Addictions Can Ruin Your Budget

Posted on by

addictions can ruin your budget

 

I’ve been around people with addictions my whole life, so I’m not exactly guessing here. Addictions can get expensive, not all of them, but some of them can. Addictions can ruin your budget and financial goals. Will addictions ruin everybody’s budget, nope. Can it happen to you? Maybe. Here’s what I’ve seen from people I’ve known in my life.

Alcohol Addiction

Both of my grandparents had huge issues with alcoholism as far back as I can remember. There was insane amounts of drinking and driving, rides in police cars and ambulances. My grandma should have her own room in the hospital by now, I’m surprised she doesn’t. It’s a bad sign when the nurses remember you. Aside from the purchase of large amounts of alcohol, some of the expenses my grandparents racked up were:

  • Getting DUIs and whatever legal expense that entails
  • Having breathalyzers installed in the car
  • Court ordered counseling and classes
  • Hospital bills from injuries and alcohol poisoning
  • Debt incurred from tons of drunk spending

Shopping Addiction

This one is pretty self-explanatory, but just in case I’ll elaborate on it. Obviously, compulsive shopping can get expensive depending on what you’re buying, just like extreme couponing can cost more than you think. Sally doesn’t really have any other hobbies aside from shopping. When she wants to hang out, it’s running around and shopping. Walking around the mall or other stores and browsing is the standard and expected activity for companionship. She tries to make light of it by saying she:

  • got it on sale
  • used a credit from returning stuff
  • didn’t actually buy anything
  • it relaxes her
  • it makes her happy

I have to say though, hanging out with people who have a shopping addiction can be really beneficial. You can get in some exercise and learn from their mistakes. Whenever I say anything negative about the pastime, it’s considered a personal attack and then she gets upset with me.

Drug Addiction

I’ve actually known a lot of people who have had drug addictions in my time. I’m not friends with them anymore, but I was in the past. Having friends with drug addictions can really suck. I’ve had “friends” steal money from me as well as stuff to sell or trade for drugs. Sometimes, getting more drugs was more important than paying rent, which can really suck for their roommate. Some ending up going to jail, doing community service, losing their jobs (because they were high all the time), ruining their relationships and having their stomachs pumped. Too bad they didn’t check out rehab for executives, it could have saved them a hard time.

Gambling Addiction

I think I’m the one who has a gambling addiction in my life, not that I’m proud of it or anything. I have wasted so much money at casinos, but never really seem to learn my lesson. Why do I keep going back even though I feel like crap afterwards? It’s not even really about winning money for me either, which seems rather odd. I don’t know anybody else who actually has a gambling addiction, so this could all be “just me” and not like this for others.

I love the lights and sounds and pushing the buttons. I LOVE getting bonus games on the slot machines, it’s the win I’m chasing—no matter the payout. I love to put my chips on the roulette board and spend hours hanging out and having fun at the table. Normally, I end up spending too much money at the casinos, but when I’m drinking I spend even more. In the past, I’ve used money I shouldn’t use to gamble, taken money from our car fund, purged our emergency fund and other dumb stuff.

 •••••••

In the end, addictions can cost you a lot of money and even ruin your budget and financial goals. Sometimes, you might not even realize what you’re doing at the time and the impact it’ll have on your budget or finances. There are places to get help if you want it, but depending on your situation, maybe you can just avoid the situations that tempt you.

Some say that addictions are a genetic predisposition that we are born with; others say that we are trying to fill a void in our lives. People with addictions aren’t the only ones who can suffer financially; friends and family can also pay the price of addiction. Whether it’s bailing the addicted out, the cost of hanging out, theft, transportation to deal with crises or whatnot.

 

Have you ever experienced the financial burden of addiction?
Either directly or indirectly?

