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Money issues testing sobriety

Old 11-15-2016, 06:11 AM
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Money issues testing sobriety

I am newly sober and it seems like everything is crashing down.

Our health insurance hiked $400 a month starting January, we have debt that we have been slowly paying off, and it seems like everything gets more expensive everyday!!!

I am a stay at home Mom to 2 kids. I have looked at the finances and it doesn't make sense to go back to work --would break even on daycare.

I am in need of making money from home or cutting costs drastically on stuff around the house.

I am looking for online work suggestions and household cost saving suggestions.

Our financial situation is wreaking havoc on my sobriety. I haven't drank and that's good BUT I need to start working on solving the issue and that's where I feel stuck (and then want to drink).

Looking for suggestions/tips so I can start working towards fixing the issue.

Many thanks.
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Old 11-15-2016, 06:40 AM
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Originally Posted by Suzieq17 View Post
Looking for suggestions/tips so I can start working towards fixing the issue.
Alcohol is a needless expense. Start there. Sobriety is cheaper than alcoholism.

Second, your addiction will do everything in its power to make a bad situation worse. Solution--drink. Drinking has been your coping mechanism. Time to learn to cope with the hardship of life.

Finding a source of income seem paramount. Is part time work in the evening an option?

I am sorry you are going through this. Financial worry sickens me. But it can't undo my recovery. Do what you can to get through the weeks ahead sober, and while sober work on extricating yourself from your present situation.

Good luck.
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Old 11-15-2016, 07:18 AM
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I'm sorry about the money issues affecting you and your family. I'm sure it's very stressful. Have you thought of looking after other children in your home to help out with expenses? If you google 'Minimalism' you will find lots of information on living well with less.
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Old 11-15-2016, 09:26 AM
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I think that's the biggest motivation right there and buying booze would take a huge chunk out of the alright tight funds, let alone you have kids to take care of.
Financial struggles can be rough, but with some looking and hard work I'm sure you can get things on track.
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Old 11-15-2016, 10:32 AM
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drinking won't solve a thing and will just add more expense. nothing is TESTING your sobriety....your addict mind is just looking for any half-@ssed reasonable sounding EXCUSE to drink. so re-commit to not drinking, ever, for any reason, no matter what and then get on with things.

there are lots of good resources out there for budgeting - Dave Ramsey is a good source - and you'll be amazed if you google Frugal Living or Living Simply.....

Write down every expense you have and then go over them with a fine tooth comb......what can be reduced (cable, phone plans, etc), where can changes reduce cost (electricity, water) and what can be eliminated (magazines, paper delivery, eating out, needless clothes shopping). start planning grocery shopping ahead of time.....plan a week's worth of menus, and then shop ONCE for that week (outside of the forgotten lemon or toilet paper!!). build a pantry, buy in bulk, invest in a vacuum sealer/food storage device. find the cheapest gas station. check out the dollar store.

i could go on........but you get the idea!!
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Old 11-15-2016, 11:10 AM
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The comments above have some very useful ideas.

One thing I have been doing to aid my recovery is every day I am tempted to drink, I have written down the date and how much I have saved best case and worst case scenario in a notebook. (I.E best case of drinking I will have saved £6 because I fancied a bottle of wine, worst case of drinking I have saved £18 because I may have ended up having 3 bottles of wine)

It doesn't help your long term issue but it may assist in keeping you away from the temptation of drinking when you see how much it could impact you money wise.

I wish you all the best
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Old 11-15-2016, 02:04 PM
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Smile

I can relate. I have only been sober for 48 days now and am behind on my mortgage, truck payment, and all my utilities. To add fuel to the fire my water heater just went out.

It has been stressful to say the least. However, when I look at the situation I can see where drinking played it's part in my current financial predicament. I missed a few days of work here and a few days there due to calling in sick. I spent a lot of money on alcohol and if I had all that dough back and lost wages, man my head would be above water.

I do not know if drinking contributed to your current state of finances, but like folks here are saying, you are saving money by staying sober and choosing not to drink!

I for one and staying on the sober bus. I hope you will too. I can honestly say that in other ways(relations with my immediate family, work performance, sleep, health), it has truly gotten better. Wishing you well.
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Old 11-17-2016, 12:19 AM
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Great thread! Please don't cave and drink; it will not help! Back when I drank I was spending around $650 per month on wine! How on Earth did I ever afford that? I can feel your pain, money can be a big worry. The idea of offering babysitting/daycare might be a good one if you're good with kids. My sister does medical billing P/T from home, just ten hours a week to supplement her day job. I don't know much about working from home but maybe someone will have suggestions.

To me the first step was figuring all my expenses. I set up a spreadsheet in Excel to track where my money goes. Once you know that you can set a budget. Obviously that doesn't bring in more money but it helps to track spending closely. Sometimes you can reduce utilities by setting up average billing. Maybe you can save a few bucks by trimming back cable TV a bit (if you have cable). Lots of folks save a ton of money by clipping coupons to lower the grocery bills.
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Old 11-17-2016, 05:42 AM
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everything isn't crashing down- its been crashing down, but now sober youre seeing it.think about how much ya spent in alcohol a month.
that wont be spent on alcohol any more and can go into tcob

yup, ya have some things to get straightened out and youre going to put in the footwork to do that. if you and your family lay down in bed tonight after a good dinner and youre sober, it was a good day.
tomorrows today will take care of itself when it gets here.
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Old 11-17-2016, 06:11 AM
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I'm not sure I can post links directly here, but if you Google "Budgets are Sexy", "America Saves", and "Get Rich Slowly" you will find lots of useful money tips.

Good Luck!
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Old 11-17-2016, 06:16 AM
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I was thinking about this yesterday on my walk. I'm unemployed right now (lost a great paying job on my last binge 3 weeks ago, amongst other things) - and in debt thanks to wine, smokes, cabs and hotels. thousands I have lost.
So, obviously on a very tight budget right now...I actually was debating spending $3 on a coffee while out on my walk!!! THREE DOLLARS.
Now why would I even question that when I felt no ways about missing work ($$$ lost) and shacking up in seedy motels (to hide my drinking), cab fare, smokes and wine...all equaling a lot more than a piddly $3 for a coffee.
Baffling.
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