One of the main ways Alcoholism affects a person's life is through the financial hardships it creates. I am personally a budgeter and always left money in my budget for drinking. The lack of immediate monetary issues is one of the reasons I probably drank for so long. While it may not have affected my bills it has drastically affected my savings. The approximately $300 a month I've spent on drinking for 10 years is quite a hefty sum to not have saved.
Let's Think About This
How much is $300 over 10 years? The simple math is $36,000. Yes, $36,000. However, the Accounting graduate in me knows it's a way higher monetary value than $36,000. For this scenario, I will use the United States historical long-term savings rate from Measuring Worth and average the interest savings rate for the ten-year period. This will be the savings interest value used for calculation purposes.
2016 has not been updated for this chart, but I will keep the rate at zero for the calculation because the long-term interest rate is being used and we are looking for the 2017 total, so the 0% interest rate shouldn't skew the numbers too much. The average rate calculates to 4.2% interest.
I will use the savings calculator from the calculator site as it allows you to make an initial investment, select an interest rate, and deposit monthly payments to arrive at the total saved.
You ready to look at the damage? I don't know that I am
Source: Giphy
Well, I Can't Dwell On The Past
"Every morning brings new potential, but if you dwell on the misfortunes of the day before, you tend to overlook tremendous opportunities."
-Harvey Mackay
Ok, so what have I been doing with all this extra fundage I have from not drinking? I've been investing it! In the last 50 days, I have managed to double $350 by investing in cryptocurrency and purchased 65 .eth addresses with the other $150 .The money I gained from crypto has been reinvested. It's not in shit coins either. I've spent a lot of time researching coins and the work has paid off by a more than spectacular return. I believe the .eth addresses will turn into a decent investment also.
I can't dwell on the past, but I can focus on what I can do to improve my future.
Other Tidbits
I've had a few Steemians contact me on Facebook via Private Message over the weekend, as I hadn't posted in a few days. It's been the norm that when I disappear it's because I have started drinking again. Thank God that is not the case! I also wanted to say I appreciate the outreach.
I just needed to step away and regroup. My wife worked all weekend and the children spent most of each day with their cousins and Grandparents. I studied different cryptocurrencies, worked on the @barrydutton window tabs post, and watched a few television series(American Gods, Badlands, and The 100) that I am way behind on. It's the first time I have watched television in weeks. It was sort of nice to be brain-dead and veg out for a while as I have been working days on end. I am glad I took the personal time as I feel like I was able to unwind and I don't feel as stressed.
There is tons o' stuff I need to catch up on. There is a post I need to do for part 3 of the Ethereum Series. I have most of the technical steps figured out for it, but there are still a few things I need to finalize. I still need to write another letter to the future Marine in Bootcamp. This is important to me and it's something I wanted to accomplish sooner. I intend to accomplish this when I get up, but I need to check his Bootcamp schedule first because I have a feeling he will be finished very soon. I additionally wanted to start writing another Marine.
I don't believe I am spreading myself too thin. Keeping busy has been one of the greatest weapons in fighting Alcoholism. The previously mentioned tasks are the few things I need to get finished because my son is ready for a camping trip and truthfully I am ready to spend time with Mother Nature myself, but I need to finish these few tasks first. There is one other task I need to finish, but I have been trying to complete that task for a while and really haven't gotten near to accomplishing it. I have a feeling that task may take weeks to finish.
So, that's where I'm at. Still here. Still sober. Ready to get my head back in the game. Ready to go camping.
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