 

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dewaldp/2404359848/

About Jen Perkins

Likes: saving money, being debt free (aside from our house), zombies, travel, getting money, blogging and dogs. Dislikes: debt, being broke, bunnies, wasting money, not having enough money to travel the world and paying interest. Facebook  ♥  Twitter  ♥  Google+  ♥  RSS

Comments

Addictions Can Ruin Your Budget — 34 Comments

  1. Shopping addiction almost ruined me! Thankfully now I just try to not step into a mall or Target because I would just spend like crazy.

    • At least you’ve got a handle on it now. :-) Sometimes just avoiding the triggers can really help.

  2. I definitely had a drug problem and a gambling addiction for awhile. While some say weed isn’t physically addicting, it certainly is psychologically. I wasted thousands of dollars on it years ago when I really struggled with money. I also played a lot of poker. I played a lot during college (and shortly thereafter) and lost quite a bit of money however a few years ago I made up for it a bit when I won a few tournaments for $30k. I would definitely say the deal with that was the adrenaline rush of going all-in (and winning) and the competitive nature of it.

    Regardless, during the years when I struggled a lot with money those were two problems that really took a burden on my budget. Fits with with my broke, desperate, and being an idiot post from today. :)

    • Yeah, I guess smoking pot can get expensive too; I wasn’t even thinking about pot when I was talking about drug addictions. Those munchies can really add up too, financially and fat-wise.

      I’ve always sucked at poker, so I guess that’s a good thing for me; otherwise I’d be temped right now to try to win $30k…it sounds awesome. I’m happy that you’re handling your addictions better now. :-)

  3. My dad drinks about a bottle of wine a day. I think that’s borderline. At least he doesn’t drive when he’s drunk (I think.) He is also addicted to gambling. He loves to take chances and I think he lost a lot of money over the years through gambling. Luckily, my only mild addiction is video games. It can be a big time sink, but I think that’s better than the other addictions.

    • My honey is addicted to video games too, but not mildly. :-( It sucks a lot, especially when he would rather play them instead of doing stuff with me. Oh well, nothing I can do about it. I think most addictions can be better or worse than other, it just depends on the context and the people.

  4. With me my most expensive addiction definitely would be drugs, but I’ve been clean for almost a couple months now. So hopefully I can keep that up. I have a bit of a problem with gambling too, but I’m able to avoid that one easy enough. The problem is that when I do to a casino or horse race track it seems that I’m almost trying to lose my money. Obviously I’d love to win big, but I will spend lots of money chasing that win when I really know I am just putting myself further in the hole.

    • Congrats on quitting, I’m sure you can keep it up. :-) I’m the same way with the gambling, I know each time I buy in I’m just screwing myself harder and harder. It sucks! Too bad they had to make it so much fun.

    • I’m sorry about your grandfather, Jai. :-( Day to day stress can really take a toll on people, so trying to find a way to escape isn’t that rare.

      My grandma should be dying from alcoholism pretty soon, she’s a mess but she doesn’t care. I kinda think she wants to die sometimes, but you can only try to help somebody so many times.

  6. I have known several people with alcohol, drug, and gambling addictions. I have had my own to struggle with also. Casinos are being built in my state right now and you can actually ban yourself from the casino. If you put your name on the ban list they will not let you in. So, that will be a good thing for people who can admit that they have an addiction, if they’d be willing to put their name on the ban list.

    • Being able to ban yourself from a casino is AWESOME! I would have saved so much money over the years if I could have done it my area. :-)

  7. Jen, addictions are indeed powerful things. There are just so many people’s lives who get messed up by them. And, you know what, it isn’t just their lives. It’s their kid’s lives, their spouses’ lives and, sometimes, grandkids’ lives. I would be very surprised if there is a single family in the USA that hasn’t been touched. Mine has.

    • I totally agree with you, Thad. It affects so many people.

      I remember when I was 10 and on a Disneyland and Vegas road trip with my alcoholic grandparents. They let me take a bus to Disneyland by myself and then had me wandering the streets of Vegas to buy them vodka at a liquor store. You gotta be really plastered to think a 10 year old could buy vodka.

