Hey shorty,
Another great post from you, nice to see you have a great weekend coming up, enjoy every moment there will be plenty more to come just be patient and that debt free day will be here before you know it.
Blondie xx
Hi Shorty,
Glad to see how far you have come.
Hope you have a brill weekend.....sounds amazing!
Keep going hun!
Sue xx
Like you, I'm really looking forward to all the small things next year when I am debt free. I have no need to splash out on expensive holidays but am really looking forward to not have to worry about spending money on a two day break in a nice part of the country.
I think that these recovery journeys of ours and our past gambling demons have made us far more aware of our financial situations so we'll be in very strong positions when we are back on the straight and narrow!
NT
Day 47...mixed feelings about the weekend gambling wise....had huge huge huge urges but I didn't go near the casino. I know that the urges are down to (a) the fact that the casino was less than 5 minutes from where I was and (b) I had consumed a ridiculous amount of alcohol so I am proud of myself for resisting as I know it could have been a disaster!!!
Anyway, apart from the urges had a great time, spent WAY too much money but it was a special occasion and not something that happens very often so its nice to splash out once in a while!
Very very very tired. Having a mad weekend makes you really appreciate those Saturday nights where you just cuddle up on the sofa with a couple of glasses of wine. This weekend (despite having a birthday and a christening to go to) will definitely be alcohol free!
Roll on next Tuesday when its payday, bank balaance is looking a bit weak, but it would be looking even worse if I wasn't 47 days gamble free! xx
Day 48....ups and downs at the minute. Managed to move final interest bearing credit card balance to interest free so I am now not paying any interest on any credit card debt so I can really start hammering away at the balance. It means now that I don't really have to move anymore money about until February when the next interest free period runs out. This will give me plenty of time to get my credit rating back up to a good level and I should be able to easily move this to interest free again.
The downside of the past couple of days is that these bloody credit card companies are now sending out annual statements!!!!!! My husband opened one of them yesterday, he knows we have about 6k on credit cards so he didn't ask too many questions. The statement that came through yesterday only had a balance of 2k on it and £1000 had been paid off in the last year so to him it looks like we are being really good and getting the balances down. What worries me now is there is another statement that will probably come through at some time in Sept which has a bigger balance and I don't want him to start getting suspicious. I have come this far and have hidden it so well and now that it looks like I am finally on the straight and narrow it could potentially all fall down around me! He trusts me completely with the finances as he is so useless with money I just don't want the added pressure of him knowing exactly how much debt we're in! it is perfectly manageable at the minute and I know with a slow and steady approach over the next couple of years this will sort itself out. I just hope I pick up this next annual statement and not him!!!! I have tried to go online to turn them off but there is no option to do so!
Anyway....day 48, almost at the 50 day mark woohoo! Have got a nice 4 day weekend coming up and I intend to fully enjoy it 🙂
Day 49...not stressing as much today. What will be will be.
Still tired from last weekend, only one more day of work after today and then I get a few days to chill out thank goodness.
Day 50....no more words needed 🙂
Day 55....have had an absolutely horrendous weekend thanks to some serious family issues. Don't want to go into it on here but this weekend has been one long emotional roller coaster. Luckily it all seems to have sorted itself out now and there is less anger flying about but I was piggy in the middle and it was awful 🙁
Gambling wise - things seem to be moving in the right direction. At one point at over the weekend I did think to myself why am I always helping out others in their time of need....who ever helps me out?!?! But then no one knows about my dirty little secret so I have only myself to blame! I did have a passing thought about gambling but thats all it was.
Anyway, a 4 day week and then a bit of a mad weekend coming up. Could really do without it but I'm sure by the time Friday comes round I will feel like letting my hair down a bit! Hopefully it won't be an expensive one. Really hoping that by the end of Sept the finances will look a lot better. The overdraft should be paid off by then and all the credit card debt will be on interest free until at least February. Should be able to spend the next 6 months really trying to hammer down the balance before I need to start moving to other interest free cards!
