She just doesn't get it

My 23 year old niece has been trying for the past couple of years to "get it together". She floundered at the local technical college trying to work through a graphic design degree but finally realized that school was not really her thing. She quit school and was holding 2 part time jobs last fall when she was laid off from her primary job. At the time, her and her boyfriend were struggling to make ends meet and were getting further and further behind in their bills. Their cable was shut off, they were hundreds of dollars behind in rent and finally the eviction notice came. So the family came to the rescue and loaned her some money to pay her back rent so they wouldn't get evicted. She was then able to get a full time job with good benefits and is now working toward paying her car payment on her own and will (hopefully) be getting health insurance through her job later this month.

Right now I am managing her money for her and ensuring that her basic bills are paid each month before she spends all her money. I have control of her debit card and bank account and she has to come to me for money. This is working well so far and she's getting caught up with everything and is paying rent on time. The problem is, whenever I do give her cash or she gets her hands on money, it flies out of her hands faster than I can say "pay me". She did some pet sitting over the holidays and the family gave her $200...I found out last night that she used part of that money to adopt 3 rats from the humane society and is now spending $60 on a cage for these nasty rodents. She already has 3 rabbits!!! Also, now that she works for a donation center for St. Vincent De Paul, she has access to cheap clothes that people are donating. She is constantly "shopping" at work which is causing her paychecks to be way lower than they should be. Her last paycheck on Friday was $150 lower than the first paycheck she got, all because she's been shopping her way through work.

I am so frustrated with her. I can talk until I'm blue in the face but she just doesn't get it. She and her boyfriend were days away from being evicted and out on their ear and now she's spending money like it's growing on trees. I'm just glad I decided against giving her the debit card last month. She would have spent all of her money.