The cutting out/cutting down alcohol thread (part 7)

SimIsOnTheUp

brokepaolo wrote: »

Hehe, I know I bang on about it a lot, don't I?

It's just that after cooking a nice meal, I get a real sense of having achieved something that is actually going to be good for me.

A hard day's work at the office just doesn't do that for me at all.

I don't want to leave my current job, I've been here for almost 5 years and to be honest, there really isn't anything much better available here in Bristol. I'll stick with it, a job's a job after all..

hehe, another interesting fact about this particular pub where I'm hoping to work is that tuesdays they have Ladies Night! woohoo! :P

You tart ;-)

What do you do, in your day job Paul? (if you don't mind me asking!)

Sim.

skintscottishgirl

Hi All

Welcome again LLG i am sure you will find posting and reading this thread very helpful.

I understand where you are coming from re your GP, maybe you should change if it helps you sort everything, then it might be worth the hassle.

Maybe just take it a day at a time stay sober today and see how you go?

Keep reading and posting and let us know how you are doing:A

You will be fine:D

Sim

Well done on 18 days i did kind of wonder about that when you had said 10! Good for you x

BP, sounds like you have found your calling, well done on staying AF yesterday, i always want to reach for the bottle after a stressful day, but like you i have started to imagine how i will feel tomorrow.

My latest plan is i am not going to drink on my own and so far it seems to be working:D

TP1, well done on your number of days you did much better than me, good for you!:D

I am off to work now declaring 15 for June total and another 1 for the challenge thanks Miss P and Sparkles xx

Hope everyone has a great day and evening i will be back later for the crack!

XXX

brokepaolo

SimIsOnTheUp wrote: »

You tart ;-)

What do you do, in your day job Paul? (if you don't mind me asking!)

Sim.

I work for a music downloads website owned by a finnish mobile phone manufaturer, sort of like iTunes but nowhere near as good.

When I started it felt like a dream job but the novelty has worn off a little, the job is basically just like any other IT related office job and the wages are a joke.

There's no way I can clear my debts in a timely manner on this salary alone.

SimIsOnTheUp

skintscottishgirl wrote: »

Hi All

Welcome again LLG i am sure you will find posting and reading this thread very helpful.

I understand where you are coming from re your GP, maybe you should change if it helps you sort everything, then it might be worth the hassle.

Maybe just take it a day at a time stay sober today and see how you go?

Keep reading and posting and let us know how you are doing:A

You will be fine:D

Sim

Well done on 18 days i did kind of wonder about that when you had said 10! Good for you x

BP, sounds like you have found your calling, well done on staying AF yesterday, i always want to reach for the bottle after a stressful day, but like you i have started to imagine how i will feel tomorrow.

My latest plan is i am not going to drink on my own and so far it seems to be working:D

TP1, well done on your number of days you did much better than me, good for you!:D

I am off to work now declaring 15 for June total and another 1 for the challenge thanks Miss P and Sparkles xx

Hope everyone has a great day and evening i will be back later for the crack!

XXX

Thanks SSG.

Congrats to you too!

Sim x

SimIsOnTheUp

brokepaolo wrote: »

I work for a music downloads website owned by a finnish mobile phone manufaturer, sort of like iTunes but nowhere near as good.

When I started it felt like a dream job but the novelty has worn off a little, the job is basically just like any other IT related office job and the wages are a joke.

There's no way I can clear my debts in a timely manner on this salary alone.

Ah, I think I know who the finnish mobile phone manufaturer might be! :rotfl:

I'd be over the moon to get a job like that (the geek in me would love it..).

Sorry to hear, that they don't pay well though.

I worked from home last year, for a well known broadcasting / telecoms / broadband giant - their name starts with an S and ends with a Y :cool: (via another outsourcing company who start with the word 'Tele' and end with the word 'Tech')

It was only first line tech support, for Broadband customers, however i really enjoyed the job.

The isolation of working from home did start to get me down though (and subsequently drink more), and like you Paul, the wages were terrible!

Regarding your debts, how about going for Bankruptcy, and starting over?

brokepaolo

I'm a little scared by the bankruptcy route, I'm worried about how long it looms over you. I've decided to go down the DMP road but adjusting to it is proving to be incredibly difficult. sometimes I feel like jacking it all in and running away but then other days I feel that despite the massive chunk of my wages that goes towards it, I am actually paying off my debts and that gives me some satisfaction despite the limiting aspects on my life.

Did you opt for bankruptcy? how did that go?

I have the option of working from home when I want to but I rarely take it because I don't much like being cooped up in my room, I already do that enough as it is, and like you, the temptation to go out for a drink which then turns into several is often too strong to resist.

