Another week is flying by..... I've had a big bill thru at the weekend £2198 for fascias and gutters.... now if i was gambling this would no doubt send me over the edge.... Now this is pretty much my whole profit for the year wiped out..... Gues i just have to work at this year as the year i spent money on flat and gained my independence..... the fascieas and gutters will no doubt improve the look of the flat and is worth spending money on....
With this in mind im going to try and save more for the rest of the financial year to come in level for the year.... there are five months left of the financial year and im going to try and spend no money on pubs, no money on breaks, next to no money on coffees (the tough one).....To kick start this in november im going to try and just spend money at sainsburys and sainsburys only.... i can have fun still by inviting people over (especially thru the start of the world cup)..... so hopefully with the 1000 i earn...... 300 on bills 150 food and save 550..... i can do this!!!!!
All the best adam xx
Fantastic attitude change, adds value to the flat. Would have been very easy to go the other way here.
Seriously well done Adam.
COME ON YOU SPURS!!!!!!!
Watched the match tonight, spurs allways do it the hard way and we went behind in the first half to marseillle..... this took us to third in the group and out of the champs league..... then in the second half we completely changed with a dare to win attitude longlett scored a header to equalise then we rode our luck before scoring in the last second of the match to take us top of the group and into the last 16 woop woop.... this is just another great moment in life that we ofteen take for granted watching your team do soo well and enjoying watching football is one of my passions... loving tonight although thru most of the game i was very nervy.... lol
thanks lids for popping by its true that i could have done something silly and its good to just tighten the reigns a bit more and look to progress a bit further with life..... the next couple of months untill march i will enjoy life whilst not spending much.... i dont infact need to spend much i have paid my tv licence so can watch the world cup plus bt sport plus disney plus plus xbox i can have friends over just got to work on not going to town and not buy coffees then i should save more....... watch this space....
2022 has been epic....
Another few days have gone by.....I decided that i didnt want to do the weekly bulletin at work anymore as they got someone else on board for it too to do the more formal parts of it....Now i sent an email last night to say that it would be my last ..... then didnt sleep and had voices all night then matron said that she would have a chat with me ..... went to work hadnt had any sleep so got things done then came home to sleep....
mum thinks i should just ask them to think of new things to put in and i write it.....Have to have a think...
Off to bed now
Well im struggling today to not go and buy a coffee opposite!!!!! might go and get one but ive been soo good for the first thirteen days ive not spent a penny apart from at sainsburys....... Also i worked four hours overtime this week so thats an extra 40 pounds in the back burner...... hmmmm not sure whether i should get a coffee? Might do we will ssee.... however i am doing great this month literally no expenditure and ive been super savvy with my grocery shopping ive only bought essentials plus a few treats....
Im putting on soo much weight tho.... i need to cut back on snacks and do some more exercise as if i dont ill defo put on a lot of weight.... i weighed myself and im now exactly fourteen stone.....i was aiming last year to get under thirteen and now im a stone heavier... blimey...
Recovery is going great ill have to take a look but i think im 20 days away from the three year gamble free mark..... no small accomplishment...... very pleased.
One more week of work then im off for a week for the first week of the world cup...... horray..... really looking forward to a week of sitting watching the football unfold in front of me....
Go get the coffee, you deserve it, have to treat your self, Saving money is one thing but denying yourself is a different thing, You worked the overtime.
so Now reward yourself
Another tought night..... tonight i got home and cooked ate then lay bored on the sofa..... impulsively a thought of poker came in my head so i searched poker on the apps on my phone. I found wsop one and registerered my email and then started playing for free.... its a free gme...... i played for about an hour lost all my chips and then thought for the rest of this evening about poker,,,,,, whether i could start online after gamstop finnishes..... whether i could just play poker at pubs again etc...... then i thought what if i start up drinking over the christmas that would give me something to relax with?.... Now all these thoughts i think are me craving excitement...... craving fun.......but i have everything i need without vices!!!!!
Without vices im financially stable and able to live comfortably if i started drinknig it would be expensive to buy rounds, expensive to buy even one drink.....Also if i started playing poker online it would no doubt end badly when buy ins rose and my losses escalated...... also if i played pub poker i would want to drink? then who knows id start smoking again?
Think i need to set some new short term goals to get me thru this period...... I think firstly 18 days till i hit the three year mark, huge milstone....... just got to aim to get there unscathed.....
goal one..... watch world cup.
goal two......18 days no vices#
goal three..... watch what i eat from now
final goal......graft at work
Wow you really got it going Adam ! Coongratulations on a new and much better life gamble free! And thank you for posting this. Such an inspiration!
So here i am a third of the way thru my holiday..... Second day into the world cup.... looks like its off to a flier..... last night slow boring game to start..... today england !!!!!! i woke up today nd there was a few texts from friends,...... one with a video of the its coming home song........ literally got me right up for it straight away...... my friends came over to watch the game i made them bacon sandwiches and they had beers...... then we were off to a flier 6-2 wow 6-2 immense..... then played on xbox with them for an hour then they left and i watched the netherlands senegal game....... then wtched a cracker of a game with Wales and USA both teams put their heart and soul into it...... i think its made me think like the Welsh i put my heart and soul into what im doing and thats defo the way to do it.... to try your utmost best at life.....IF I STRIVE FOR THE MOON ILL HIT THE STARS IF I DONT SUCCEED.
Im eating very badly still that the one objective im failing at at the moment..... Im going to go for a couple of walks this week to make sure i get some exercise and ill try my utnmost to eat a bit better.....
