Weaning myself off of the lottery

Reply #24

morgothaod — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 03:34:32 GMT

It's tempting to buy tickets when you work in a place that sells them. I have decided to leave my debit card at home so I won't be tempted to withdraw money.

Reply #23

morgothaod — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 03:03:20 GMT

I don't buy scratchers every day. Maybe 1 or 2 times a month, I may decide to spend $20 on a ticket (Throughout the month, I'll probably spend $4 a week on number games). Anyways, when I do spend $20 on a scratcher and lose, I'll decide to buy another ticket to make up for my loss. Then I keep losing and within a few minutes, I may be down $60-100. I'm getting rid of my services to make up for my losses. So for September, October, November, and December, I'll save $360. I'm hoping that I'll be a... [ More ]

Reply #22

Artist77 — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 23:57:11 GMT

God tests us all on occason. You just made a mistake that you can recover from. You did not sell your first born or commit murder. Things do look better in the morning. Take a walk and get those endorphins going.

Reply #21

mypiemaster — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 21:22:37 GMT

I hear you. Life is full of ups and downs. The fun starts when you are down and pull yourself up by the boot straps. I hope you are not contemplating on doing something rash to yourself or to somebody else. If it gets unbearable, please dial 911 FOR HELP.

Reply #20

noise-gate — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 20:10:24 GMT

People who have battled far worse have simply : Walked Away. I know its easier said than done, but if you done with the TV Internet, you three quarters of the way there. I hope you get to the other side of your tunnel. All the best moving forward.

Reply #19

collegem$ — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 19:25:41 GMT

Please read The Power of Habit for a book.

Listen to it audio, if you are not much on reading.

It could help.

Something has you triggered.

And it s not the TV,cable or Internet fix or take away.

Punish is a strong word and strong word to use on yourself.

Reply #18

MaximumMillions — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 19:08:50 GMT

I don't think punishment and self hatred will work for you.

If you are a problem gambler you might want to look into therapy and if that is not an option (because of cost) maybe join a self help group. Gamblers Anonymous

Reply #17

morgothaod — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 15:15:31 GMT

Been struggling with my rules, I ended up wasting $200 in 2 days on scratchers. A new low point in my life... I decided to punish myself by getting rid of my TV and internet service for the rest of the year. I have to stop gambling. Don't end up like me guys.

Reply #16

morgothaod — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 14:58:24 GMT

I was playing the different types of lottery games and $1-20 scratchers. The plan now was to play a lottery game with a 1 in 3 million odds of winning (Instead of the more difficult games). I guess in the back of my mind; I believe that I need to win money to get out of the job that I dislike. I'm not sure what my passion in life is, so I feel stuck in a retail job and I dislike what I majored in in college (It is also hard to find a job in the field because I have no experience doing it).

Reply #15

river26 — Tue, 14 Jul 2015 18:32:59 GMT

very smart thing to do im 70 being hooked for 50yrs never won big, i wish i had all the money i spent

Reply #14

JeetKuneDoLotto — Tue, 14 Jul 2015 18:27:35 GMT

Wean when you lose, not when you win.

Reply #13

mypiemaster — Tue, 14 Jul 2015 12:55:55 GMT

I will keep playing because I like to play but my winnings come from p5 not PB or MM.

Reply #12

dr65 — Tue, 14 Jul 2015 04:18:45 GMT

If you want to stop and don't immediately then you're still hanging onto what

you want to eliminate. You're easing out of it and what that says to me is you

are hoping twice per week gets you a win, then once per week, then once per

month, then you'll stop? Instead of the plan being one where you quit what

you know isn't making you happy and focus on what might make you happy,

you have two plans going. This isn't smoking. You are saying there are more

important things in life... [ More ]

Reply #11

Funtimz — Tue, 14 Jul 2015 01:59:07 GMT

Sounds like a good plan. I have to limit my lottery funds because of being a single parent and I still like to do other things like travel. And eat out and shop...

Reply #10

morgothaod — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 22:37:25 GMT

That is what I want to achieve. I have learned a bit about this thing called minimalism and it sounds appealing to me. So far, I have donated about 13 boxes of things to the Salvation Army. Besides getting rid of some of the physical junk in my life that I stopped using, I have also freed up a little bit of mental junk by uninstalling programs on my computer that I don't use (I now don't have a ton of icons on my desktop).

I ultimately want to wean myself from internet usage (I spend a ton o... [ More ]

Reply #9

TheSatyr — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 21:30:52 GMT

wish you luck

Reply #8

maringoman — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 21:01:58 GMT

Yessir. That's right. I realise that I most likely won't win big so I'm proceeding very cautiously.

Reply #7

RJOh — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 20:52:23 GMT

Take up smoking and drinking. When ever I'm buying lottery ticket someone picking up a six pack or a carton of cigarettes always ask me why I'm wasting my money on lottery tickets and tells me they stop doing that a long time ago. Apparently when you waste your money on other things, you don't have any left for lottery tickets.

Reply #6

Crazy Wombat — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 20:41:36 GMT

maringoman ... I have to agree with you. I've stopped playing many times through the years on the big games but after a few weeks I'm thinking ... I should be buying a ticket on MM and PB, maybe one night everything will change ... it's happened for other people.

However, it's more likely that your bottom post line will be the real fact ... That money's gone forever !!!

...

Reply #5

maringoman — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 20:12:23 GMT

I don't know how to ignore $20M+ prize that can be won by spending $2 so I think I'll keep playing MM PB at the pace of a ticket a draw.

Reply #4

haymaker — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 17:53:05 GMT

You didn't mention if you play your own #s

Easier to quit w/ QPs, you won't worry about your #s coming out when you skip a game.

I changed to QPs when they changed the matrix on the cash 5 game, essentially making it a new game,

and cut my budget in half when I became an occasional player on MM PB.

when PB changes in the fall I will quit it altogether.

Reply #3

pickone4me — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 16:47:08 GMT

Sounds like a good plan, good luck.

Reply #2

noise-gate — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 14:30:25 GMT

Whatever brings you satisfaction Morg.

Reply #1

Raven62 — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 13:45:40 GMT

Simple Living Can Make us More Engaged in the Things that Matter in our Life

Weaning myself off of the lottery

morgothaod — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 13:13:29 GMT

I want to free my mind and try to get rid of my thoughts of winning it big. Don't get me wrong, that would be nice but I need to be realistic too. Instead of thinking about money so much, I would like to spend more time focusing on the things in my life that are most important. Those things to me are family, friends, relationships, and personal growth. I believe by changing my gambling habits, I'll make the thoughts of striking it big less and replace them with other things that really matter. T... [ More ]