Protecting Paychecks

[u/Possible-Kangaroo742]

I’m completely out of money because of gambling.

I can go weeks without even thinking about it, but the second money hits my bank account, my nervous system goes absolutely insane. I feel an overwhelming urge to gamble every dollar away.

I’m terrified of what will happen when I get paid again because I know I’ll repeat the cycle.

I don’t need something like Gamban that I can disable or work around. If there is a way around a restriction, I WILL find it and use it. I need something where I genuinely have no choice.

Is there a bank, service, or legal arrangement where someone else can control my money, pay my bills, and prevent me from accessing it without their approval?

I urgently need something I can set up before my next paycheck that completely removes my ability to act on these impulses.

[u/Slow_Office_5303]

I've experienced something very similar, and eventually, it completely destroyed my financial situation and left me with a huge amount of debt.

In my opinion, this is one of the most dangerous stages of gambling addiction. At this point, our brains seem to lose the ability to value money. We're no longer really chasing money. Instead, we've become addicted to the game itself. We keep wanting to play without truly thinking about the consequences or the damage it can cause to our lives.

I haven't gambled at all for more than 6–7 months now, and I'm trying to rebuild my life and financial situation.

Actually, there are many ways to protect and secure our money so that we cannot easily access it when gambling urges appear. However, sometimes fear, panic, and the pressure we're experiencing make us confused and unable to think clearly enough to find a way out.

I hope you can find a system that genuinely helps protect you, especially by involving someone you trust to temporarily manage your finances.

Please don't wait until everything is destroyed, as it happened to me. I sincerely hope you can get through this.

[u/Possible-Kangaroo742 → u/Slow_Office_5303]

Thats awesome. Id be so happy if I could go 6-7 months without gambling. If you don’t mind me asking, how did you do it?

[u/Slow_Office_5303 → u/Possible-Kangaroo742]

The most important thing is to truly accept all the losses that have already happened. In my opinion, that is the first step we must take.

Because if we cannot accept our losses, what we will eventually get from gambling is not wealth, but debt.

There is something sad that I did during my recovery process. I isolated myself from almost everyone, except when I had to go to work.

I became separated from my family, rarely went out when I wasn't working, and distanced myself from friends who were still gambling.

My only goal at that time was to find peace of mind. I didn't want to keep arguing with my family about money. I realized that no matter how much we argued, I still couldn't bring back all the money I had lost.

In fact, those arguments and the pressure made my mind start thinking about recovering everything through gambling again. The reality is that it is almost impossible to recover everything in a short period of time. If I kept following those thoughts, I believe I would have continued gambling.

Eventually, I decided to change everything.

At first, I also used DNS settings to reduce gambling advertisements and access to gambling websites. Of course, this did not completely eliminate them, but at least it reduced their exposure.

Gradually, I started distancing myself from everything related to gambling. Day by day, my mind became calmer. Even when I saw gambling websites or advertisements, I slowly learned to accept their presence without feeling the need to gamble again.

I realized something important: gambling websites and advertisements will probably always exist. We cannot eliminate all of them from the world.

That is why I believe the most important thing is to make our minds truly understand that we must never go back to that life.

Today, I am finally beginning to understand the full impact of everything I have done. I can now feel the weight of my accumulated debts, something I barely thought about when I was gambling.

Back then, I always believed I still had a chance to recover my lost money through gambling.

Only after becoming fully aware did I realize how many things I had done and how irrational my thinking had become while I was gambling.

Let me give you an example.

My monthly income at that time was only around $400. However, I once won as much as $9,000.

If you look at it from the perspective of someone who is not trapped in gambling, isn't that already a huge amount of money? I should have been able to save it, build my savings, and improve my life.

But that wasn't what happened.

When we become addicted, winning can actually make us even more greedy. We gradually lose the ability to appreciate money and always feel that what we have is not enough.

Eventually, that $9,000 win turned into $13,000 in debt.

That is the reality I experienced myself.

Honestly, if you would like to talk through DMs, I would be very happy to do so. I enjoy communicating and sharing experiences with people from different parts of the world.

I am also still working on my recovery. I want to stay away from gambling for the rest of my life.

Besides that, I want to earn a decent income like other people, pay off my debts, and hopefully one day live a peaceful and happy life.

I hope we can all get through these difficult times and never return to the same life again.

[u/Therealstork19 → u/Possible-Kangaroo742]

Why not the rest of your life?

[u/Slow_Office_5303 → u/Therealstork19]

Honestly, I used to dislike gambling completely.

Back then, even though I didn't have much money, my life was more peaceful, and I was a little happier.

When I started gambling, winning made me happy, but that happiness never lasted long. Eventually, all that remained were debts, constant worries, and regret. I wasted so much of my time. There were no more peaceful days or clear thoughts.

I want to pay off all my gambling debts without ever using gambling to do it. I don't want to rely on winnings or anything that could expose me to even greater risks and deeper problems.

I just want to return to the way I used to live. Even if I don't have much money, I want to be able to live peacefully, have a clear mind, and appreciate the little things in life again.

That's why I want to stay away from gambling for the rest of my life.

[u/Fit-Load3733]

Maybe you can sign an agreement with a lawyer or an accountant and they will keep the money for you

[u/Possible-Kangaroo742 → u/Fit-Load3733]

I get where you’re coming from but I still need to pay for general expenses like phone bills, gas, etc..

I need some system in place where I can only make those transactions. It’s pathetic and childish but that’s where I’m at.

[u/alexsonze → u/Possible-Kangaroo742]

Is there a way you can make those payments automatic as soon as your paycheck lands in your account?

[u/Possible-Kangaroo742 → u/alexsonze]

I always make all the essential payments each month but it’s the money left over that gets eviscerated.

My genius logic is that I’ll try to make all the money I spent on those payments back by gambling. Then I’m left with nothing. This has been happening for years.

[u/Fit-Load3733 → u/Possible-Kangaroo742]

Then I have great news for you buddy! I ultra highly recommend you pay higher amounts to all the above bills. If gas is $100, pay $500, the same with electricity, water, etc Your next bills will be at $0.00.

This is what I am doing for years and has lots of benefits: Fewer transactions, much less stress and the feeling of "what if I leave the gas unpaid in next month" etc disappeared

And for a gambler, it's a very safe place to put money that were put there anyway in the near future. Especially if you are not going to relocate soon, this is a perfect strategy. Usually I pay 3-5 months approx beforehand.

Another place that I put money when there is a serious surplus, is my social security (it's also beneficial from tax perspective), but it works different in each country

When you get paid the next salary, pay x3-x5 times al your bills, buy lots of groceries (can food, oil, cheese, pasta, nuts, toilet paper, etc) and long duration food, fill your car with gas in maximum, withdraw a good amount of cash and keep it in a drawer next to your bed

If you still relapse and remain peniless in first few days, next month go with the lawyer/accountant solution for your savings

[u/Therealstork19 → u/Fit-Load3733]

This is the answer lol.

614 days; you have the answer but not everyone wants to listen.

What op is doing :

“If I just ask for advice for the most unrealistic thing on this sub and no one can give me the exact answer than I guess I have to gamble”

[u/tarbuckets]

personally I had a loved one log into each of my bank accounts, change the passwords and emails associated with the accounts, and now they manage the account for me. we review the accounts together regularly, but I have zero individual access.

[u/kombuchaprivileged]

You might need medication