Learning About Money And a Sober Lifestyle

Drug rehab is a time for learning.  Not only do you learn about living without the direct influence of drugs and alcohol, but you also learn how to manage your responsibilities with good life skills.  One of those important skills is money management.  We’ll look at a few key aspects of a sober lifestyle and good money habits.

Find Money Management Mentor

It may help you to consider you as a student of sobriety.  Yes, that may sound weird at first, but it makes a point.  You will be learning and even relearning how to do many independent skills.  Money management is challenging to take on all at once.  It can take time to develop good habits and understand your needs.  For something this important, you can benefit from having a mentor.

Maybe this is a family member or friend who just sits with you once a month to double check your math.  Or maybe your sponsor can share some helpful tips they learned from their journey of recovery.  It may help to take a basic budgeting class online or from a local school in your community.

Understand Your Emotions About Money

Every person who understands and uses money has feelings about it.  You may not even realize your emotional connections to money until you sit down and really consider them.  Did you grow up with money worries or were things fairly stable?  How did you use money when you were high or drunk?  How much money did you spend on your drug or alcohol addiction (directly on the chemicals and indirectly through consequences).

This could be somewhat stressful to do, so you might consider doing this with your sponsor or a close friend.  You may have also explored this sometime during your drug rehab experience or it might be part of an ongoing outpatient drug treatment program.  When you understand your emotional connection with money, you will be less likely to make unwise or irrational decisions with it.

Getting Back On Solid Financial Ground

What are a few of your long term financial goals?  This question can help you look beyond the immediate financial recovery period to see what could be ahead for you.  Are you getting close to retirement age?  Do you have a lot of debt?  Now that you are sober are you able to get a better job?  Do you need to start a savings fund?

When you can clearly identify some long term goals, you can start building greater financial security.  Decide what is most important to you and then you can come up with ways to accomplish them.  You may need to move to a smaller home or cut some expenses.  Whatever the case, you can learn to think about what you’ll need beyond just the next paycheck.

Money and Drug Addiction Recovery

Drug addiction recovery goes beyond just not drinking or using drugs.  You need to make some major lifestyle changes to keep a sober lifestyle going.  Money issues can be complicated, but they are easier to manage when you are sober.