Houndheart

Thanks for telling me of your daughter, Sadie. That is very sweet to hear. Give her a hug.

CarolD

TakeAStepBack...Hi again....

Glad to see you posting on our Newcomers Forum

CarolD

Hi Everyone.....

I quit drinking when I lived in Washington D.C.
Lot's of bars/restaurants and clubs..plus many liquor stores deliver.

And.....many AA meetings that helped me recover...

Driving was not a factor in either
my drinking or how I stopped.

Yes! you too can win over alcohol!

Toronto68

Houndheart, I can't be the one to judge how much time to take on the sorting. It depends on what your needs and priorities are. Example, if you want to be able to have someone over, need to move around to be sane. Whatever the case may be. You know that, just like you knew you needed to be in here. If it takes time, then do what you know will work.

I have had tears too. You're not alone.

Fandy

bump..for Joseph1...here you go!

fitness68

I thought I was the only one who did the rotation. Yes ....I guess you don't want anyone to know how many bottles of wine you drink per week. I'm only on 2 days of no drinking....I drank about 4 times a week....a bottle a night and maybe more. I don't have to worry about my rotation anymore

angharad

Same lol ...Supermarket on the way home from work, local village shop only a half bottle of vodka twice a week so not to be suspicious..until the little indian kid said once to me "you drink a lot of vodka!" i thought omg if he thinks that about me coming in twice a week for a half bottle he would hate to see my weekly empties!!
With the recycling thing I used to hide the empty bottles in the freezer in the garage as other half never went in there lol then once he left for work I would bag them, boot of my car, go to work and then take them to the local supermarket recycle bin!!
Cunning aren't we......or thought we were....I bet we were more transparent than we thought....

Also @ Neo...what you posted then was ME to a tee in university!!

LKKPA

Great post and I too can relate!! I not only switched around the liquor stores but would drive to different towns that were sometimes an hour away and stock up so as not to frequent the local stores too often. Am soooo glad I am done with all of that. I love the time, not to mention the money, I have saved over the last 4 months. The only thing I have lost is 11 #!! teehee....

Texasblind

Not only did I switch up liquor stores, I also became an expert hooch maker. I'd make my own by the gallon so I'd have a stash if I got too embarrassed to go to the store.

It's funny, when I walk to the convenience store on the weekends, now all I buy is a breakfast burrito. I'm sure the clerks are wondering what came over me.

Fandy

my recycle can now only has catfood cans and food containers in it...I no longer need the 30 gallon giant container with wheels...and i used to fill that bin every 2 weeks......now it doesn't even need emptying this week....it is barely i/3 full even with detergent bottles!

Today is Sober Day #29......at least 15 3 liter bottles less in my recycling....I'm sure the liquor store clerks miss me and have had to lower their ordering inventory of my cabernet......

I still wave to them when I walk by on the way to the grocery next door...

Houndheart

Yesterday my mailman saw that my recycle bin was full of empty plastic milk containers instead of 1.5 liter wine bottles, and asked me if I had given up wine for Lent. (he is sober 15 years)...and I said, "NO"...and he said that he was just thinking....since it was all Milk bottles....that maybe.....and I said, "No, I gave it up period." And he smiled. It was cool. Everyday this man saw piles of wine bottles in that recycle bin for years and years.....
I felt happy/proud that this bin no longer had all of those wine bottle in it. (and it's a lot lighter to put out by the curb now too!)

Toronto68

Houndheart, that must have been a really cool moment for both of you.

Fortlow

That's so funny...well not really, but funny in that I know what you mean. I used to try to switch up the stores I went to. Eventually I stopped caring--and realized the guys there never cared--as I needed to get drunk and either they had exactly what I wanted and/or it was the closest to my house. It's great to be able to not have to go anywhere and feel ashamed because of my drinking.

EliotRosewater

Of course I rotated, too. There's a liquor store very close to my apartment that I'd try to only go to after work at the office - when I was dressed nicely. "He looks like he's a fine, upstanding young man," is the response I hoped to elicit from the clerk. ...

LovesToTravel

Sometimes when I went to the really close party store (I only went when an emergency like snowing too much for driving farther) I would act like I was stupid or something not knowing what I wanted. What a joke. It is good not to forget all the stupid stuff that we had to do (or thought we had to do) in order to appear normal.
Happy Safe and Sober St. Patricks Day!

ghal

I did the same thing. I had about 5 places I would buy my booze and made sure not to show up on back to back nights ever. What a crazy life! Glad that's behind me, at least for the last 24 hours

BlueBlaze

Liquor store rotation.....understand totally. I have about 4 myself. 2 back up areas. How freaking insane is that?

Thanks guys. I felt like I was the only one.

As I begin the baby steps into true recovery, seeing this makes me feel that there is hope. I am not alone in this struggle.

Thank you.

EliotRosewater

If I understand what you may be saying, I did the same thing. If I bought (buy...) Ketel One instead of the cheap stuff it was as if I saved a little face by appearing to be a "discriminating" drinker; where-as, if I were to buy the cheap, huge bottle, the message would be, "I'm drinking to get drunk."

I also used to sometimes mention to the/in front of the / clerk how my roommates are "happy to party but I somehow always get conned by them into being the one stuck doing the legwork of running to the liquor store to buy alcohol that we 'all' drink."

I lived alone.

Yours in liquor store rotation and still living alone,
Eliot

Toronto68

Eliot, I had that excuse stored in my head in case I got cornered with the question by the staff at the store. I was sad at the same time with the "Yeah, right" feeling. I stopped thinking it during the last year or two, I think, and it seemed like I was less defensive and that I detected less reason to BE defensive (ie, no curiosity or judgment on their faces). Not sure why. There were others a few years back that gave me a judging vibe. Anyway, "Bye" to all that for now! Wonder if they miss me. A couple of kids must have had to scale back to part-time in college because of my quitting by now, ha ha.

next30

Never had an issue with what the store thought, I'd buy at 2 locations for myself an my drinkin buddy. I'd pick up the stuff since I think he didnt want to be seen over an over at the liquor store. The discount place we'd buy a case at atime of vodka. Then if I went to the small local place I'd complain about how expensive he was. LOL usually got a few free items if I bought enough that week. Now one day we were around when the recyclers picked up and all we heard when they came to get the bin was OMG WTF, think we should of got the drift then.
My friend has been sober almost 6 years and I am starting my journey today is day 11.

The lighter side is fun to remember but I've done that its time for a new book!