For me, it's the lotto - specifically scratchers. A few years back, my mother won $20,000 on a $3 scratcher. Ever since, I have been hooked. Previous to this event, I NEVER bought them and used to tease her when she brought some home. Now, I am pretty sure I am worse than her. The most I have ever won is $300. This is my favorite one . . .
Junk foods. They are truly nutrition-less. They are junks. They don't give anything beneficial at all except energy. And instead the chemicals involved in producing them are damaging for the body. So, it's not healthy in any way to have them eaten. But they are so delicious and I just can't stop myself from eating them. I couldn't imagine how my life would be without them. Somehow they make me elated. But I know that this is just all psychological and in any way doesn't really do better to me. So, money is wasted on them since there are also other ways in which I can spend my money that I could have pleasure from and at the same be beneficial to me.
I also do some small-time gambling from time to time. Betting mostly. I've lost a lot but recently I learned about matched betting. That is you place bets on two different sites for or against an outcome. I've heard that if you lose on one side you'll win on the other but I haven't yet tried that so I wouldn't call myself an expert on matched betting. I'll try it once or twice and if I lose my money I might stop betting altogether.
And that's how people get sucked in. You've probably spent more on those scratchers than what you have actually won overall. But the allure of your mom winning $20k is overwhelming and tempting, I'm sure.
My indulgence is the chai latte. My favorite is from Coffee Tea Leaf and Bean, but Starbuck's is good too. I can make a chai latte much cheaper at home, but I like the experience of drinking it in a coffee or tea shop.
I have a tendency to collect cheap, 2nd hand old model cellphones just for the sake of collecting them, and I know I shouldn't really need to spend money on those things but I still do. In Ebay, I can't resist searching for auctions hoping that I would get a bargain. I also browse buy and sell sites.