I've done some soulsearching of late with particular focus on my relationship with alcohol and I think it really boils down to boredom for me. Sure, there's some physical and psychological addiction to it, but those addictions are for the most part triggered by feelings of boredom or loneliness. I crave a drink more when I've got nothing to do, like lunchtimes at weekends when I get incredibly bored because I always wake up quite early, 9am mostly, and then once I've had breakfast, showered, done some chores, I've nothing left to do and my friends have just woken and are busy doing the things I've already done. So when the magic hour of 12 arrives and the pub opens, as if by magic I find myself gravitating towards it under the pretence that I'm just having a civilised drink whilst reading the paper. But I'm not really, am I? I'm feeding my addiction, there's nothing civilised about it, it's quite tragic really.

I hope I can find new things to keep me busy, I now have a brilliant new bike which I use to go everywhere. maybe I should learn to leave the bike's lock at home so that I can't lock it up outside some pub or the other that I pass whilst cycling around, that might work.

I'd quite like it I got this job and I could work during the week and have my weekends free though, I do need a day off every now and then just like everyone else, but I'll settle for anything that keeps my mind and body occupied.

DEBTMONKEY1A

Hi Sim....glad you're sounding so upbeat today! Once your DRO is sorted it's all a new start! Have you managed to persuade your G/F to use the £500 for a dirty weekend by the sea yet (!!!) Hello to everyone else as well! My AF days have been....ahem ....very few. Still-new month tomorrow! Am currently staving off a gout attack in my left big toe (another unfortunate bi-product of drinking!!) BUT I now have my own 'herbal' cure that stops it in its tracks in 1 day ! Beleive me...full blown gout is the most painfull thing EVER & can last up to 2 weeks-rendering you unable to walk (or walk in extreme pain!). As soon as I get a 'twinge' (tingle in the toe or knee!!) I take 1 x vitamin c+quertecin tablet/1 x devils claw tablet/1x celery seed tablet+ 1 pint water-HOURLY....within a few hours the tingle has gone & it does not progress...!!

Hope all of you are ok!

RecoveringAlcoholic

I am a fan of bankruptcy/DRO's for recovering alcoholics...................
but they will only work if the underlying issues for the debt problems have been addressed.

DEBTMONKEY1A

Brokepaulo...if you have CCJ'S & your credit rating is f***ed anyway then Bankruptcy or a DRO (form of bankruptcy) is the EASIEST way-I did it & best thing I could have done! With Bankruptcy you need to make sure that your outgoings exceed what you earn for general living expenses otherwise an order is made against you that I think you pay for 3-possibly 5 (not sure) years...There are loads of places on the web that tell you the maximum the official receiver will allow (i used these figures-they were WAY over what I actually spent but you're allowed to put them down)..if your case is simple you can be discharged as soon as 6 months later-maximum for all is 1 year. It's like a line in the sand....any old or forgotten debts ((!!!-moved house...etc!)) are INCLUDED. Credit rating is !!!!e*d for 6 years but if you went on a DMP I guess defaults would go against you so would be the same result. Best thing I ever did!

brokepaolo

DEBTMONKEY1A wrote: »

Brokepaulo...if you have CCJ'S & your credit rating is f***ed anyway then Bankruptcy or a DRO (form of bankruptcy) is the EASIEST way-I did it & best thing I could have done! With Bankruptcy you need to make sure that your outgoings exceed what you earn for general living expenses otherwise an order is made against you that I think you pay for 3-possibly 5 (not sure) years...There are loads of places on the web that tell you the maximum the official receiver will allow (i used these figures-they were WAY over what I actually spent but you're allowed to put them down)..if your case is simple you can be discharged as soon as 6 months later-maximum for all is 1 year. It's like a line in the sand....any old or forgotten debts ((!!!-moved house...etc!)) are INCLUDED. Credit rating is !!!!e*d for 6 years but if you went on a DMP I guess defaults would go against you so would be the same result. Best thing I ever did!

I read into DROs but it looked like I wouldn't qualify because I earn enough money to cover the minimum payments towards my debts(mainly roll-over fees for dreaded payday loans). There's no way I would be able to afford to pay the payday loans off with just one month's salary because they amount to more than £3000 in total, then I have an old loan of £3.5k that I have defaulted on for more than 10 years(I literally ran away from it to the point where I'd convinced myself it was forgotten - which of course it wasn't), then I have a Lloyds TSB bank account which went overdrawn beyond the £250 limit, they charged fees upon fees upon more fees to the point where it now stands at something ludicrous like £1400 overdrawn! and last but not least, I once had a credit card which racked up to £800 before it got cancelled and passed on to a collections agency who now deny that they are handling the case anymore and that I should find out from Amex who is dealing with it(I need to get that sorted actually, lazy me!).

I haven't actually started my DMP yet because I'm scared stiff of the drastic effect it will have. I simply cannot imagine such a large portion of my income just vanishing each month(almost 70% of my income would end up going on my DMP, my rent + bills alone). It feels almost wrong for me to have agreed to it, but what else can I do?