Confessions of a Shopaholic is an entertaining and stylized description of a woman, Rebecca, plagued by the addiction of spending more than she earns.  In typical fashion, she does not realize she has a problem until a major life challenge presents itself: she loses her job.  After realizing how serious her spending problem is, she is thrusted into an ironic adventure of writing magazine articles to advise people how to properly handle money.  This new job pays the bills and keeps the slave owners, creditors, at bay until Rebecca’s hypocrisy is discovered while doing an interview on TV.  Her addiction could not be hidden any longer, and she had to determine how to beat debt before it continued to ruin her career and relationships.  With the help of her family, her accountability group, and some Hollywood magic, she was able to pay off her debts and restart her life with a degree of freedom she had never experienced before.

The three aspects of this movie that need to be focused on are what the father says to Rebecca at her lowest moment, her decision with Alette, and the commonality of her addiction.

After being professionally embarassed by her hypocrisy, lying, and debt, Rebecca seeks counsel with her father.  Her father offers to erase the debt she accumulated by selling his most prized and long-sought after possession.  Her father helps her realize that no matter the value of the object monetarily or personally, it does not compare to the value he gains from his relationship with her.  A great point to remember from that moment is that we should also get our value from relationships instead of from our stuff.  No matter how wonderfully the actors in marketing campaigns portray joy in their purchases, we should never equate that to the real value we gain from relationships.

After triumphantly coming to terms with her situation, Rebecca is faced with her first major temptation.  Alette offers her a job at Rebecca’s most coveted workplace.  The temptation to finally do what she always wanted to do is huge, but she refuses.  She understands that what she always wanted might lead her back into her addiction, so she passes on this “opportunity”.  We can learn from this as well because the things we’ve always wanted usually are not the best for us.  We should always seek the counsel of our God, family, friends, research, history, or any number of things to ensure the things are heart desires would be best for our situation.

Lastly, we should never assume that Rebecca’s story is fairy tale.  America has a $14 trillion consumer debt problem.  There are many in America that are addicted to shopping.  This could come in many forms: buying fancy clothes, houses, cars, electronics, or hobby-related items.  We must recognize there are countless Americans who are addicted to debt but do not realize it.  Unfortunately, they won’t realize it until a major life challenge crashes their illusion.  So do not think this movie is a depiction of a person in isolation because many people have the same addiction.

We can help people realize their addiction to debt by standing up and being an alternate voice to the marketers telling us buy, buy, buy.

Volunteer to be a BDO Ambassador or donate to our Educational Ads project, so we can  help those struggling in debt.

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