gettingsmarter

Every day for me. As long as I didn't buy more than a 750 a day I didn't have a problem.

emme99

I purchased alcohol every day as well. Only what I needed for that day because if I bought more I would end up drinking it. I went to cheaper stores like Walmart, Fareway, etc and would alternate where I went so I didn't constantly run into the same people. That is one thing I don't miss.

Coldfusion

Maybe you should try AA, or something?

Many of us went to great lengths to support or try to control our drinking. I could never "stock up" on booze because I would just drink it all. Recovery wasn't easy either--I had to check myself into detox then do ninety AA meetings in ninety days. It makes sense to go to great lengths for recovery, because my life depends on it.

SweetBaby

I bought a big bottle of wine a day. Had days where I would drink 2. I too would rotate stores. Sometimes I would just buy a box. Ahh its great that I can finally admit that. I was closet drinker. I am trying to get real with myself.

alphaomega

My husband kept me stocked.

Because I stopped driving because of panic attacks. How's that for codependency ? :/

Serenidad

Would you believe I have never purchased alcohol from a liquor store? I literally just realized that. I would buy a 6-pack at a mini mart and drink it on the way to a bar. I would then drink huge amounts of alcohol for several hours at the bar and go home (often drive drunk). I did that 2-3 evenings per week. I am a binge drinking alcoholic. Very dangerous! What a horrible way to live. :-(

Justincredible

This reminds me of my pharmacy experience. I used to get my OTC codeine from rotating pharmacies, it was always at the pharmacists discretion, and sometimes they refused, other times they knew I was addicted and saw me strictly as business, all the time it was embarrassing, and anxiety provoking! Good gosh all the time wasted on trying to appear normal! Glad those days are behind me.

Austin4Wyo

Did the daily purchase for a while. When I lived in Laramie, WY, it was easy enough to rotate stores. I'd drive across town on Sunday and Monday to Albertson's, which had the best selection, hit up Safeway, which was walking distance, during the week when I'd buy my cheap groceries, and Thursday through Saturday/Sunday, I'd buy package on my way out of the bar (many watering holes have their own liquor store in Wyoming).

I was making reasonable money, around three times what my cost of living was (rent, utilities, transportation, etc), but all the extra was budgeted for my drinking. Toward the end of a pay period, I typically curtailed going out to the bars because package was cheaper.

I don't miss that. There's nothing redeeming in looking at your bank statement and seeing 30-40 purchases on package liquor alone. There's nothing awesome about passing out drunk, and coming to in a panic because I almost slept till the liquor stores closed and I have to rush to stock up until tomorrow. There's nothing enjoyable about being too drunk to go to the store that night but knowing I don't have enough to continue my drunk at the level.of inebriation I desire, or getting around that by taking 8 Benadryl and drinking more to literally knock me out enough to be unconscious until the stores opened the next day.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Sober Recovery

CaseyW

Like most here, I usually just bought enough to get me through the day. Though if I was really broke, those 5L cheap box wines would usually last me close to three days. I didn't really rotate stores though and never noticed that I got recognized for my drinking at my regular grocery or liquor stores.

Though from being in the bar/restaurant industry myself for many many years, I am a crazily extravagant tipper so when I was a bar fly I very seldom went in a new bar more than a couple of times before the bartenders already remembered my face and had my choice of drink poured before I even had my bottom firmly planted on the bar stool. That would kind of embarrass me but it also made me feel like I belonged there at the same time.

Austin4Wyo

The best part for me was the cute cashier at the Safeway liquor store. She sees me.several times a week, so in my drunken idiocy, I'm trying to find a way to be smooth and pull a number. Because spending 2/3 of my income on being a daily drinker is something she couldn't deduce by me being there all the time...

"Hey, there, sweet thang. What say you and me get together and I can be the reason you need therapy?"

