Strange situation don't know how to tackle this

[FLA]

I also recommend the book Financial Planning for Dummies to all college students. It's a quick read that covers everything up to investing in your first 401k. It might help you avoid some future pitfalls.

At first I wasn't sure, but I think I agree with the person who said you should put college on hold and work as many jobs as it takes to pay off your debt. I assume you are paying for school and that's more debt to take on right now. Get your affairs in order first. Of course, if someone else is funding your school then don't drop out.

I'm curious- have you had a really crappy entry level job yet? Those jobs were enough to make my kids learn really quickly the value of a dollar and the value of their education. They wouldn't gamble for nothing.

[disneysteve]

I'm in between jobs and looking for work atm.

How long have you been out of work? I don't know where you are geographically but in a college town or metropolitan area, if you've been unemployed for more than a couple of weeks, you probably aren't trying hard enough.

[FLA]

My son finished a shift at his really crappy job Monday and quit (not what I would've done but kids...) and promptly walked into his next crappy job by the end of the day. $12/hr jobs are a dime a dozen in a college town.

[disneysteve]

$12/hr jobs are a dime a dozen in a college town.

Especially this time of year when school is out and a lot of students have gone home. Businesses are usually dying to hire people over the summer because they lose a lot of their workforce. This is the ideal time to be looking for work.

[Slot101]

I also recommend the book Financial Planning for Dummies to all college students. It's a quick read that covers everything up to investing in your first 401k. It might help you avoid some future pitfalls.

At first I wasn't sure, but I think I agree with the person who said you should put college on hold and work as many jobs as it takes to pay off your debt. I assume you are paying for school and that's more debt to take on right now. Get your affairs in order first. Of course, if someone else is funding your school then don't drop out.

I'm curious- have you had a really crappy entry level job yet? Those jobs were enough to make my kids learn really quickly the value of a dollar and the value of their education. They wouldn't gamble for nothing.

I've worked awful jobs from door to door cold calling to dollar store with the worst customers you'll ever meet. I'm just seriously addicted to something.

How long have you been out of work? I don't know where you are geographically but in a college town or metropolitan area, if you've been unemployed for more than a couple of weeks, you probably aren't trying hard enough.

Where I live unemployment is very high. I actually stopped work to focus on school and the last couple days I went to a dozen different places handing my resume in in person, so hopefully that helps.

My son finished a shift at his really crappy job Monday and quit (not what I would've done but kids...) and promptly walked into his next crappy job by the end of the day. $12/hr jobs are a dime a dozen in a college town.

Not here. Anything higher than minimum wage (Canada) is harder to get.

[Slot101]

For the record, minimum wage here is equivalent to about 8 dollars USD. But of course my debt is all in Canadian dollars. 10.70 an hour.

[Thrif-t]

Slot101 what year are you in school? When will you graduate and able to put your degree to work soon?

My DH had a couple of buddies who gambled in college and got in big trouble with loan sharks coming after them. I'm not sure how much they were in for but I know it was paid off and luckily they learned their lesson and stopped gambling, scared straight if you will.

Unfortunately, I don't have any different advice than what has been already posted. You just need to work, work, work to get this paid off and get whatever help you need to get over this addiction.

I wish you luck.

[Randomsaver]

I used to be a gambling addict. It's one of my 2 addictions actually. I really wanted to stop it but just couldn't.

I rationalized it and saw that if I play very small amounts, even if I lose, it would not be so bad. Hence, my solution!

So I played very small amounts on online sports betting, anywhere from 50 cents to a dollar, about 5 bets a day. So my total loss on a bad day will max at $5. Well that was better than when I used to play $100 a bet.

But here is what happened. Since I was playing for small amounts, gradually it became immaterial whether I win big or lose big (e.g., $5). Eventually, it became just a waste of my time and I stopped.

I didn't know it then but I was able to cure my gambling addiction. It was 2-step process : 1) switch to small amounts, but still get that action addiction going, which is what was difficult to stop and 2) realization that with the small amounts, it's just a waste of time.

The 3rd step of course was to get here on savingadvice.com and be able to focus on paying off my debts. I started here with credit card debts, car loan and mortgage.