Are you addicted to something? I used to be the same way. I had an addiction to spending the money I earned. I would earn the money and immediately go out and blow it all. This led me to have a bunch of problems. I had once overdrafted my bank account by $200 but luckily I got that mess sorted out.

So how do you get over an addiction?

Addictions are definitely very harmful. Almost every addiction is bad. Too much of anything is bad. Worst thing is that most addictions are expensive. Addicted to weed? Gotta go and buy it. Cigarettes? Same thing.

So I was once addicted to just shopping. I know that sounds a little gay, but I loved to go and just blow my money buying new things. Things I didn’t need. Now I know how to combat it.

Tip #1 – Don’t buy anything for 15 days

How do you do this? For food, try and get your parents to buy you food. If you don’t live with your parents then you can allot a little bit of money for food each day. Don’t eat out. Don’t buy anything.

If you have a card I recommend you place the card in water and freeze it. This way if you ever get tempted to use the card you’d have to spend the time to thaw it out first.

Tip #2 – After not buying whatever it is for 15 days, realize how much better your life is

Seriously, after 15 days of not going out and buying new shit, I realized how much shit I have in my life that I don’t use. For some people this realization might be that hey! I don’t need weed to have fun, or hey! I haven’t smoked in 15 days and I’m fine.

Tip #3 – Remember your savings account

I’ve said in a couple blogs that you should always put a portion of your money into your savings account and NEVER touch it. This will be emergency money or just money you can use later on to splurge on something you really want. I recommend 25% because oftentimes it’s too hard to do 50% like some suggest, especially as a student.

Tip #4 – Figure out something to do in your spare time

A lot of time we spend because we have nothing else to do. Seriously. Hasn’t their been those days where you go out and spend and realize that you didn’t even need to buy anything. You were just buying stuff because you had nothing else to do. This definitely happened to me before and I think it can happen to anyone. Just realize it and go do something productive.

Tip #5 – Stay away from potentially addictive things

If you know that cigarettes are addictive, why try them? Seriously just don’t let yourself get addicted and you should be fine. Coffee and soda are some of the other things that can be addicting.