FrancoSarto

I'm on day 11, and doing pretty well. Huge triggers over the past couple of days, but with my husband's support and the grace of God, I got through it.

Today is garbage day. I know that there are empty vodka bottles strewn around the house. I'm ashamed to admit...there is a garbage bag full of empty beer cans up in the attic where I hid it a couple of months ago after I switched to vodka.

I'm going to tell my husband I am "empty hunting", and will be putting a large garbage bag in the trash. I'm also going to tell him I don't want to belabor the point. It's done, they're here to be found, I tossing them. I am 99.9% sure that ALL are empty, so I don't expect to find anything to drink.

Please keep me in your thoughts as I do this. It will be an outward gesture of my inward commitment to sobriety.

Anna

Oh yes, I remember going through that. It is really a cold slap of reality to put out the empties when you are sober. And, good for you for telling your husband that this is it, now let it go. There is no need to punish yourself more.

bananagrrrl

You will be in my thoughts. It will be a huge relief for you to get them out of the house.

I found empty miniature wine bottles in clothing drawers after 2 months of sobriety!

Rev

Take them to the recycler. Might as well get some financial return for all your trouble.

Rev

dkayvins125

Any chance your husband can do it for or be with you when you start the empty hunting?
Just thinking of ways you may not even have to touch the empty's.
Hope everything goes well. I would not want to find that .01 that is not empty that's all.
Dean

FrancoSarto

Well, I just finished. I'm pretty sure I've remembered all the places I hid stuff. Everything was empty.

My weirdest place? I would crush empty beer cans, then toss them up on top of our cupboards in the kitchen. The top is recessed, so there was one spot where many empties would fit. I probably took 30 empty flattened cans down from there.

There is a huge garbage bag in my kitchen as I type this as I run through the various areas in the house that could still contain anything.

I was disgusted by it, not tempted in the least. How stupid can one grown woman be? (don't answer that)

scoob

I had to do that and actually found it very freeing to know everything was gone. Even when my dh went to give away the two 40's someone had given us and I had to tell him to just pour out the white rum, it was mostly water.

smacked

I did exactly that.. and it felt GREAT to start clean, literally.

FrancoSarto

Thanks everyone. I just made a quick run to K-Mart, got the hangers, laundry basket, and wicker hamper I was after, and then got out of there. I didn't even go near the drink isle.

HumbleBee

Even when I was drinking, I was still 'green' - would put the empties out for the recycle guys - one day one of guys commented 'there must've been quite a party here' - not so much - it was just me.

Good for you for putting distance between you and temptation at Kmart. In time, it'll get easier.

Congrats on your [literally] clean beginning!

Hevyn

Good job, Franco. The relief of having it all out in the open helps to heal us. I hated the way I was so sneaky & secretive about it in the end - all the anxiety I caused myself - so needless.

I can't believe I could polish off a 30 pack all by myself in a day. (Started early, though.) I had a bureau drawer I cleaned out just for stashing my cans. I also switched over to vodka when the beer wasn't doing the job anymore - and found bottles in our bathroom vanity. I swear I don't remember ever having them in the bathroom. I can never live that way again.

Rev

OT, but I really like the new avatar, HumbleBee.

Rev

Dee74

I used to put my empties out every week too - anything to get the damn things out of the house.

I still sometimes tense at the sound of the garbage men making their way up my street...still subliminally waiting for the crash and the shame of many many glass bottles....

I'm glad you did that Franco
D

Kmber2010

Job well done! I remember feeling mortified when we went to recycling which was about once a week and I had a huge black trash bag filled with OMG like 15 wine bottles...some were the big magnum ones. Or putting cardboard out and having hubby crush up the many 5 liter boxes of wine. It was a reality check and the worst is hiding them because someone comes over.

Don't we all love having none of those dreaded empty bottles, bags whatever it may be around.

Hevyn

Yes, and to think it was a way of life for us. I don't remember being particularly ashamed at the time - it was all justified in my sick mind.

topspin

Good Job Franco Sarto,

It felt so good to get all the empties out of my house too !

When I went out to my shop a few weeks ago, I had kept enough empty beer bottles on purpose to fill several trashcans. Several years ago ( before I collected liquor bottles ) I had ( dreamed up :wtf2 ?? ) what I thought was an important use for those bottles. LOL


I needed to pour some concrete walkways around the shop, so I ended up forming it deeper than standard ( for extra strength , of course ! Lo ) and arranging the bottles like soldiers 4" from the border; bottlenecks facing in, creating a hundred little concrete roman arches and footings galore underneath the walkway! When I think of it now, I wonder what my clients must have been thinking; ... seeing all those damn bottles .
OMG .....this fella has LOST IT !! LOL

FrancoSarto

Day 12. The garbage men came and took the trash early this morning. What a great feeling!