Motivating people is a unique skill.  Some are motivated by money, some by gifts and a certain proportion of us by…guilt.  Not costing a penny to incentivise us (no pun intended) the guilt complex seems to be working wonders in helping shoppers across the UK purge the urge to shop.

uSwitch.com, have confirmed the joy of shopping has been traded in for the emotion of dread as reaching the check out counter brings on a feeling of nauseousness.  It seems when asked for payment, many of us would like to ask for a bucket!

According to statistics, uSwitch confirm 59% of people asked, no longer enjoyed shopping, 35% said they feel more guilty when they give in to retail therapy and 48%  suffer from guilt with the knowledge they could be saving rather than spending;  32% admit the money they’re making purchases with is money that could be better spent on unpaid bills and 27% admitted the most obvious – whatever they were buying, wasn’t really needed.

So how is it that despite the bills coming in and the chasing creditors, it’s seemingly not the red letters which are bringing a stop to the spending and rising debt – but the one thing which in essence, is a natural reaction to the devastation people are witnessing all around them?  Fear of making your debt worse, or even going into debt in the first place is creating the emotion of guilt – and with it, could actually be our saviour.  With guilt comes conscience; and with conscience can eventually, with time and effort, come effective and sensible money management.

Now if only we could put that in a bottle?
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