Gambling addiction – dealing with money

Money gives gambling its fascination. Games without money offer little excitement. At the same time, money is associated with dreams of wealth and power and a carefree life. Getting the basics of everyday life like food, clothing and housing requires money. Since, on the one hand, hardly anything works without money and, on the other hand, gambling is a very expensive affair, it is necessary to clarify your own relationship to money and your own handling of money, in order to distance yourself from gambling, or achieving freedom of gambling.

Sometimes the thought of money is unpleasant: “Money only brought me misfortune.” “I don’t want to have anything to do with it anymore.” “Everything is now regulated by my guardian.” That is understandable. But try to imagine, how you want to shape your life in the future without having to worry about money.

Experience has shown that neither extreme thriftiness nor extreme wasting of money leads to satisfaction. Rather, it is the middle between the two that contributes to a successful lifestyle.

Gambling addiction – debts

If you want to deal responsibly with your financial situation, you should also immediately start repaying existing debts. Debts cause a guilty conscience. Then dissatisfaction grows again and with it the risk that the craving for gambling increases. Even if you have very little financial leeway, you should definitely start repaying the debt.

Gambling addiction – budget

The basis for the planned use of money is a complete list of income and expenditure. Once all income and all costs have been recorded, it can be checked which expenditures are actually necessary and which may also be dispensed with. In any case, it must be ensured that the expenditure does not exceed the income.

An exact balance between income and expenditure with no amount of money left, from which one can afford something pleasant, leads to dissatisfaction and may also increase the desire to gamble again. Design your income and expenses so that there is still a certain remaining amount left, if only a small one. This particularly applies, if you have to pay off substantial debts.

Here is a concrete suggestion: If you have deducted the necessary expenses including the repayment of debts from your income, divide the amount of money that is then left into three parts.

one third as reserves for larger replacement purchases or repairs (washing machine, car or similar),
one third for positive savings goals (television, computer, vacation trip or similar).
the last third for pleasant things in everyday life (ice cream, a cinema ticket, or similar).

This downloadable Excel folder serves to prepare a budget analysis as a planning basis for further dealing with financial matters and contains 4 sheets: