Places you have found hidden alcohol

Old 05-18-2012, 07:57 AM
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Places you have found hidden alcohol

Air conditioner vent
Shoebox in closet
Toilet bowl tank
In the bbq grill
Tool box
washing machine and dryer (we had an extra set and he would actually put ice in the washer too)
cabinets
kids closets
car trunk
flower bed
recycling bin
trash can
woods behind the house
in the fish tank

When normies find that there is no ice in the freezer, they see if something is wrong with their icemaker. I had to look for the cooler. Bet you can add to my crazy list
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Old 05-18-2012, 03:38 PM
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Fun game.... Let's see...

Under the bathroom sink
In the backyard bushes
In the exterior garbage cans (personal favorite)
Guest bathroom shower
Guest bedroom closets
Above kitchen cabinets
Lol at toilet bowl tank... Though he was the only one
Under the bed
Under the couch
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Old 05-18-2012, 05:56 PM
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here are the most memorable finds:
  • inside fishing waders
  • behind the washing machine (What's that tink, tink sound when the machine starts the spin cycle?)
  • DS's closet behind the dresser (Why won't this thing sit back against the wall?)
  • under an oil rag in the garage (Ok, nope, I don't see that bottle at all... lol)
  • in the bottom kitchen cabinet inside the stock pot (Oh, that's why he was a bit ticked about me installing tot locks on the cabinets.)
  • in the couch, between the seat and back cushions
He'd hide his vodka in the BBQ grill too, perfect cooler in the winter time, I guess.

He'd keep one vodka bottle in the freezer to point to and say "See, I'm cutting back. That bottle's been in there for a month." "Why's it frozen solid?"

This is making me kind of sad.
*sigh* I no longer have the 'joy' of finding hidden bottles - or having a toddler DS finding them. That's a good thing.
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Old 05-18-2012, 06:31 PM
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I have also found them in most of the places mentioned.

From talking with friends and other alanon members, the BBQ grill and outside garbage cans are really popular.

Other places I have found them:

A stash of them hidden in a small carry-on suitcase in our closet.

Inside one of his winter boots next to the bed (it still had beer in it so it looked like it was being utilized as a cup (bottle) holder. I am guessing this way I wouldn't see it when I came to bed and if he hadn't finished it before passing out or he woudn't knock it over when he got up to pee.

Hidden under all the laundry at the bottom of the basket.

In plain sight. Put a bottle of wine in the refrigerator door, he swore he was only going to drink one glass and prove to me he could stop there. It was still there a few days later so I popped the cork and smelled it. Filled to the line where he left it..... with water.
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Old 05-22-2012, 10:07 PM
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Snowboard Boot
Under Clothes in Dresser
Behind Dresser
In Trunk of Car
In our computer desk
Golf Bag
Pretty much any nook and cranny in closet
Under Bed
Trash Can
TV Hutch
BBQ (In and Under)
Under Fire Pit Outside
Under our Landlord's Fourth Wheel

I'm sure there are more. I guess the thing is I only really find empty bottles. Or they have spilled everywhere. My house wreaks of beer. I also find beer soaked towels everywhere also. Lame. Does anyone else's spill alcohol everywhere? So Annoying!
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Old 05-23-2012, 03:27 AM
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Can I suggest you stop looking for hidden alcohol it serves no purpose. It just makes you feel bad and its not going to make him/her stop. It turns into a game where we (the addict) tries to find a place where you wont find it. Once my wife stoped playing these games I knew if I didnt straighten up it was over. I got sober not just because I didnt want to lose her but it did play a part
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Old 05-23-2012, 05:19 AM
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Any bottled water bottle in plain sight.

Vodka. You cant even tell unless you taste it.

HE used to just walk around with vodka in his water bottles. drinking in plain daylight, at family breakfasts, holiday parties. He would act like he was healthy and moderate, but would be drinking straight liquor.
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Old 05-23-2012, 05:43 AM
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As the alcoholic I almost never found alcohol hidden. Of course, that was because I never left anything in the bottle. Empties now, are an entirely different story. I imagine I will continue finding them for years. Everytime I do it disgusts me. It's a good reinforcement of why I quit and a great reminder of how I was.
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Old 05-23-2012, 06:06 AM
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I have found bottles under/behind furniture, under rags in the storage shed, under bushes and in plain sight in the garden. And once when we were on vacation, hidden in a potted plant outside our room in a hotel.

Originally Posted by tbeit View Post
Can I suggest you stop looking for hidden alcohol it serves no purpose.
tbeit, I agree with you on that. I quit looking long, long ago and am much better for it. Even so, I understand why folks want to share this kind of info. It's a way of knowing others are/have been where we are.
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Old 05-23-2012, 09:35 AM
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Originally Posted by tbeit View Post
Can I suggest you stop looking for hidden alcohol it serves no purpose. It just makes you feel bad and its not going to make him/her stop.
I agree with this and with Akalacha's post. The thing is, I stopped looking and I still found them. That made me feel just as bad.
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Old 05-23-2012, 06:08 PM
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Desk in our living room
Computer desk drawers
Cabinets in the basement
In a cooler, in the car
Bedside table drawers
Under the couch
Car trunk
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Old 05-23-2012, 07:32 PM
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call off the search party...but thanks for the laugh :)

Originally Posted by tbeit View Post
Can I suggest you stop looking for hidden alcohol it serves no purpose. It just makes you feel bad and its not going to make him/her stop. It turns into a game where we (the addict) tries to find a place where you wont find it. Once my wife stoped playing these games I knew if I didnt straighten up it was over. I got sober not just because I didnt want to lose her but it did play a part
Thank you for saying this... i was thinking it as i was reading the posts. I did appreciate a good chuckle at the comments, i'll admit it.
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Old 05-23-2012, 08:13 PM
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I found a bunch of empty vodka bottles in our basement cistern. It's an old farm house with an interesting history. Since some sound concerned about looking, no I wasn't looking...I was cleaning cob webs around the perimeter at the time. It required a 7 foot ladder for me (and for him to get in there [WOW]).
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Old 05-23-2012, 08:46 PM
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Can I suggest you stop looking for hidden alcohol it serves no purpose. It just makes you feel bad and its not going to make him/her stop.


Well now I see I mis-read, I thought we were sharing where we have found the empty cans/bottles.

I am guessing that like most everyone that has lived with an "A", I don't go looking for them but in the everyday living, cooking, cleaning In the same house I come across the empties he doesn't want to throw in the recycle where they would be obvious.

I wasn't sharing game strategy, only sharing the craziness I feel when I come across the stashed empties.
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Old 05-23-2012, 09:44 PM
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Originally Posted by XXXXXXXXXX View Post
When normies find that there is no ice in the freezer, they see if something is wrong with their icemaker. I had to look for the cooler.
I can so relate to that.

I talked to my counselor about my need to find 'evidence' of my husband's drinking. She said that it's also a 'reality check' that helps us, well, be able to face our reality. When I'm sitting here and doubting myself and the life change I've initiated (ending my marriage), sometimes it helps me to pull up that picture of the stashed bottles, the icemaker empty on a Saturday morning. It's my reality check and it helps to remind me of what the reality with my AH was really like.

And it's important to find the humor, dark as it is, in all this.
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Old 05-24-2012, 07:21 AM
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I have to admit that when things got crazy, I did go looking and some of it I just came across during a normal day.

the trunk of the car, stashed in a little cubby area so it was out of sight
the golf bag
desk drawers
shoe boxes
minis in the office supply stuff
filing cabinets
clothing trunks stored in the spare garage

I'm sure there were others, but I stopped looking at one point. I still know(if it's still there) where has some stashed even though he hasn't had a drink since his DUI in February.
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Old 05-24-2012, 08:29 AM
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Mostly XABF would hide them in his car.
The pockets behind the seats, underneath the front seats, down the side pockets in the doors, sometimes in the glove compartment, in the wheel well, floating around the back of his SUV, jammed in that space between the driver's seat and either the side of the car or the console in the middle, sometimes in that pocket in the middle where most people keep CDs and loose change... Also in his pockets of his pants when doing laundry.

I was looking for them, not to prove he was drinking (I already knew how much he was drinking, he'd proudly announce it to me every day before bed to brag about how much he was "cutting back" or blame me for "making him drink too much"), but because I'd rather they went into the recycling than the trash, and plus I didn't like driving around in a car full of empty whiskey bottle of all various sizes from the 2-shot miniatures to the big heavy glass pints. Sometimes he'd decide that he was "cleaning out the car" and insist I help - most of the trash that would be in the car was the whiskey bottles and the associated paper and plastic bags that go with them from the liquor store.

I remember squirreling away some of the plastic liquor store bags in places in the car to hide them from him because they're extra heavy duty and came in handy for when we were in the car and he started to throw up, at least I wouldn't have to clean that up, I could just whip out a bag and knot it off when he was done.
He'd insist on driving usually, and I am so grateful that nobody got hurt from his drunken swerving. (He would stay on the correct side of the road but he didn't seem to comprehend the idea of multiple lanes, and would tend to drive centered on the dotted lines when it wasn't a highway).
There were a lot of dings and dents in that car, and he'd get upset at all of them and blame it on other drivers or whatever inanimate object he hit, but the only car he ran into was his neighbor's antique corvette when he was trying to parallel park in front of it, so he never injured anybody.
If I had known the drunk driver hotline number at the time I'd have called it... I was afraid to call 9-1-1 for something like that, too, because I was sure they'd laugh at me and say it wasn't an emergency. That was me, always underestimating how bad things were, always afraid that I'd be laughed at if I dared to protest.


What a dark existence. I had forgotten all those feelings!
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Old 05-24-2012, 09:15 AM
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Originally Posted by Buffalo66 View Post
Any bottled water bottle in plain sight.

Vodka. You cant even tell unless you taste it.

HE used to just walk around with vodka in his water bottles. drinking in plain daylight, at family breakfasts, holiday parties. He would act like he was healthy and moderate, but would be drinking straight liquor.
This was my XAH as well... I also recently found out that he would show up at the spa (I'm friends with the owners who recently told me) for a massage or facial with his water bottle smelling like alcohol!

So glad my life no longer consists of constantly smelling water bottles
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Old 05-24-2012, 03:34 PM
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My stepdaughter's mother concealed her alcohol in soft drinks bottles so it would 'appear' she was only drinking coke. My stepdaughter revealed that on one occasion mums 'coke' bottle was on the side in the kitchen & her younger brother went over to it to have a drink. She said her mum flew across the room screaming 'that's MY coke, don't you dare touch it, ever', and says that in that moment she knew exactly what was going on. She had wondered for years why her mum always had 'coke', first thing in the morning, whilst out and about, and why her & her brother were never allowed it.

Her mum also hid bottles of spirits in a corner cupboard in the kitchen. The recycling bin was always full of cans, but they were never hers of course.
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Old 05-24-2012, 08:49 PM
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Car trunk - which never made sense to me until recently when I realized oh, he has a problem.
Under the car seat
Luggage

And today he came home with a mini-four pack of wine (what he does when he tries to cut back) and one was already gone when he walked in the door. Gone as in not in the bag - he drank it on the way home.
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