For some people, it can be difficult to avoid spending money, even when you don’t really have any to spend. If you have a bad habit or addiction beyond the need to spend money, you may also be bringing even more bad things into your life. Many bad habits can literally be the death of someone, like drug and alcohol abuse.
There are some things that you can do to save money when it comes to spending it on things that are bad or harmful. Bad habits, even ones like smoking, are often the things that will get you into the most trouble financially. It pays to know how to drop them and get on with your life.
Accept That You Have A Problem
The first step to dealing with any bad habit or addiction is to accept that you have a problem. If you can’t see that you have a problem then you aren’t going to be able to do anything to fix the problem. Even if the people around you see the signs and know the symptoms, you are the one the needs to be ready to get help.
Once you understand there is an issue with your behavior you can get to the next step. Bad habits, and addictions, can be smoking, drug use/abuse, alcohol use/abuse (you don’t have to be an alcoholic to have a problem with your consumption of alcohol), gambling, overspending, and even having an unhealthy food relationship (eating disorders, binge eating, eating foods that are bad for you).
Seek Help
Once you realize you have a problem it is time to get help. Help will most often come through therapy. If you allow it to work for you, therapy can really make a difference and help you drop those bad habits, you just have to have patience and keep trying.
Help isn’t free, but therapy costs less than a heroin addiction. It also will have you spending less than your shopping addiction.
Make Lifestyle Changes
Lifestyle changes will make the biggest difference in recovering from any addiction or stopping any bad habit. You need to do things differently than you did when those things were the center of your life. Make new friends, find healthy hobbies, and pick up good habits that help reduce stress and keep from pushing you toward self-medicating.
It can seem like a daunting task, especially if you’re being forced to remove negative people from your life. However, if you attend meetings (NA, AA, meetings for shopping addicts) you’ll meet new people and make new friends with those that are going through the same things as you.
One of the biggest changes you need to make is to your attitude about quitting. Never quit quitting when you get free of an addiction or bad habit. You’ll be adding years to your life and dollars to your pockets the longer you’re “clean.”