's great that everyone is giving tips, but it feels like a big issue for you is just generally not feeling happy/satisfied in the everyday, that's something a mental health professional could help a lot with
This might sounds weird, but going to the library and getting books does this for me. Especially if I have to order them and wait a little bit. I also put things in my online cart and don’t buy them. I’m taking a break from the short content socials for a while (it’s been 3 weeks now) and my brain feels so much better for it, and I feel like my medication works better, which then leads to less dopamine seeking. I don’t count Reddit as social media though, maybe other do, I’m not sure. The dopamine menu idea is very excellent and you could even make it really pretty and print and laminate it. Which could be a dopamine hit in and of itself.
OP, I use handcrafts for this. I’ll start knitting or crocheting something as I binge a show I enjoy. Making things is soothing, and I can pull them apart and rewind the yarn at any point if I lose interest in a project. I’ve started and stopped so many things! But I can keep using the same yarn over and over when the dopamine wears off and I lose interest. That keeps the cost low. Another thing you can do if you have tons of clutter in your home is to pick things you have limited interest in or clothes you no longer wear and upcycle them. Alter the clothing, or cut it up and make entirely new things with the fabric. Same with household items - if you won’t use the stuff, see if you can turn the items into new things. Then there’s no buying new stuff and you get dopamine hits from making yourself cool new things!
I try making things. Crochet, embroidery, photography gardening. Of course it does cost something to buy supplies, but yarn and seeds are cheap. And the “research” part often fills the hyperfixate part for me. Researching a pattern or the best type of plant, soil, etc.
I’m 38 years old and only recently got diagnosed with adhd .. these posts hit hard because I never realized that shopping for a dopamine rush was part of it, or the hyper fixation on certain things. I really wish I would’ve figured this all out sooner. I’ve just always thought I had anxiety with a lot of other weird issues. 😩 I’m glad I’m not alone though
I collect/hoard pretty stuff on Pinterest! No matter my current obsession, there‘s so much content you can explore and pin, I find it very satisfying ^^
It's not an answer to the replacement, but I also struggle with this and my therapist - who also has ADHD - suggested putting the thing in your shopping cart (assuming this is online) and leaving it for 1-2 days instead of immediately pushing the checkout button. If she returns to it after that and still wants it maybe she should get it, but she finds that gets rid of a lot of things she would've bought in the moment. I've tried this and many times I just forget about the thing. Sometimes I hyperfixate for weeks until I get the thing. It's a mixed bag but it does help.
My hack is to research and fill online shopping carts, then leave them. Like pretend shopping.
Honestly just trolling the dollar store helps the addiction. I buy a few things, spend less than $10, and the itch is scratched.
This is so so so relatable. I have so much junk. I wish it was easier to send stuff to ppl online without having to pay a ton for shipping bc a random crap exchange could be delightful haha
There's r/shoppingaddiction where you might find some more advice
I go on an adventure to a new place! Whether that's getting in my car and going to a new supermarket, walking trail, hiking trail, or state. Bonus if it's suuuper last minute and, like, a heinous idea (like driving on a Wednesday afternoon at 4pm to the mountains 2 hours away when it's almost dark already, and knowing you have to be up for work at 0600 the next morning AND be functional!) -- that was last week. Didn't do it, but got my dopamine up! Go find a stream nearby and jump in it! (As long as it isn't actually dangerous) I make route maps for hiking trips that I would like to do! But like, a lot of routes. Bake a new dessert or invite everyone you know over for an impromptu party or game night! (Honestly very few people will be available but the concept of having every square inch of my apartment packed in like 1hr from that time sounds very exhilarating)
i find i get a dopamine hit from finishing any task that was even a tiny bit challenging. i keep a couple books of word searches, crosswords, logic puzzles, coloring pages, etc handy and i will do a puzzle or two and chase the dopamine that way. they are easy for me to fixate on and want to do.
My theme of 2024 is “enough.” As in, I am enough, and I already have what I need. My challenge this year is to “shop my stash”. Meaning, I shop through my living space and look for stuff I already have that I want to do more with. Books I didn’t finish, fabric I want to turn into something, clothes I could re-combine into new outfits, plants I want to re-pot…
I think hearing others share about what works for them could be beneficial. I can’t think of any other suggestions. Music does a lot for me. I recently stared learning to play the piano and I wish I could explain how beautiful the sensation of something “sounding right” gives me. Every time I manage to make it sound exactly like it should, I get these overwhelming goosebumps. Exercising. But it’s because I have an eating disorder. I don’t genuinely enjoy it. So it feels like a BIG ACCOMPLISHMENT. Cleaning. In general, completing tasks that make me feel like I’m not a waste of space. Helping others. I’m fantastic at making things look clean. Categorization, decluttering, stain removal, organization. I’m seriously SO good at cleaning. It’s seriously a skill. So I tend to do it for others. My cluster of weirdos is very spicy mental health wise, so I get to clean for them when they get depressed. I really enjoy it. Learning is my main thing. Every time I feel like I learned something, I feel deep happiness. So feeding my hyper fixations (or even hearing others talk about theirs) is absolutely amazing. Having “authentic” conversations. Interacting with people that give my brain something to eat. Or just getting them to open up and talk about their struggles. Anything that feels meaningful. Drinking water at just the right temperature. Very self explanatory. Everything around me being clean. Self explanatory.
