Hidden among the crowd of shoppers are people who can’t stop themselves — even if they wanted to. You hear the term shopaholic used all the time on reality shows where men and women drop thousands of dollars on one item to keep up with what’s trending. Sound familiar? While this behavior may be funny or entertaining to watch, it’s no joke: Shopaholics suffer from a compulsive disorder that results in major debt.

Especially teenagers who are just now getting a job. Once payday comes, you have all this money—even if it is just two weeks worth of minimum wage—and what do you spend it all on? Food, new sneakers, new outfit, more food, etc. Then all of the sudden, your gas light comes on, and you have no money left to put in the gas tank.

How do we stop this trend? How do we purge the urge to splurge? Well you’re out of money and gas until next paycheck, so get used to walking again. In the meantime, think about why you spent all that money on the things you did. Why did you buy those new kicks and cologne, all while eating a quarter-pounder? Because you can. Because you had the money.

You have all this newfound money that you have absolutely no responsibility for. Might as well start pulling out student loans now because you know that all you’re college money is going to the strip-clubs, weed, and McDonalds.

Or, instead, you can start putting money into that fuzzy-pink piggybank of yours that will eventually get smashed to pieces for that new 2015 Hyundai Sonata with tinted windows and a bass so dope that it’ll make you go dumb 0 to 100 real quick.

Saving is hard. Probably one of the hardest things you’ll ever learn to do. You need goals to save towards. College, a house, a car, even to open a new restaurant. For some stupid reason, money is power in this twisted world. So in order to be recognized and respected, you have to have money, and you have to have the latest trends.

Why? I have no idea. But this is why we have such great debt. Not only our own personal debt, but Americas double digit trillion dollars in debt. We want what we don’t have. We make deals and promise to pay others back just so we can have the newest and coolest item. We never pay back. We never get enough. We never have enough. So on and so forth.

Splurging every once in a while is perfectly fine, but spending your whole paycheck on something that will be out of style in two years—not okay. Food is great and all, but remember where all that food is going… And unless you have a gym membership, I’d think twice about that second burger and extra-large fountain drink from Burger King.