Sent from my ADR6300 using Sober Recovery

Girlie928

I rotated stores and purchased a fifth of JD almost every day. I paid with my debit card. I dreaded having to sign for my purchase because my hands were shaking so badly. Glad that's over.

rachelle77

Oh yeah, I was pretty much an everyday buyer at the liquor store. Something in me knew that if I had a weeks worth of alcohol in the house at one time that I'd definitely drink it all in one sitting. And yet, at the same time, if I just went ahead and bought a weeks supply of alcohol, then I'd be "almost" an alcoholic! I could trick myself for years to not see my alcoholism, yet I couldn't see my way past this faulty logic.

FreeOwl

Yes.... Multiple different stores in a varying pattern to avoid 'detection' - in retrospect I'm certain all those store folks knew exactly what was up.

ChloeRose63

My problem was finding a garbage can to dump the bottles! I thought I was fooling everyone but, they all knew I was placing my empty bottles and can in their garbage all the tme. That's when I knew I had to stop. I was truly ashamed and embarrassed by my behavior. The trust was broken and all my lies uncovered. When they said I should drink openly I said I can't because I was so use to hiding my abuse. Thankfully, I have quit and come clean. Still it hurts to think about what I was doing. Buying every other day switching stores, sometimes a box for the weekends or a bottle for the night and next morning. Then beer if I didn't want to eat that day. Beer was food. Can't forget to distroy the receipts as evidence. That made it hard to keep track of my spending. What a nightmare I was living!!

TroyW

Daily for me, but mainly because I'd always rotate my stores. I don't want to be seen as the drunk buying 5x 1L bottles of whiskey at one time, type of thing. So just buy one, then the next day hit the next store to buy another, and round the merry-go-round we go.

If you can get a good 6 stores going in your rotation, then you believe there's a chance it will seem as though you're not an alcoholic. Unfortunately, they all do catch on. We're not quite as clever as we think we are.

sva777

I have to agree about empties, I was always wondering what my recycling people thought when they would empty my bin full of bottles and cans. Sometimes I would hide some in with the garbage or toss some in the dumpster at the building across the street.

ChloeRose63

One time my boyfriend was tired of my lying and he marked a paper bag and I used it to dump my beer cans in a neighbor's garbage. He asked if they were mine and I said "No, there are other people that dring beer, ya know..." But, I was caught because the garbage bag was marked. All trust was gone in one second. My heart broke. I had to change. I was so upset with my lies and my addiction. That was the final straw...I still think of that sunken feeling when I am tempted. It makes me sick.

zjw

in my state the liquor stores or state stores as we call em got like banker hours i'd be driven all over the place trying to get to one that was still open. some towns they might be open on these days another town those days. Part of this was convienant as I didnt want to see the same cashier too often anyhow but it was a hike driven all over.

But most of my drinking was beer just about every day to every other day I was back out for another case of beer. I always fantasized about stocking up ya know get a pallet of it or osmeting so i dont have to go nowhere. But I also figured this would just lead to me not leaving thehouse and never sobering up enough to drive anywhere. and Yeah I also had it in my head that well maybe in a day or 2 I wont feel like drinking or something so why buy so much? (like i woldnt feel like drinking LMFAO) or maybe i'll stop for a few days course as soon as i ran low I'd freak out and have to go to the store.

zjw

I've had that kinda situation flipped on me the other way. IE the person in your shoes freaking out on him for not trusting you. and then the person in your shoes not trusting him anymore. crazy as this sounds.

bigsombrero

Alcoholism is centered on instant gratification. We don't think too far ahead.

Also, I think that the "liquor store run" was part of the fix. Don't you all agree? Something about picking out your bottle for the day, looking at the options, and going home with the bottle in your bag....it was all part of the routine, the habit, the addiction. The clinking of the ice in the glass, the weight of the bottle in your hand, settling into your "drinking position" on the couch or chair. It's all part of the cycle of addiction. That's why this habit is so hard to break, there are a lot of moving parts and it's not as simple as just 'not drinking'. Some might argue that's the easy part!