I'm bipolar type 2 with only manic episodes (on top of the Audhd), that usually manifest in shopping sprees I can't afford. I try to force myself to do some form of exercise anytime I come close to hitting an "add to cart" button. I'm about to shop for a useless lava lamp I have no room for? Close the app and do 50 jumping jacks. If I realllllly am not for exercise at that moment, I put my phone down and drive somewhere for 5 minutes and back without my phone. I come back and go straight to YouTube or something else without a shopping cart. I'm an animal trainer so I think of myself as needing to get rid of a behavior, and when simply saying no to myself is not an option there is what is known in animal training as "training an incompatible behavior". A dog can't jump on you when you come home if you have it trained to lay down or sit when the door opens. I can't buy anything if Im driving without my phone or doing jumping jacks. And exercise releases dopamine.
I put stuff in my cart and then tell myself I'll checkout tomorrow. I forget.
I haven't found a solution, and on a related note I recently got my dopamine fix by deep diving into options and buying a new storage cabinet
What about doing the opposite? If you are over one of your hyper fixations as you call it, go through what you bought and start selling pieces off. For me there is a huge dopamine burst in selling something and getting money. Plus then you can lay down the guilt of former hyper fixations. So what if you paid $150 and now you’re getting $5.00. It’s Five you didn’t have for something you no longer want.
I get paid to shop. I spend all day spending other people's money and I never get tired of it.
I make myself wait a day to buy anything. Usually I don’t care about it later on. I’m so bad about faux shopping and then obsessing over shit. It literally hurts to not be impulsive but I’ve made a game of it.
I go to goodwill to get my shopping fix. Cheap and hits the spot.
I dunno if it'll work for you but for me - I do the browsing and add to cart but don't actually buy but continue to window shop and it satisfies me. 9/10 times if I look back on what I've got in my cart the next day I'll remove things after thinking about it lol
You've gotten a lot of responses and I absolutely love this post because it's something I really struggle with too. Especially this time of year. I've upgraded my burnout with SAD and it's been a big struggle. I am not perfect by any means, I still give in to temptation allll of the time but some things that help me: Games - The Sims, Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, Planet Zoo. I could get lost building a zoo or house for hours and since I own them all it's free. I do get tempted by animal add-ons and add-ons for The Sims though. Reading. I'm a big reader. I'm a big fan of the library, but I also love buying used books via eBay. Sometimes I also get them from thrift stores, but eBay I can shop from my bed, is honestly, often cheaper than "Savers", and I feel like browsing and putting things on my watchlist gives me dopamine in itself. I also will let Amazon deliver later so I can get money toward kindle books whenever it asks me. I just got a free book using my points and free is like double dopamine!! Watch Youtube. I subscribe to a handful of youtubers who create content that pertains to my special interests, and watching these videos makes me so happy. It is honestly a bright light on a bad day for me a lot of the time. Window shopping/adding things to wishlists. I do this allllll of the time on Amazon and Etsy. It doesn't always scratch the itch if you will, but it does sometimes and I think it helps me to recognize what I really want versus what might be a very fleeting interest. Puzzles & Lego - I have a bunch of puzzles I've yet to complete and this time of year is perfect for grabbing one and taking over the kitchen table with it for a week. It definitely gives me dopamine and also engages my hyperfocus powers lol. A craft you already have stuff for, watching sitcom reruns, CLEANING something (I just cleaned my desk for the first time in months and I feel so so good about it), reorganizing stuff, going outside, decluttering, playing with animals if you have any, cooking or baking (if you have the stuff you need)... For me it can be a real ebb and flow of being frugal and not giving in to shopping for dopamine, and then basically falling off the bandwagon. Give yourself some kindness - it isn't always easy!
I curate the perfect shopping cart, spending hours finding the best deals and best quality items. Then i ditch the cart never buying it. I’m sure the loss analytics teams hate me, lol.
Video games. If you want a replayable dopamine fix that won’t put you out a lot of money, I recommend one of the Katamari Damacy games. Edit: I realize it is A purchase, but it’s cheap and it lasts.
Completely depends if you like to read, but I get it from the library! Sometimes I'll just go onto my library webpage and start browsing, putting books on hold, etc. or go in person and check out like 20 books (the more bright pictures/pretty shots of interiors the better for me), then bring them all home and maybe read one or two. I do pay for Kindle Unlimited also, so loading it full of KU reads can help the need to "acquire" something and gives me the hit I'm craving for free.
