Hello Everyone,
I've decided to keep a new diary as my other one was a bit clogged up with old information. My OCD traits kicking in. Here is a short overview of my life.
I'm 20 years old, have a decent job working in the city and my career is looking to be going down a good path. Since I've started working at 18 years old I always gamble. A very long story short, I'm around 7k in debt and decided to get onto a debt management plan so that I could pay less monthly over a longer period of time. I'm paying around £320 a month at the moment. Meaning the debt could be gone in just under 2 years. Which isn't long at all when I think about it. This still leaves me with money to put into savings at the end of each month, and more.
I've told people about my issue, and have tried every block in the book. I have found ways to get around all of them, gamban, gamstop... all of it. Will power and my friends around me are what I'm relying on to stop. FOBT changes are a great thing, used to go into bookies quite a lot.
So to briefly finish off, I'm hoping to be a debt free 22 year old on a good career path. I'm going to be sharing all my thoughts and feelings along the way. I've tried this a few times before. I think you all understand how badly I want to stop this time. I'm doing this for my future. Thank you everyone.
Good luck, you are young ,change the way you do things and stop gambling.
you have the chance I wish I had
I hate to be the party pooper mate, but in my experience, willpower and friends will only take you so far. If you were able to find ways to break down the blocks of both Gamban and GamStop, then I predict that willpower may not be enough. There will possibly come a point, 1 week, 1 month, 6 months down the line when the urge to gamble will rear it’s ugly head again. It may even come in a couple of years when you’ve cleared your debts.
I think it’s important to try and find out why you gamble. What triggers it etc. I’d also recommend you send all your details to GamStop to eliminate any possibilty to gamble. From what I’ve heard, they’re looking to tighten up any loopholes that were previously there in the system, so if you’re serious about stopping gambling then I would be looking to take advantage of that.
I can think of a few things I can send over to GamStop so I will definitely look into doing that. As for willpower not being enough, I'm just going to have to ride the wave. I've had all the blocks, just found ways to get round them. I am going to send some details to gamstop though, thanks for your comment.
Day 2 - Watched the football in a pub last night, some conversation about bets. I didn't get involved, didn't have a bet. See I know I'm capable, in a pub watching football and I have every opportunity to gamble. I chose not to.
Day 3 - Positive. Going to pub later to watch some football, no betting. Long bank holiday weekend now, I'm going to make sure its a gamble free one. I'll be on a week when the bank holiday is over. This is the hardest part for me. See you all soon.
Be careful about putting ya self in a position to gamble...drink, footy, mages in the pub.In these early days we are vulnerable but fair play if you can handle it.good luck
Took a bit of a break from this website. Time for me to come back. Fresh month tomorrow.
I've got credit from all different places out at the moment to get by until next payday, then I can pay it all back thank god. Going to be a tough month though. Blocked my last account today. I'm going to take it day by day.
Tomorrow is my Day 1. May the 1st.
Target -
I will finish that month gamble free.
I will pay off the credit I owe for the end of the month and SAVE SOME MONEY!
I will READ A BOOK! (I don't read..)
Get back to the gym!
Update you all soon.
Day 2 - Didn't post yesterday, but didn't gamble! It's a fresh month and I want to keep it clean, would be a massive achievement. My mind is a bit all over the place, just trying to relax more. I haven't had dreams about gambling in a while, so that's good. I used to get these frequently.
Watching football tonight again, like most nights. No gambling! see you all tomorrow, it'll be friday, and I can enjoy the weekend.
Day 3 - All good! No gambling. I have no desire to gamble. Long weekend now. See you all soon.
Broken again. I can't do this. Accepting defeat. I think I'll be like this forever. Nothing can stop me walking into the bookies.
Hi Unknown,
I was sorry to read you sounding so disheartened in your last forum post.
It sounds like you are aware of some of the practical things that you can do to block your access to gambling, however it might be that a bit more support in addressing why it is that you gamble and helping you to identify any emotional barriers to stopping gambling could be useful now, helping you to move forward to the next stage of your recovery.
If you would like to talk over any of these options please do get in touch via our helpline on 0808 8020 133 or netline any time between the hours of 8.00am and midnight.
Wishing you all the best,
Helen
Forum Admin
To my diary and the community. I'm ready to come back, I've said this many times before. I'm leading myself down a dark path. I'm not gambling lots of money but I'm still gambling when I shouldn't be. I'm not going to dwell on the past. But somehow this month I've almost maxed a CC and gone into my overdraft, despite being on a debt management plan. I get paid in just over a weeks time. The next few months are going to be very difficult for me.
I go on holiday at the start of July. My May payday will basically be used to completely pay off my CC and overdraft, remaining debt. Then a month later my June payday will be used for holiday spending money and any remaining payments on debt I may have missed. So for the next 2 paydays, 11 weeks, I need to be tight with my money, not gamble at all. If all of that goes to plan then I should not have any outstanding debt outside of my debt management plan and things will start looking up after I come back from holiday in July.
My main focus is to be gamble free so that what I've written above can happen.. So that during July things will finally start looking up for me. I'm dreaming of the day my life starts looking better financially. I hope I will find this day in July.
Thanks everyone.
Day 1 - Focus, keep myself busy, day by day. I will get there.
Hi Unknown,
Great to see you back on the forum and sounding positive and focused. It sounds like you have a few challenging weeks ahead of you but you sound determined that you'll get to the place you want to be, debt-free in July.
Wishing you all the very best,
Helen
Forum Admin
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