  8. When I try to to stop my high school students from smoking I always show them how much they are sacrificing in future earnings. When you add up the $13 a pack-a-day smoker lights up, and then apply the magic of compound interest to it, you get some interesting results. It often opens their eyes far more than, “You could die from this in 30 years.”

    • That’s a great way to keep them from starting smoking. At $13 a pack, I couldn’t imagine continuing to smoke. Who would even afford that? We’re spending around $4-5 a pack, both my husband and I, and it’s already affecting our finances. We are going to be a lot better off financially when we both quit. :-)

  9. My mother was addicted to cigarettes. She smoked for almost 60 years, probably while pregnant too. It didn’t affect her financially but our house always smelled like smoke. Yuk!

    • Oh my, 60 years of smoking. I can’t imagine how the body could handle that; I definitely don’t want to be a smoker for anything close to 60 years. I hate it when people smoke in the house, even though I smoke, it’s really nasty. I’ve always gone outside to smoke (even before we had a kid) because I don’t want our apartment to stink and have everything get all yellow.

  11. Funny thing about gambling is, it’s never enough for addicts. Sure you can win $20 on a 20 cent bet, but you need more. Soon enough, you’re losing $500 per trip, and hitting $300 is nothing.

    I’m like you, I play for the play. I LOVE bonuses (Star Wars? Yes please!!) and I actually enjoy cheering for other people when they get a good hit. You can go a little wild sometimes, and I do, but I try to remind myself: Everything in moderation.

    • Oh, I know what you’re saying…I don’t know why I would never leave after winning a few hundred bucks in one spin. It’s nuts.

      Haha, I love the Star Wars machine (and the Lord of the Rings one too), but I never win on it. I keep feeding it and feeding it and I never get anything good, not even a single bonus game. :-(

      Yeah, I try that whole moderation thing but it just doesn’t seem to work out for me. I think I have some kind of binge personality or whatever. Like with drinking, I only drink around 4 times a year. So when I do drink, I really drink. I get really friendly and just love everybody, sometimes I bump into things or hold up the wall—but I never get mean or into a bad mood or drive. Same with gambling, rarely do it but I go crazy when I do. I guess I’m just a crazy chick. :-)

    • At least a “travel addiction” can be life-enhancing. I can’t wait until we can afford to travel all over the place, it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. :-)

  13. I think tobacco addiction is another big one. I think it’s like $5/pack…and if you smoke a pack per day…might not make you bankrupt depending, but it can definitely hold you back from reachigni financial goals.

    • I couldn’t agree with you more, my honey and I both smoke about a pack a day. It’s a huge waste of money and that money could be better applied to other areas. It’ll be so much nicer to do the budget when we have that money available for other things. :-)

  15. What a wonderful article! Cant agree more with you as I have seen my elder sister going crazy over shopping. So much that she intends to shop everything that’s available in a mall itself. It has left us nowhere at the 1st place. So now I have advised her not to step into a mall at any cost and acquire a self control over such destructive addiction.

    • Thanks Tom. Avoiding tempting situations can sometimes be enough for some people, I hope your sister is doing better. :-)

  16. I’m fortunate that – despite having an addictive personality – I’ve never had problems with a financially crippling addiction. That said, I have, in the past, been addicted to *making* money. I’d take on any and all assignments, working 20 hours of overtime in a single week just to bring home the extra bacon. It took a toll on my personal life, so in a way, I did “pay the price.”

    • Twenty hours of overtime in a week must have been really exhausting. Our time is a steep price to pay.

  17. Addictions harm that person and everyone around them. YOu did not talk about detox centers and rehab places which are not cheap. Everyone loses when there is an addict involved. The only, and I mean only solution, is a 12 step program for the addict and Alanon for the people impacted from this insidious disease. Everyone involved has a real battle and everyone plays a part in this. Let’s be clear here in that without programs like AA and Alanon there is no hope or chance for recovery or quality of life.

  18. My biggest addiction is Starbucks and Yep, it’s a big waste of money. It’s not as harmful as smoking or drinking too much alcohol, but I just love my grande latte everyday and if I could quit this habit I could save more money each month.