Spending Moratorium

I did something insane. It didn’t seem insane at the time. But as I sit here today, it sure feels crazy.

Toward the end of May, I decided to enact a three month spending moratorium on a single category: Discretionary. My Discretionary category covers art supplies, books, entertainment, etc.

I guess I didn’t realize that three months was 90 whole days when I made this pledge. Insane, right?

But not really. Probably incredibly sane. Here’s why.

Leaving Program…

If you are feeling restless, irritable, and discontented, blaming it on DA, thinking about exiting stage left … just remember that leaving DA won’t give you more money.

Spending that First Compulsive Dollar

I continue reading aloud the first 64 pages of the Big Book with my All Addictions Big Book Step Study Sponsor. Last week, we finished reading the chapter “There is a Solution.” Here is the passage that jumped out at me:

These observations would be academic and pointless if our friend never took the first drink, thereby setting the terrible cycle in motion. Therefore, the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind. (page 23)

It’s funny. As I read this passage, my automatic association is with the food. It’s so easy to compare the food to alcohol because we ingest it. For me, alcohol is just processed flour and sugar.

It’s much more of a conscious effort to think about money and debt. But this passage rings true for me. My debting begins with an irrational thought and a justification of the first compulsive spending, which inevitably leads to debting. When I look at it in this way, it’s not a hard translation at all.

Bill W. – Compulsive Debtor?

I’m in an intensive Big Book Step Study group, where you read aloud the first 64 pages of the Big Book with your sponsor and discuss it. Though I’ve read these pages countless times, I was shocked when my sponsor commented on Bill’s spending habits as we read Chapter 1: Bill’s Story. For the first time, I focused on the spending aspect of his story alongside his drinking.

Clarifying Abstinence

Though I’ve already written extensively about abstinence in DA, I still feel some additional clarification is needed because I continue to find people confused about this issue. Sometimes, we need to hear an idea multiple times in slightly different ways to have it sink in.

Is Your Life Unmanageable?

Without the admission that your life has become unmanageable around money, you will never embrace the program of Debtors Anonymous and recover.

Step 1 states: “We admitted we were powerless over debt–that our lives had become unmanageable.”

Principles of DA

In addition to the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions, did you know that there are 12 principles of our program? These were developed by various members of Alcoholics Anonymous and provide a guidepost for practicing the opposite of your defects.