Are you fed up of living from paycheck to paycheck because your weed habit is a financial drain? Do you struggle to find money for food or other essentials after you’ve bought your weed supply? Or maybe you want to save up for something special but just never seem to have any spare cash? Whatever your motivation, unless you plan to start growing your own marijuana, (never a good idea unless you fancy getting a record), or bumming smokes of mates (until they get fed up of you), quitting weed is a great way to make your bank balance healthier.

Get motivated

There’s no doubt that quitting weed is a kind of sacrifice. It may be something you enjoy, at least when the money worries aren’t spoiling the fun, and then there’s the possibility of side effects to deal with once you’ve stopped. There’s not much you can do to avoid either of those things, but you can make the transition easier by being aware of what you stand to gain, and creating a survival strategy to get you through the first couple of weeks.  Knowing that there are lots of rewards ahead is an incredible motivator, so let’s take a look at ideas to get you started.

Start by cutting down

Okay, some people prefer to just stop completely, but even if you get going by say buying half the amount of weed in a week that you normally would the effect of extra cash in your hand can be very motivating.

Be brutal about your budget

Be ruthlessly honest about where your money is going every month. If you don’t have a list of unavoidable expenses like rent, utilities, car costs, food and so on out that together now. Then add in what you spend on weed and other leisure pursuits. Be honest – fudging numbers ill only cheat yourself. Even if you are cutting back on essentials to smoke weed it’s really important that you can earmark some money to put aside, it doesn’t have to be the full amount you spent on weed.

Ask for help

If you have a completely trustworthy family member or friend you could ask them to help you manage your finances for a short time. That could range from giving you a daily allowance for necessities while they pay the bills, or even handing over your cash card to avoid temptation.

Set goals for the cash you save

One useful thing to do is save the cash you are not smoking in a glass jar. Add stickers to the outside with ideas on what you plan to spend it on to inspire you, and enjoy the feeling of satisfaction as it starts to fill up.

Change your lifestyle

If you usually hang out with other weed smokers you need to go AWOL for a while, so make the effort to do other things. Lookout for free events to keep costs low, or exercise outside rather than pay for gym membership.

At the end of the day, if you want to save money marijuana you’ll need to follow a clear cut path through a method that suits you best. You may be smoking pot because you started when you are younger or you could be smoking pot because you took it for marijuana maintenance instead of another drug, read more about why marijuana maintenance doesn’t work here. Either way, if you are able to quit pot, you’ll inadvertently save money on it. Simple.

Going to groups or local clubs or even trying an online course like quit weed, could hugely benefit your ability to stop smoking weed for good.