2015 Challenge

Checking in day 181! It's my 6 month point tomorrow and the change in my life has been amazing. I was at about roughly 22000 debt 6 months ago.. Now I'm down to 5000 and it's all 0% so I don't even worry about it. Gone are the days when I was 3000 into my overdraft and applying for loans so that I could gamble! I feel happier and can do all the normal things that people do! Go out for meals and drinks instead of blowing all my money in the first week on gambling and having to miss out on doing anything for the other 3 weeks till payday. I encourage everyone to carry on abstaining from the gambling... To be honest I think I am completely over it, I have no feelings for it anymore. People at work try to encourage me to just put a couple of quid on the football now but out of principle I don't, I don't want to fall back into the gambling ways..

I hope that others can get to the place I'm at and not have to worry about gambling controlling their lives anymore. One of the worst addictions in my opinions. It causes so many problems but it's so easy to hide that nobody knows that you need help!

Keep going troops

Well done mrdaniel1 you're reaping the benefits financially and in your life doing the things you want to do. It must've been awful living for three weeks without any money due to wasting it all a week after pay day. I'm sure it's a familiar story to many of us. Massive well done on getting yourself so swiftly out of the massive debts you incurred. It sounds like you're making all the right choices and things are going well for you. I think you do right to avoid that odd £ on the football with work. One thing can easily lead to another and you must always keep your wits about you !

Stay strong and brilliant example of what can be achieved.

Clare

Checking in for the week.....feeling positive, happy and in a great place.

Enjoy your weekend folks

DAY 24. NO FOBT TODAY. its been 24 days since i last fed the fobt machine. i have saved money in that short space of time and it it is starting to get easier. Still rough sometimes and i know its only 24 days, but i am 19 away from this years best of 43. My aim is to get to 100 then 200 and so on.

Checking in on 196 Days.

Stay Strong Everyone.

Checking in on day 76. Thanks for the great update Clare x

Checking in for another week

Jess x

Day 211,,, Just bought a car,,a nice BMW just think i used to lose that money in couple of hours in online casino;s,,

Checking in day 93

Checking in on day 500.
Have a great day all.
Steve.

Morning everyone,

Not checking in, but more checking up on everyone! It's great to see so many people still going strong on the challenge and that there's a shared responsibility now for the ownership and updates on the outcomes - hugely inspirational!

Congrats to all the "milestoners" and especially to Mr Consistent DBG on the 500 days - well done Steve!!

While not participating, I'm still reading and encouraging from the sidelines - and I'm still gamble free - life is totally different now. However, I still approach every day with the same philosophy of "today I will not gamble". Today is all that matters.......I still get urges, I still get the devil on the shoulder telling me one small bet won't harm, I still make sure the triangle is broken, and I still want to somehow recover all of that money I lost. There is only one way to win though in the longer term. I can only do that one day at a time.

Keep strong troops and congratulations on keeping the richness and community of this thread alive.

Mr Brightside

Lovely post Mr B, I relate to everything you say, and very pleased to read you are keeping strong and safe.

Yes fantastic milestone delboygolf (Steve) very proud of you. 500 days is awesome.

Checking in for the new week Claire on 461 days.

Well done to all the milestones last week and this up and coming week, remember troops, every day we stay gamble free is a milestone.,

Suzanne xx

Day 416 - checking in.

Well done to Steve on 500 days & ODAAT on a year!!

There are some fantastic milestones....be very proud everyone.

Morning Troops

First Sunday in August. 7 months done, 5 to go ! The year is flying by.

Days Count

happy days 597
SuzyLemon 416
triangle 507
I Wished 461
Glads Dad 252
delboygolf 500 !!!
Jm24 218
sonic boom 221
brutus123C 245
MrStop 197
insanity 214
mrdaniel1 182
chartom3 145
J33 141
LEST-WE-FORGET 225
barryt27 212
beckyc290 77
John64 429
Dazz1982 105
Balvaird 111
scotty1971 209
Garyl1976 486
bright future 93
boxingdaysmay15 80
Casey 105
dontchase 28
GT 4
Gerry8 34
andy14 70
Thegerman 38
nomorelosing 93
paul1001 127
A86N 94
No problem 25

New members

adampoker 26

Please let us know your day count Chaney86 as you didn't in your initial post.

Well may I start by thanking SonicBoom (Mark) for the fabulous updates on the forum last week. The more people who have an input on here, the better.

We have seen some fantastic milestones this week.

Delboygolf hits 500 days today, proof it can be done longer term. What a great achievement. Triangle hit 500 last Sunday too, amazing and well done.

We have a couple of members joining the century club this week. Dazz1982 and Casey, two members who actively post in the forum and respond to other members, this is very welcome and is helping move the challenge forward and retaining strength within the group, so thank you and hope you're feeling proud at the 100 mark !!

At 5 weeks we have Thegerman. At 4 weeks there's dontchase and Gerry8. At 3 weeks there's No problem and adampoker.

I'm sure we are all familiar with how difficult it can be in the early days after your last gamble and these achievements mark excellent steps in the right direction.

Mr Brightside dropped by to the forum today and he really hit the nail on the head with his comments and philosophy on taking each day as it comes .. It's a bit like saving up, if you save pennies the pounds take care of themselves. If you make the right choice not to gamble each day, the weeks, months and years will mount up for you and help you to be healthier wealthier and happier.

Keep strong and keep posting.

Any helpful strategies or techniques you use can be posted on this forum to help others. If it helps you, chances are it could help someone else.

Try to post one top tip this week that's helping you stay stopped when you check in this week.

boxingdaysmay15 (Clare)

You're doing a great job Clare! Big thanks from me 🙂