Hi Shorty,
Well done on 55 days gamble free, u r doing brilliant:)
Well done 4 staying strong on the wknd, sometimes it is tough and it takes all the strength we have 2 resist.U should be sooo proud of urself. I hope u have a gr8 wknd, u deserve it 🙂
Have a gr8 day xx
Day 61 by the skin of my teeth....literally. There were higher forces at work over the weekend that stopped me from physically being able to withdraw cash out of the machine and use it to gamble in the casino. I truly believe that I have gotten over the online addiction but when I am drunk and out on the town I can not stop the urge to end up in the casino. The only good thing I can take from this is that I know the cash I can waste is limited as I can only withdraw £300, but STILL! I don't want to lose £300. Seriously going to have to think about only bringing a certain amount of cash out with me and leaving all cards at home.
Anyway, I will be forever grateful to the forces that were at work!
Hi Shorty.. thats how its often been for me. After alcohol (sometimes not) I gamble whatever the money i have in my pocket and then the £300 from the cashpoint. This time ya got lucky.
Practical things you can do (if you want to) include.... lower your daily withdrawal limit with bank (limits losses if worse happens), remove your overdraft facility (should you have one), ban yourself from casino (a must), don't get drunk (easier said than done) and yes leave cards at home (can you do this in practice?)
Finally the thing i find with gambling is that it "evolves". These diaries are littered with examples of folk you have switched from one form of gambling to another. I would suggest that you have a "gambling addiction".. fullstop.. rather than an online slots addiction or casino addiction etc etc.
Great stuff on 61 days.. onwards.. S.A
Day 63....had a dream last night that on my lunch break i went into an arcade. there were loads of school kids in there playing on a particular machine and when they went back to school I decided to play on it. I won the jackpot and literally thousands of £50 notes were flying out at me!
Not sure what triggered this dream....not dreamt about anything gambling related in ages and I was never really keen on slot machines either! Oh well...at least I didn't wake up with an urge to go to the nearest arcade!
Am even more convinced now that some powerful sources from above were stopping me from gambling at the weekend - I wish I could tell you the story but its so unique that it would give my identity away!
S.A - thanks for the advise...I think the first stage will be to try and go out with just cash on me and no cards. Even if I take extra cash out with me it will be nowhere near what I would be able to withdraw from the cash machines. I'm pretty safe for the next month or so, no big nights out planned so should be nowhere near a casino!
Life is SO much better now. Things financially are really looking up. I'm not stressing about debts, I'm not worsening my credit rating by applying for too many credit cards. I know that I can sit back for 6 months now until I need to even attempt to get a new balance transfer offer and by this time I will have received a bonus at work which will either go towards the debts or to a holiday depending on the circumstances at the time. I feel now that I can go into a shop and buy the things I need without panicing. We can go out for the odd family meal and I don't feel bad when the bill comes. This is what i call LIVING. Sitting infront of a laptop is not living - am so glad that I have realised this now. I'm only 30, I have a few years now where I need to knuckle down and pay the debts off and after that life is going to be utter BLISS.
Wow shorty good for you, I remember reading your post 64 days ago and desperatly wanting to say something that would make you carry on trying to beat this thing.
You are doing an amazing thing and starting to see those results, Life= Utter bliss....... I dont think you need to say much more than that.
Keep going, stay focused on the picture of bliss....
Blondie xx
Thanks Blondie...to be honest, it feels a lot less than 63 days since I felt like that...am glad that feeling of disappointment and self loathing has stayed at the front of my mind!
Day 65 woooohooooooo wow, day 65! Who would have thought, and I could quite easily have been back on day 7 if I had gambled last friday (like I tried to do!)
A much more quiet weekend planned this weekend thank goodness....safe from alcohol and casinos! Looking forward to a couple of lie-ins and as much sleep as I can cram in!
Treated myself to a few things this week, got a couple of bargains but if I had been gambling and seen these things at a knock down price I would never have bought them. It's so nice to be able to spent a few quid on yourself and not worry 🙂
Hope you all have a fabulous weekend....see you on day 68!
Day 68....well so much for a quiet weekend lol. Had another mad one but had a great time so that's all that matters!
No thoughts, no urges, been trying to make a bit of money by buying and selling online...don't spend a great deal of time on it yet but if I see a bargain and know I will make some money on it then I will get it. Hoping to keep all the profits in my pay pal account until Decemeber and have a bit of extra Christmas money! It's amazing what offers you can find out there if you look in the right places!
Anyway, not much to report so I guess no news is good news 🙂
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