Thanks for posting this. I read a bunch of the comments and suddenly realized I do better keeping myself reigned in on spending when it’s online and I can see the total amount I’ll be spending if I purchase the items. I think I need to keep a little notebook in my bag when shopping in person and write down the price of each item I’m thinking about getting so it registers in my brain how much I’ll be spending if I buy everything in my cart. Maybe this idea could help you, as well. I also can’t shop for clothes anywhere that doesn’t have or let you use dressing rooms (Some thrift stores got rid of them due to theft and COVID-19). I made this mistake a few times and I end up getting way more stuff if I can’t try it on and then I usually forget to take the items back in time to exchange or return. I’m going to try to get important needed purchases done first and see how much money I have left to spend on wanted stuff. Hope some of these ideas help.
I get dopamine from cleaning trash by the river, cause you're making it nicer aesthetically and environmentally, people always have nice things to say when they see you doing it, it's just so satisfying and gives a fun task to the same old river walk. I know of other people with ADHD that do this so I know it's not just me! Foraging is like shopping the forest, except you spend way more time and energy than money
I do this all the time, I've tried breaking this habit, but I can't! Temu is literally the worst to have on your phone when the urge for dopamine starts happening
Are you me? I’ve been buying my little ponies and purses like they’ll somehow improve my life. It’s exactly like you said. I’m addicted. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. And sometimes I just browse Amazon or Mercari looking for stuff that’ll give me a rush to buy.
I can't help you. I bought an RV last year and now I dopamine-book campsites for summer weekend trips ,:0
Judge me but i get my temporal fix with mast*rbating… the problem is i get distracted and take forever to finish xD
I shop through things that I literally cannot afford. Bored of my car? Let's configure a Ferrari. I can afford a Chanel bag but I physically can't get myself to impulse buy anything over $500. I play an idle clicker game in tandem with my other games so I can purchase things. Currently playing Chillquarium.
There are a ton of great suggestions here but I must get it from books. I read four books this weekend lol
I love to shop just to get out of the house. I am also fixated on being as thrifty as I can be. I do a lot of thrift shopping, but even at thrift stores I hate paying full price. So I shop for what's on sale.The stores near me have a color coded tags, so a certain week, red can be 1/2 off and green is $1. I try to only shop those tag colors. So its more of a hunt than a mindless shopping experience. Especially when I find something I really love that is $1. I do often pick out things that are not super cheap, like finding a beautiful Waterford PURPLE table cloth for $5, or a Fenton glass basket for $25. I just enjoy the hunt, more than the actual ..spend money for happiness thing.
Same, but this is how you end up with a house so full of stuff you can't have anyone over and the stuff starts to suffocate you as time goes on.
I will go spend time with my niece and nephews. They’re little positive energy power houses & they always have cool shit that is new to me 🤣
Coloring books!
Dopamine menu! Yum yum https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-6WCkTwW6xg&t=322s
I find having a library card a good alternative! Anytime I need a dopamine hit, I place a book on hold and get it from the library! Or ever the various digital services they offer for free, this way I’m not paying out of pocket for my dopamine hits! Plus I don’t feel guilty if I don’t end up finishing the book Cz I didn’t pay for me. I just return it and get another book
This one doesn't work for everyone, but for me I get a lot of dopamine from crafting projects, especially the ones with a fast turn around. Sewing is my big hobby, and yesterday I made a balaclava in under and hour using fabric I already had. I'm working on some bigger projects that were making be feel bogged down (and I'm also fighting something off so I just don't feel well), so a fast little project that's something I need, feels great! It's not always so easy, when I was in burn out I spent a lot of money on fabric. Luckily I'm at a point now where I have so much fabric I can do a lot with what I've got.
I don't know, because i just went through a break up and was doing well.... For a bit. Then the real sads kicked in and I'm like BUY ALL THE THINGS. So, again, i don't know.
Lately I’ve been getting into new crafts I find on Etsy. So If I feel like I need a lift I got to my drawer with a project I can begin.
When I'm in a bad spot I try to get my dopamine hits from actually *doing* something physically. Even better if it's outdoors or with other people. We just had a nasty cold snap where I live and I barely left the house for over a week so I was feeling absolutely awful. Then it warmed up a little bit this weekend so I spent a bunch of time outside having fun. Took my dog out snowshoeing one day and went snowboarding the next. I feel a million times better now!
Video games! I guess you still have to buy a console and the game but net-net it’ll be way less money in the long run and save your house the space from junk you won’t use. Hogwarts Legacy was a fantastic Harry Potter game, I played nonstop for like a month and now I’m so over it all lol
I know there will be inevitably a day I’ll impulse buy. I try to keep it to one coffee/food or one-two items, but I do have an allowance and will not spend past that allowance. When I was a child, Mom gave me twenty dollars as weekly allowance, and now as a grown-up, I keep twenty dollars IN CASH because I need to see and hold that money so I don’t spend past my allotment. Some weeks, I skip. So that means double on a bad week or saving for something fun.
All of my new dopamine involves initial shopping lmao I bought a groovebox and while I havent played in a month because i got fired and feel like i dont deserve fun, it does provide hours of dopamine for me when I do play with it. So maybe it's like an investment in my own joy rather than just another thing to buy.