well good for you and glad your at a young enough age ya can rebuild and have a good future.

the days before i gambled i was a bar hound and loved it. lol lol lol didnt make a lot for cash and just got by i guess. then came kids and the bar days ended and started looking for jobs that paid. yup started making money and heard of this thing called fun at the casino from a few at work. lol lol lol yeah what part of this is fun. lol lol lol

guess at 52 there aint a whole lot of time to rebuild. guess one good thing i got going is the retirement plan at work so yeah wont have to go threw mc donalds dumpsters for that half eaten burger. lol well at least i hope any way.

great post toey. i was pretty good with money, starting at a very young age i would find ways to make money and set a portion aside and allow myself to spend a little of it. by the time i was 16 i had 40 shares of stock in food lion, and a savings account with about 600.00. not bad for a teen. i then got married at a young age to a man that was terrible with money, he would buy himself what ever he wanted but neglect the bills. just before everything was due to be shut off he would hand the bank account over to me to fix everything. i would get everything paid up with a little starting to show in savings and he would take it back, start the cycle all over again. i ended up leaving this marriage because of physical abuse and soon after is when i started gambling. its crazy how out of control i became with money, it was like it was monopoly money. any way i am a year sober and have gotten very cheap with my money again, i now have more than i ever have and you would think i was living pay check to pay check again as tight as i am. im not rich, i dont even own a home but that is my goal and since my gambling venture has ruined my credit, im trying to save up to buy my first home.

It is interesting... I was very budget oriented. Didn't like mcsoft money program, so created Excel spreadsheets, where everything was linked to each other in formulas, calculation - my monthly bills, in addition to average living exprences, I calculated based on a one year of spending statistics, how much I earn ahead, and week by week 3 month ahead. Each week I put down what do I need to pay, plus how much I am allowed to spend to not bring myself down in red, enter everythingle purchase, all together by the single cent. When I was making $25K a year I was able to buy furniture, do repairs on a house, dental work for my family, saved $8K. When I made over $100K a year I ended up with all my debt, plus $27K more debt ('cause I could borrow more). Somewhere a year ago I stopped doing my budgeting in Excell, I couldn't stand to see those "RED" all over created due to my gambling. Now I just live day by day. On my white board (on a wall in a kitchen, its a place where everyone in a family walk in :), so they can see it too ) I do write how much we need to pay to what bills, plus any extra, as well as total how much money is coming, and be left. It helped, because before my husband and kids always asked, asked and asked for unneccessary purchases and spendings (by my opinion: games, toys, gazilion shirts, lots of sweets, or plain lets eat out, etc). Their argument was you make all this money, where are they, spend it on me (me and me). By the way I hate shopping.. Now my family able to visually see where all money would go and instead of asking for money, they try to help me or save it (like I mentioned before it was in my laptop, and only I viewed my budget). Honestly, I even don't know what to say about - is it make any difference how you are with your money when it comes to CG. Before I was helping my mother financially also, but now I need help myself, making 2-3 times more than before. I learned money is my drug, it buys me high, so I have to be carefull with it. Other then that, I think I was more compasionate to people and myself (or maybe I wasn't?), but now I am ass broke in almost every way and for sure I know one thing, I don't like myself who I am right now..

This post sure got me to thinking... thanks toey. Before I started gambling I always paid my bills on time, had good credit, have bought 3 houses on my own but I was never good at saving anything. I bought the houses by starting with a foreclosure and moving up with the equity that I had. I spent all of my money each paycheck. I've never really valued money. I don't know why that is. I'm about to file for the kind of bankruptcy that you pay your bills back and I guess I'm going to learn to live on a very tight budget. Instead of being sad about that maybe I should look at it as an opportunity to learn to live within my means.

I love this post. Before I started gambling I was one of the most optimistic young man. I had so much energy and so much life to give. I helped others with problems and always thought to myself "how in the hell do people get into problems?" I had more money then any of my friends. I was leader and did not need anyones acceptance. Now I am miserable. I count on others approval to help build my self esteem. I chase after people even when they hurt me. Financially I am behind about $7,000 in credit cards and I owe people $5000, so it isn't that bad compared to others but I am also extremely broke. The only thing that is going good is that I am doing great in Law School, I have some great parents that haven't gave up on me, and I'm 26 years old. I miss who I used to be, and I wish I can go back to it. God Bless Everyone and best of luck!

This is quite interesting, makes one very introspective. I guess I never knew how I was. I never cared much about money. It was just there to spend. I come from a humble background. There were 9 children in my family, and we didn't have much, but I wouldn't trade places with anyone. Not for all the gold they got at Fort Knox. I have no idea why out of all my siblings I am the only one with the "addiction" gene. Now I truly feel, and I mean this with all my heart, that I was given a gift from God. Going what you go through makes you the person that you are today. The last month [s] I was gambling I wish I were dead or at least someone else. It has been not even 2 months yet, and now I don't have to feel that hollowness anymore. Now I can realize I am a child of God, and I am not here for nothing. I do not squander my blessings {hopefully] or my money, but I do not hoard it either. Makes me think contradictary thoughts 1.Tomorrow will take care of itself. 2. God helps him who helps himself {saveI 3.You never know what tomorrow brings. 4. You can't take it with you.
All that and I'll be damned if I never answered the question! LOL. One of my major blessings are my friends here on DS. I treasure you all, each and every one. ~atticus