Do you have money worries no matter how much you earn, or how good your life seems? Do you keep wondering why you just can’t get out of debt? Do your money worries drive you to drink or to take substances to ease the pain? Does despair over debt cause you or someone you love to risk losing recovery and relapse? You’re not alone.
Money Worries Plague Us All
Occasionally we hear about ten-year-olds who have made fortunes and know what to do with it, but most of us are not born with money managing skills. Balancing a check book? Who can do that with fifteen credit cards and online payments? Most of us are great when it comes to depositing, but forget what withdrawals mean. I know I do. Who doesn’t tend to think there’s more in that checking account than there really is?
Money Worries Are Compounded With Substance Use
Any family that has Substance Use or Behavior Use Disorder (addiction) faces terrifying wreckage that impacts everyone. Money worries, however, can be assuaged. You can get the monster of your raging finances under control. If you are new to recovery, or your family is wrecked because of addiction, you can find your way back. Take your head out of the sand the road to financial recovery can begin. Here are a few ROR articles to start answering the questions you have.
Compulsive spending is not what happens when people indulge for occasions like birthdays, Christmas or other holidays. Problem spending is something that occurs year round. Relentless, buying with no real need or purpose is the reality. If you recognize yourself as someone who “needs” to shop, you are are not alone. In fact, studies find that about 1-10% of the U.S. population suffers from this disorder, with the majority (50-90%) of problem spenders being women. Read More
For most of my life I had the dread disease of FOF, which simply stated is Fear Of Finances. When I entered DA, one of the things I related to immediately was all the talk about vagueness around money. I never knew how much money was really in my bank account. I was always shocked when taxes came around, and I lived in complete fear of normal things like opening my mail, and paying bills. It’s not so bad when you know what you’re doing. Read More
Why would anyone need financial recovery? Substance use was only part of it. I traveled the road from privileged to pampered to spoiled to entitled to enabled to troubled to difficult to enraged to destructive to nervous breakdown. Some time my 30s, I found myself sober but messy, fragile and broke. I’d gone through all my savings. This put me on a path I never ever imagined I’d go on. I had always been loose with money but now the tricks I had for robbing Peter to pay Paul were far more dangerous than when I actually had the money, or credit to pay it back. Read More
Financial Safety When A Loved One Uses
It’s crucial to have financial safety when your loved one has a substance use disorder. Protect your finances and possessions so that you don’t have serious problems down the road.
Drug abusers (and some people with behavior addictions) need money all the time to support their drug of choice. Here are some of the ways they use their families to get it. What to do: Read More
The 5 Phases of Compulsive Spending
The 5 phases of compulsive spending take you through the highs of an actual addiction. And if you’re a compulsive spender, you’re not alone on this rollercoaster ride. The 5 phases of compulsive spending are what make it so compelling. It’s not just one moment. It’s the whole process. Donald W. Black, author of A Review of Compulsive Buying Disorder, notes that there are 4 phases of compulsive buying: “1) anticipation; 2) preparation; 3) shopping; and 4) spending.” We add a fifth phase, which is remorse. These are stages that are also seen in other addictions (now known as use or process disorders). Read More