Finances wise as ive already posted this and last month was very expensive bills wise but retail therapy wise and food wise and coffee wise ive improved dramatically by being very strict on myself...... this month after bills ive spent 76 pounds (47.5 sainsburys, 20 pounds in restaurant 7 pounds on coffee and monster drinks) Think ill go get some fruit tomo..... some carrots......some juice......and go for a walk as im feeling pretty unhea;thy.... if its not raining ill walk around town....
Got to get xmas pressents soon.... will no doubt just get one for my nephews, neice, sister and mum and dad....
Going round my folks tomo for dinner.....
just have soup for lunch
All the best adam xx
Was back at work today...... A good start...... Got everything back in order.......then came home and this evening I done a bit of creative work on a survey for work...... Something to boost the spirits of people at work....and to raire festive spirits too.
This weekend just gone was black Friday so I indulged in some treats I got some Lego sets and a watch.....
I'm back at work tomo then watching england in the evening then a holiday day on weds which should be lovely..... Then back at work two days then off for four..... I've planned the world cup well and am enjoying every bit of it.
Recovery going great...... This Friday will be 1095 days....... Three years gamble free.....I'll post on here on Friday night and will celebrate with hopefully some friends, a few coffees, maybe a gamcare group chat and some of relaxation.
All is well here....loving it.....long may that continue
Adam xxx
Evening..,...day 1095 three years away from gambling..... In a reflective mood tonight, one that usually stems from a milestone. I'm thinking of my life, what I've done, what I've achieved, what I've not managed to achieve...... Well instant thoughts think to not having a wife or girlfriend of late..... I had a girlfriend for four years in my late teens..... But since then I've not had one ..... And thus no kids.... This is the one area of my life that I'm unhappy about. Although I'm happy independently this would no doubt make me even happier.
I'm not however very confident within my own skin and not very confident a talker so meeting someone since my teens has been somewhat of a problem.
Maybe if it's meant to be I'll feel relaxed enough to make it happen should I meet the right women.
Apart from that I'm very happy with how life has panned out over the past few years. I'm living independently, my health is good, I'm dealing with my mental health well and work is going well and I don't generally have any other issues life wise.
Gambling wise fleeting thoughts come in if I make the wrong choices eg triggers like poker thoughts or games of any kind free or not are definate triggers, going into pubs with fruit machines, meeting up with ex gambling friends past and present...... Anything on tv gambling related even looking into a bookies when walking past......all have their effects and I've learnt to deal with them one by one.
I've often made mistakes thru these three years but I have managed to not gamble as a consequence of them.
Thank you to everyone associated with gamcare,. U have all probably come into contact with me and my fellow gamcare users and have helped more than u know ..... This site because I stuck with it has got me to where I am. Financially money is no longer an issue.......I work in a fairly humble job, live in a fairly humble flat, I don't live exescively I live humbly enjoying the fruits of my labour. Thanks to gamcare since 2015 I have spent more time with my family something I'd not done Soo much thru my teens ...since then I've spent time, a lot of time seeing my nephews and niece grow up I've really enjoyed this time and no amount of time or excitement gambling could have given me would have exceeded this gain.
I've also after being paid each month transferred the rest to my dad, advice which has been a godsend.....each month if something comes up I can go to him for my money.....I know it's there thru tough months and unexpected bills this has really helped
Gamstop has really helped, I've tried to sign up to a website recently and it wouldn't let me even with being in a new address it recognized my gamstop and for that block it stopped me making a huge mistake.
I have five hundred in my current account for bills that come out and a tiny overdraft that I won't increase ever, credit cards come up offering me, loans I can have but I won't get any of this why would I? What do I need it for? I'm happy with what I have I don't want to be paying someone anymore interest than I already have.
What I've learnt recently is that I need to appreciate the now..... My mum and dad are healthy......my sister and her family are healthy ..... My friends are healthy ...... I get to see them all now.....I get to enjoy that.....I sometimes think about work when at home, like lids says they don't pay us for that, so now with my ocd it's difficult to do but I'm learning to just take a step back and think no I'm going to relax in my free time and not think like that ..... But there u go just appreciate the now......life's realistically not gonna get any better than now..... How could it....I strive for money but it's not going to magically make life better....... Plus with all my saving and budgeting I don't need anymore.......so in all honesty why strive for overtime....just budget more, spend less and ENJOY THE NOW...... That's my new aim for 2023.....ENJOY THE NOW
Enjoy the now
Hi Adam, well done on being 3 years gamble free. You have exactly the right attitude by accepting the simple things in life that make you happy and not striving for the impossible. I think when we were only focussed on gambling we forgot about everything else so being gamble free makes us appreciate more what we have now by opening our eyes to see the people closest to us and how much they mean.
All the best
Long time no speak Adam, I'm a not frequent poster or reader these days but occasional pop by to have a read and always sneak out your diary or should I say your latest one as you've got more diaries than WH Smiths in the January sales.
I admire you for sticking with it and 3 years is an awesome achievement I recall the days when 3 days or weeks was a reason to celebrate so massive congratulations to you. Its not always been easy and you certainly had some tough love in the early days and a little bit of me is happy I kept pushing you. You keep doing what your doing now as its working and well done for continuing to support other on here, I'm ashamed to say that's not something I do enough of these days maybe burnt myself out in the first 3 or 4 years banging my head against a so called brick wall if you know what I mean but it appears to have been worth it with.
you take care your old buddy KTF and remember its always better to ramble than gamble.
We are available 24 hours a day, every day of the year. You can also contact us for free on 0808 80 20 133. If you would like to find out more about the service before you start, including information on confidentiality, please click below. Call recordings and chat transcripts are saved for 28 days for quality assurance.
