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90 days is excellent MK5 well done. I look forward to continuing to follow your journey.

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Hi cat2001.

Welcome to the forum and well done on taking a positive step.

In terms of ways of staying away from gambling sites, 2 items that I found particularly useful when I first started trying to stop gambling was 1) Putting as many barriers in place as possible to make it difficult to gamble and 2) having someone else I trust manage finances for a while, In this scenario, you still maintain control over your money, and decide where it is spent, but any spending would have to go through this person first, and you don’t have access to unaccountable money.

It sounds like you are already working on 1) by getting self-banned for 5 years which is a good start. I think doing something along the lines of 2 could also be very helpful to you. Perhaps your husband could be the person who manages your finances for now, while also removing any direct access you have to your kids bank accounts.

The new member’s groups Charles mentioned held on a Monday and Thursday are also very useful, here you can speak with Charles who can provide further advice and recommendations.

One final thing I found useful was committing to regular updates on the forum be they good or bad, I started with once per week, but you could choose a different frequency, I look forward to reading your updates.

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Days Since Last Betting: 277

Thanks for the kind words Cruising247, it took a number of attempts before getting this far, but happy with how things have been going. Keep up the work, and you can reach this number and more too, I look forward to following your progress.

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Hi Cruising247,

Welcome to the forum and well done on reaching 28 days with no gambling. What have you found helpful with staying gamble-free over the first 28 days?

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Hi kamkam,

Welcome to the forum and well done on taking a positive step admitting your problem, and looking for help.

You asked “Could you tell me what helped you?” 2 items that I found particularly useful when I first started trying to stop gambling was 1) Putting as many barriers in place as possible to make it difficult to gamble and 2) having someone else I trust manage finances for a while, In this scenario, you still maintain control over your money, and decide where it is spent, but any spending would have to go through this person first.

I also strongly recommended the new members groups Charles mentioned held on a Monday and Thursday, here you can speak with Charles who can provide further advice and recommendations.

Finally, I would say that when starting out not gambling, I found it helped to set some specific objectives/actions with a defined timeframe. For example, By this time next week I plan to 1) Write 3 Journal entries 2) Attend the new member’s group 3) Discuss with someone else having them help manage my finances, 4 Install GamBan on my phone and Laptop and 5) close all betting accounts permanently.

I hope this is helpful, I look forward to reading further updates.

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Days Since Last Betting: 273

A few items I plan to work on during December leading into the holiday period

• keep work hours to a reasonable amount
• Consistent exercise
• Visiting the forum regularly and replying to posts
• Good diet with limited snacks

[G Rec]

Days Since Last Betting: 266

Many positives with continued no gambling, keeping funds accountable, instantly transferring money required, no real gambling urges, and overall happy with how things are going and looking forward to the holiday period in a few weeks time.

Some areas that have been lacking recently are consistent good night’s sleep. Limiting work hours, and exercise, areas I look to improve over the next week and heading into December.

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Hi bluesky76,

Welcome to the forum and well done on admitting the problem and taking a positive step.

It sounds like your easy access to both unaccountable money, and options for gambling are the building blocks of your problem. These 2 areas can be addressed which can be a big start and certainly was useful when I first started trying to stop gambling. To start with you can 1) Put as many barriers in place as possible to make it difficult to gamble for example contacting all local casinos, and requesting that you are given a lifetime ban, closing online accounts, software blockers for electronic devices etx and 2) Have someone else you trust manage finances for a while, In this scenario, you still maintain control over your money, and decide where it is spent, but any spending would have to go through this person first.

I also strongly recommended the new members groups Dunc mentioned held on a Monday and Thursday, here you can speak with Charles who can provide further advice and recommendations.

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Hi edhavana,

Sorry to hear that you have slipped and went back to gambling after a few months.

Charles asked some great questions back in December last year after a similar slip that seem just as relevant to this recent slip.

If you lost 15k in 3 days, it sounds like you have easy, fast, unaccountable access to funds. How can you make yourself accountable? What barriers are you going to put in place? What extra support are you going to connect with?

Answering these questions will be very important to reduce the chances of being able to stay gamble-free. If you give them some though, and provide your answers here, the community can provide feedback and advice on any additional steps you could take based on their own experiences.

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Hi schmail,

Welcome to the forum and well done on admitting the problem and taking a positive step.

In terms of tips and recommendations, 2 items that I found particularly useful when I first started trying to stop gambling was 1) Putting as many barriers in place as possible to make it difficult to gamble and 2) having someone else I trust manage finances for a while, In this scenario, you still maintain control over your money, and decide where it is spent, but any spending would have to go through this person first.

I also strongly recommended the new members groups Charles mentioned held on a Monday and Thursday, here you can speak with Charles who can provide further advice and recommendations.

[G Rec]

Days Since Last Betting: 257

Thanks Dark Energy. Back for another week and happy to be back into a routine again. I have started the week with decent exercise, diet, and visiting the forum and hope to continue that throughout the week.

[G Rec]

Days Since Last Betting: 254

It has been a while since I last posted, but happy to report that I have remained gamble-free. Hoping to get back to more of a routine this week including reading and contributing in the forum.

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Hi Gigi71,

Welcome to the forum and well done on taking a positive step by admitting you have a problem, and coming here. I like most on here, can relate to the majority of things you have mentioned, losing family money, never having enough money to live, being stressed, feeling like letting the family down etc.etc. The news is that if you can stay gamble free, over time things will get better and easier.

In terms of where to start, I would strongly recommend the new member groups that are held on Mondays on Thursdays. In these meetings, Charles will listen to your specific situation, and provide personal advice on specific next steps that you can take such as putting barriers in place. being accountable for money spent etc etc.

I look forward to following your journey on here.

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Hi MK5

Great to see your days getting higher and higher. Well done.

You mentioned putting barriers in place, I would love to hear about what barriers you have found the most useful? They may be helpful to others reading this. Thanks

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Days Since Last Betting: 236

Another week over, and feeling fairly good. I didn’t fully hit the targets I set for myself, but made some progress on each item, and hoping to improve further for next week.

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