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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at CMU chapter.

Most people understand that college is a time to broke aka going to anything with free food just so you do not have to pay. This is the idea that comes from the phrase: I’m a poor college student. I however, do not seem to understand this phrase considering I keep spending money that I should be saving. As a lover of fashion, I am constantly window shopping on different clothing websites debating as to whether or not I should buy something, and if my mom is going to kill me for spending frivolously. I know I have a problem, but as they always say the first step is admitting that you have a problem. So here it goes: I am a shopaholic, and I think I need help. I needed help the minute I had my debit card digits memorized, but I am only realizing this now after hundreds of dollars have been spent on clothing (really, really cute clothing).

With the industry of fast fashion being a huge influence on the consumer, it is really hard to not be tempted to buy the latest styles. Some clothing websites will update their websites with new products almost everyday, and I happen to fall victim to these new insanely stylish pieces. For example, I love Lulu’s which is a huge online clothing store and every time I am looking through Lulu’s website I create shopping carts worth thousands and thousands of dollars, but of course I never buy anything which is super depressing. Usually in these shopping carts, I will narrow down the cart to a reasonable spending amount and then contemplate which clothing pieces I will love forever. This of course is hard because of course I am going to love all twenty different pairs of Louboutins forever. To me, I look at clothing as an investment because I am in the process of starting a fashion blog, plus I would like to work for Vogue one day. (Dream job alert).

However, I do understand that college is a time to be saving money for a time when I really need it, I have found that shopping and spending money is like a drug to me, so I must figure out a way to combat this shopping addiction. Do I know what I am going to do about this? No, but I am deciding to cut myself off from spending money on clothing each week. I am hoping that this slow process will eventually lead me into a savvy saver and a recovered shopaholic. Ladies, if you can relate I recommend finding people who will not indulge your shopping desires and together we will be able to survive rehab for shopaholics.

My advice: Avoid the streets that have your favorite stores, and at all costs avoid online shopping websites.

            

Lauren Kelly is a freshman at Carnegie Mellon University with the plan of studying creative and professional writing. In tenth grade, Lauren published her first novel through the Young Writer's Program in her creative writing class. As a senior in high school, Lauren was a staff writer on her school's newspaper.