When you’re dealing with an addiction, there are a lot of things in your life that can cause you stress or anxiety that may make your drug of choice seem extra appealing. However, if you’re determined to remain sober, you have to find ways to work through these issues and overcome the hardships that come along with them.
One of the biggest culprits for people slipping up with their recovery is their finances. For this reason, it’s crucial that you research rehabilitative content to help you learn how to best manage your money and reduce any stress that comes from this area. To show you how to do this, here are three tips for managing your finances while overcoming an addiction.
Avoid A Fixation With Money
With financial stability, it’s much easier to remain dedicated to your recovery and avoid falling off the wagon. However, the stress of gaining financial stability, meaning the stress of finding and working a job, can be challenging. When trying to strike this balance, Michelle Amerman, a contributor to PathwaysRealLife.com, recommends doing all you can to avoid becoming too fixated on money. When you focus too heavily on making money, you can overlook what you need to do to take care of yourself and your recovery. So while it’s great to strive for financial stability, don’t allow this desire to overshadow your need for self-care.
Create and Stick to A Budget
One of the best ways you can regain control over your spending and your finances is to use a budget. When creating a budget, it’s important that you account for all your incoming money and outgoing money so each and every penny is allocated somewhere, even if it’s just to savings. David Sack, a contributor to PsychCentral.com, writes that because many addicts have a need for instant gratification, sticking to a budget can be very hard. However, simply having a plan in place will help keep you from spending money on things that would enable your addiction.
Consider Only Using Cash
Tim Powers, a contributor to SoberNation.com, shares that if you’re worried about your ability to control your spending and how that could affect your sobriety, you may want to consider only using cash to make your purchases. By requiring you to have to visit a bank prior to being able to spend money as you would be able to with a credit or debit card, there’s one more step in your way to help you from spending money on things you shouldn’t. This extra step will hopefully allow you the time to reevaluate your thoughts and determine if the decisions you’re going to make with your money will ultimately help or hurt you.
If you’re working toward sobriety and are concerned about how this could affect your finances, use the tips mentioned above to help you better manage this situation.