Why You Should Avoid Instagram “Shelfies” If You Want to Stop Shopping—And How To Do It

A couple of years ago—when I was wasting tons of money shopping—I came across something on Instagram called a “shelfie.” I was immediately enamored, and began researching pretty shelving to purchase for my own vast skincare and makeup collection.

Shelfies are beautiful. But not if you’re trying to save money.

This post will discuss why you should, and how to, avoid Instagram “shelfies” if you are trying to stop shopping.

What is a “shelfie”?

A shelfie, a play on the word “selfie,” is a perfectly curated, aesthetically pleasing photo of a shelf or shelves, like a medicine cabinet, upon which beautiful, often high-end, skincare and makeup are placed (and sometimes, books).

As of the date of this post, the #shelfie tag on Instagram produces 1.5 million results. Comments on these posts range from, “Ugh, I want!” to “So gorgeous!” to “So jealous!”

There are even entire Instagram accounts devoted to photos of “shelfies” and variations thereof. Some of the more popular accounts garner tens of thousands of followers.

And, if you are reading this post, you may have fallen prey to the wiles of a gorgeous shelfie post—and the imbued marketing—at least once.

So, why should you avoid shelfies?

You might be thinking: Aren’t shelfies just aesthetically pleasing, harmless fun? NO!

If you have ever struggled with overspending, especially when it comes to skincare and makeup, shelfies are dangerous for you, and should be avoided.  

The reason? Shelfies fetishize consumer goods under the guise of beauty and organization.

This fetishization, like most marketing, causes you to want something that previously had been unwanted. If you’re trying to stop shopping, you cannot risk this trigger!

Here are some ways to avoid “shelfies” and reduce the temptation to shop:

1. Get off Instagram entirely. If you are in true dire straits with your spending habits, you might consider a social media cleanse to rid you of the temptation to shop. If that is not realistic for you…
2. Unfollow the main culprits. If you are following accounts that are dedicated to shopping, skincare, or makeup, you might consider unfollowing them—and/or muting them.
3. Clean up your Explore Feed. The Explore Feed on Instagram can be a bored shopper’s worst nightmare. One way to clean up your explore feed on Instagram is to unfollow certain “spendy” accounts, as noted above. Another way is to start searching for other hashtags and accounts. For instance, if you start perusing #frugal or #minimalism, the #shelfie posts will eventually start to fall by the wayside!

Hopefully, this post showed you why Instagram “shelfies,” and similar social media posts, are dangerous for people who cannot stop shopping. The endless fetishization of consumer goods is not the type of media diet for someone with a spending problem.

Using the above tips, you will consume fewer images that tempt you to spend—and that’s the end-goal. 🙂

want to remember this post? pin it for later!