Welcome Luddite! I think it is awesome you've decided to get sober......I joined this site a month ago and found a lot of supportive and inspirational people on here with great suggestions on how to not drink and actually enjoy life in the process!

Welcome!

i also found DS a few weeks after I quit, and I am glad I did. It helps to read about other's experiences, and to have people to connect with if things get rough. And to have people to connect with when times are good, too.

Hey Folks, thanks for the welcome, I appreciate it! Ive never given up alcohol before and I so far feel great. I've always been active and an outdoors type, which is why I chose spring to finally quit. Lots of hiking trips to take the mind off it. 12 bottles of wine a week was my normal consumption in 4 binges, wednesday, friday, saturday and sunday, very habitual. There are so many interesting posts on this site its going to take a while to assimilate! Thanks folks.

Welcome luddite. Great that you quit and not finding it very difficult as many of us did. You having a great wife and family is a great motivation I bet. Glad you found us

Hi luddite. Welcome to the group. You mentioned that Wednesdays have been a binge day in the past. Be sure to arrange to have something to do during that time you would have been drinking. And you may have to give yourself a stern talking to! Remind yourself how great you feel and that drinking will spoil it.

Stay strong!

Brilliant you've come to this decision while everything is intact family job etc Many of us unfortunately don't
You mention change and that is very important Not just stopping drinking but a radical change in our lifestyle
As jacker said hiding empties is a sure sign of a problem I remember doing that & many more strange covert activities to hide my drinking.Glad your planning outdoor stuff hiking etc all good stuff And as stated be ready for the mind games (physical & mental) Sound's like you've got plenty of great stuff in your life Things can get even better;--))

I quit over a year ago and just found some more empty vodka bottles I had stashed. Couldn't throw them out fast enough, and they sure piled up.

As rivalino says, it is great that you decided to quit before family, job, and just life starts to totally unravel.

I remember finding a place to dispose of my empties what a daunting task....I actually new where, around town, there were dumpsters I could throw them in without reprimand. Awful.

I hope you can quit and become a non drinker. I think it is difficult-but not impossible, to do so by just stopping and getting on with life.

I find it amazing that this is seen as impossible by many. The human spirit to triumph and get healthy is an amazing force, and there truly are some people who can say "no more" and stop. And get on with life in a productive manner.

Stick around luddite, interested to hear about your journey into non drinker-dome.... :)

Hey folks, it is a Wednesday and after a physically demanding afternoon at work in glorious sunshine I drove straight home without calling in at a supermarket for wine. Although I have been thinking about it all afternoon, as a reward for hard graft. But no, I'm home and reading your comments. What a nice bunch!

I hear what you say karmickuru, I have used a number of out of the way places to dump my empties! I thought I was being so clever! Obviously not. It's still very early in my sobriety and I have a long way to go. How my life and family are still around is a mystery.

The financial impact of my drinking has shocked me. I have started (I know its only a 11 days now) putting the money I would spend on booze into a savings account and I have calculated that on April 27th (a Wednesday) I will have saved enough money for a new laptop! That is quite an incentive for me. After the laptop it's a new mountain bike I'm aiming for. Has anyone else used a similar method?

After supper and when my kids are tucked up in bed and the wife has gone to bed, instead of getting wasted I'm going to have a good old rake through past posts here. Again, what a nice bunch you are!

Hey luddite ... welcome to the group! Feel free to respond to any of the older posts when you're looking through them. Don't be afraid to bring old ones back up top.

Glad you're having an easy time of it so far. Stay strong! Don't listen to your brain if it starts to tell you anything other than "I am not going to drink today!" Drink lots of fluids ... allow yourself some sweets and don't let yourself get hungry.

I never tried putting the cash you save by not drinking into a fund ... but I know if I ever quit smoking, I'm doing it for sure. I can see it would be a good incentive!

Again, glad you found us and I hope you enjoy the group! Keep posting!

Welcome to the group luddite. There's a lot of benefits to be made in sobriety. Glad you found us. :}

Welcome to the group luddite. Closet drinker myself and got away with it for years but it finnally caught up with me. Hope you hang around.

I wonder if us closet drinkers are really that smart or people just don't bring it to our attention. Yes luddite I have and still do the money saving thing. Between happy hours and not cheap wine I figured I was spending $600-$800 per month.....pathetic

In my case I wasn't near as smart as I thought I was. I just thought I was doing a good job of hiding what I was up to when in fact my wife knew exactly how much I was drinking. I thought that maybe I just got careless during the end of my drinking career but about a month ago in a conversation with my first ex I heard a blow by blow account of what I was doing while I was married to her. She just never bothered to let me know what she knew. The only people closet alcoholics are fooling are themselves.

As far as money goes I was probably spending about 3 to 4 hundred dollars a month at the end. Have no idea what I spent during the 40 years that I drank but sure wish I had that money right now. I think it would make me feel a lot better than the booze ever did.

Hmm, struggling this afternoon. Did the weekly food shop with the wife and then came the wine section, she can drinks sensibly enjoying a glass of wine and stops at a glass. She said why don't I just get a bottle for the weekend, only the one. I was asked this more than once and ended up having to raise my voice and said no I don't want anything. We had a little chat in the car on the way home, she now knows never to ask me that again.

But the whole conflict anger thing has made me want to drink for the first time in what is now 12 days. But I'm here at home calmer and thinking about the money I'm saving for a new laptop and looking forward to another booze free weekend with a hiking trip planned for sunday. Focus.