PeteD

Hello, my first post to this forum.

I currently drink about 5 liters of beer 4-5 nights a week, pretty excessive. Over the past 6 months I have thought about quitting pretty often, and I am able to make it 3 days tops before I go pick up some beer on a whim.

I am thinking of giving all my credit cards and bank card to my wife to remove my ability to purchase booze, and was wondering if anyone here has tried that simple method?

Please do not post how you managed to work around the lack of funds to get more booze, it will only give me ideas :-)

Steve58

Hi Pete, and Welcome!

You're not too crazy, nights I used to go out to the gym by myself, I would often make sure I didn't have enough cash to buy anything dangerous on the way home. Once home, I was OK.

So, if thats all it takes for you to cut back or cut out, the theme here is whatever works, work it!

Take Care,
Steve

PeteD

Thanks Steve, did that work out for you? or did you end up borrowing money from gym buddies to pay back the next day?

Thankfully, I am not in a position at work or otherwise that I am able to use that one, I probably would though.

brians

To me that is a hard call. I drank away my wives so not sure what to tell you other than it is great you want to do something about your drinking.
More should be along later. I am an AA meeting person. I find AA meetings work best for me. Try whatever works best for you so you do not drink away wife and family. Best of luck PeteD

gr8ful_ed

For how long? And what happens after that?

The question I had to answer was: Was drinking my problem, or was it a symptom of my problem?

CarolD

Hi and Welcome Pete!

I do hope you can find a way to live sober.
Sobriety Rocks!

PeteD

That is true. I was thinking of it as a way to sort of kickstart the quitting process, but not really a permanent solution.

leviathon

Hi Pete, I actually wasn't with anyone when i had to deal with that situation so I froze them all in a glass jar. For ultimate security, I made sure the jar had a metal lid so i could not microwave it to thaw it out. I then placed that jar inside a big plastic container and froze it all up tight.

Worked to control me against the urges, but the bottom line was I still had to work on my own self control and urge response. That meant surrendering to a HP and seeking assistance from others.

Peace, Levi

Steve58

Have to say, TOO FUNNY, Levi! Gives new meaning to "frozen assets"

If there were less liquor stores and longer lines, I'd be fine, cause I'm not one to wait in line very long for ANYTHING! It is so easy to find a drink.

Oh well, having a good week so far, even with all the stores around, I have NO time to get stupid this week.

Take care, all!
S

PeteD

Hah. I would probably just be destructive and break it all open with a hammer to get at my money. Surprisingly, not the first time I have heard of that method though!

I think you are correct and that outside assistance is probably the better way to go. I can picture myself handing the credit/debit cards over to my wife, and when I finaly feel I trust myself to have them back, go and ruin it all.

I think a combination of both might be the best way for me to start, which I have not done yet.

came2believe

These few lines from AA's Big Book popped into mind for some reason:

Assuming we are spiritually fit, we can do all sorts of things alcoholics are not supposed to do. People have said we must not go where liquor is served; we must not have it in our homes; we must shun friends who drink; we must avoid moving pictures which show drinking scenes; we must not go into bars; our friends must hide their bottles if we go to their houses; we mustn't think or be reminded about alcohol at all.

We meet these conditions every day. An alcoholic who cannot meet them, still has an alcoholic mind; there is something the matter with his spiritual status. His only chance for sobriety would be some place like the Greenland Ice Cap, and even there an Eskimo might turn up with a bottle of scotch and ruin everything! Ask any woman who has sent her husband to distant places on the theory he would escape the alcohol problem.

In our belief any scheme of combating alcoholism which proposes to shield the sick man from temptation is doomed to failure. If the alcoholic tries to shield himself he may succeed for a time, but usually winds up with a bigger explosion than ever. We have tried these methods. These attempts to do the impossible have always failed.

I, personally, did not begin to meet the alcohol problem until I got help for the alcohol problem. Now I can attend functions where alcohol is served, although I no longer keep it in my house.

I can relate to the desperation in the suggestion, however.

For this alcoholic, help came through AA where I finally heard (and read) "my language." you might check out The Big Book Chapter 3 More on Alcoholism for a discussion of the problem.

wwwDOTrecoveryDOTorg/aa/bigbook/ww/chapter_3DOThtml

Replace the DOTS with actual dots; I don't have enough posts to make a hotlink.

Welcome and good luck getting sober!

earlybird

The last thing you need is to find yourself screaming at your wife to give you your money or end up owing buddies money cuz you had to borrow it. You should never try any methods that you cant see yourself doing the rest of your life. This just seems like a form of denial to me. Like money has been the problem,...not you. You need to admit you have a drinking problem and deal with that,..not try schemes to "get around it". Thats what I did. I tried pouring pepsi or coke into beer bottles. I thought if I had the "feel" of a beer in my hand, I'd be ok. That lasted a few days or so,...then I was right back to the real stuff.

nivosa

Oh yes that is a good one for trying to cut back. Those days were actually kinda fun. I was still in control (right)......I'd give my cards and checkbook to my wife, and it actually worked! I wouldn't have my BV for the night.......heck it would even work for a few nights, but somewhere down the road I would either steal the checkbook back or ask for it back.........addiction is one tough cookie, it won't let you off the hook that easy. Of course that's just me, if it works for you then go for it, I had little self control.............take care, come back and let us know how it works.
Rick

GlassPrisoner

I used the same method (frozen water) to control my ex wifes spending. Also, we'd cash our checks, and put money in envelopes for each expense. The theory being when the money ran out, we quit spending.

We declared BK twice in 10 years.

Of course, that worked better than trying to control my drinking.......