★ Rockstar Book Review: "The Recovering Spender"

This is part of our Rockstar Book Review series. Be sure to check out all previous books we’ve covered!

"The Recovering Spender: How to Live a Happy, Fulfilled, Debt-Free Life" by Lauren Greutman

Who it’s for: Readers who feel their spending is causing them to incur unnecessary debt and who worry they may not be able to stop.

Readability: HIGH. At just over 200 pages, this small book is an easy read. The information is well presented and the layout breaks up the content into reasonable bite-sized pieces. It's a good option if you're looking for a book to carry around and read whenever the opportunity arises. What I liked about it: Aside from its high readability, I appreciated the fact that Part 1 of the book includes Lauren's personal spending story, along with some of her husband Mark's experiences as well. We learn through stories, and when an author chooses to share theirs, it tends to stick with us as readers. To boot, Lauren is a good storyteller and isn't afraid to share information about her past decisions, the likes of which most of us would prefer to keep to ourselves. What I didn’t like about it: Part 2 is organized to mirror the Alcoholics Anonymous's 12-step program. That seems suiting, given the author's personal experience as the family member of an addict, which informed her view that a spending addiction is similar to substance-based dependencies. That said, a number of readers may be put off by the assertion that we can't recover from excessive spending and debt accumulation without God's help. (Please note that I have no objection to any/all of us having religious beliefs. I only object to a book not being upfront regarding its contents and being unnecessarily narrow in its advice/direction.) The other aspect of the book I disliked was the self-promotion and the repeated sales pitches for her course.

Where to find it:

Amazon @ $8.42 || Free @ the library

"The Recovering Spender" Uses the Power of Personal Experience to Remind Us of What Matters Most

Lauren's been there. She's experienced what it's like to run out of money before the end of the month, and to have the burden of managing household finance. And she has lived with the shame of a shopping addiction and its usual consequence: mounting levels of consumer debt. Given her upbringing that included lessons in prudent spending, the author helps us understand that shopping addiction can happen to any of us.

"Desire is such a powerful emotion that it makes you do unpredictable things." (pg. 22)

Aside from her 12-step program in Part 2 of the book (which, as mentioned in the summary above, aligns closely with the AA 12-step program most of us are familiar with), Lauren's book helps us overcome our shopping addiction and get out of debt by:

Helping us understand the source of the addiction
Providing the push for us to get our reality check sooner than later
Supporting a change in our behavior—replacing what triggers our addiction with more constructive beliefs and activities

#1. Getting to the Bottom of It

In sharing her story and research related to compulsive spending, Lauren provides the reader the information needed to understand the whys behind our impulse control issues. And that starts with understanding why we buy the superfluous in the first place. She shares her repeated desire to buy achievement, recognition, and status without considering that spending money to get them was nothing more than a set of illusory shortcuts. Shortcuts that, in the end, left her feeling empty and no better—or even worse—off. A good, hard look at our actions by comparing them to what we say we value can be a lightbulb moment that helps us see that something has to change. That said, we don't really change until the pain of our current behavior starts to feel overwhelming.

#2. Enter the Reality Check

Lauren wants us to get our face-palm moment sooner than later. That means tallying up our current financial picture. We need to look at our current debt level (what we owe to whom, the monthly payment and interest rate). Once we know the number, we can't be in denial anymore and, though painful, it can help us take our first steps in a more positive direction.

"As a Spender struggling to get your spending in check, you have to get to the point where the pain of not spending money is less than that of dealing with the consequences of your overspending." (pg. 84)

We also need to take a look at where our money is going every month (how much and in what category). This information is vital in helping us understand where our money has been going and what we can cut back on, both of which are required to build a realistic and workable budget that will:

prevent further debt accumulation
help us start to reduce our debt load to eventually become debt-free
force us to downsize or eliminate larger fixed expenses

Note: Forms to help us with these exercises are conveniently located in the appendices at the end of the book.

#3. Changing Our Behavior From Negative to Positive

The message to readers is that part of our buying behavior is hardwired and that, without intervention to refocus the behavior toward more constructive activities, we're likely to fall back into old spending patterns. In Lauren's case, some of her positive changes included: couponing, budgeting, finding additional sources of income and blogging. The first step in changing our behavior is to get clear about what it is we really want in life. Hint: most of it doesn't come with a store tag. Once we get clear on what we want deep down, we can use that desire to fuel decisions and actions that support long-term goals. In essence, we are not just stopping our shopping and accumulating. What we're doing is replacing these actions with more constructive ones:

Instead of shopping, we're hunting for deals on staple products we need and writing up a thoughtful shopping list before leaving the house.
Replace spending with self-improvement by taking online or class-based courses (personal finance, couponing, upgrading our professional skills).
Swap out eating out with at-home food preparation and get the whole family involved in getting ready for meal time.
Set aside time spent consuming an expensive cable package in favor of taking on an income-building hobby or second job.

No matter what we choose to do as a substitute, as long as it supports what we care about most, we're less likely to revert back to our previous negative patterns. And, if we do slip, we've found a better way and we can get back on track sooner than later.

Bottom Line

Understanding what makes us tick when it comes to recovering from shopping addiction and its inevitable consequences is key to our ability to make lasting changes. Lauren Greutman can help us do just that. She's been there and can help you find a better way forward.

Where you can find the book: Amazon @ $8.42 Where you can find the author: laurengreutman.com

Other suggested books on this topic: "Spent" by Avis Cadella, "The Overspent American" by Juliet B. Schor and "One Bed, One Bank Account" by Derek and Carrie Olsen. There's also "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey, "Dear Debt" by Melanie Lockert, "Stop Acting Rich" by Thomas J. Stanley and "Money Talks" by Gail Vaz-Oxlade Other suggested books related to this topic: "The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg, "Predictably Irrational" by Dan Ariely ***** All book reviews include affiliate links to Amazon.com or other places they’re sold. Thank you to all those who support our site by going through these links!