On The Road to Financial Recovery

On Wednesday night I took a big step. After seeing my therapist, and discussing how money seems to fall through my hands like water, he suggested that I hand over my debit and credit cards to a trustworthy person. I chose one of the most trustworthy people, I know, my dad.

I if I need to spend any money at all, I'll have to go to my dad and ask him for my card.

I would have given my cards to Wil, but he's at work most of the time, so that wouldn't be a feasible plan. Wil supports this decision to hand over the plastic to Fader senior.

Whenever I need to pay for something, anything, I need to physically go to my dad and ask him for my debit card.

So far it seems to be working. Yesterday, I really wanted to go to the store (before I went to play Magic and Cori and Kodjo's place) and get a GUS soda. But I didn't have my cards, so I couldn't spend any money. And guess what? I didn't miss that soda at all.

To clarify, the plan is that I have to ask my dad for my card if I want to buy something. I don't need to tell him what I'm getting or justify it to him. The reason behind this plan is that there is an interim step between thinking about buying something and actually purchasing it.

I've struggled with compulsive spending for my adult life. In college, I had a pretty severe Ebay addiction, and whenever I even look at a credit card it seems to get maxed out.

The other factor here, is that children are expensive creatures. They need haircuts, clothes, food, educational and extracurricular classes, toys, college savings accounts, and more.

This is a big step for me.

I'm admitting that there's a problem.

I'm not ignoring it.

Please offer your words of support as I make my way from compulsive spender to compulsive saver :-D