My father was an alcoholic who FINALLY was successfully treated and never drank again. I know how they say that alcoholics can't have ANY alcohol. Well doing the Forget the Joneses FTJ) project has helped me understand that better. I didn't post this in FTJ because I think it's broader than just that.

I was trying to quit eating out or getting carry out so much and for our family to actually eat food I prepared at home. And also to stop going through drive thrus to get fizzy diet cokes. Well after about 10 days of being "perfect" I broke down last Thurs and wrote about how I got a pizza for dinner since we were so harried. Everyone was so nice and said to forgive myself, but then what happens? It becomes easier to say...well just one McD's Diet coke, and then just this one dinner out on the wknd, then.....so over the wknd we cheated several MORE times.

Finally Sun I said "enough" and went to the grocery and recommitted to the project. So far so good. But it just brought home to me, that WHATEVER weaknesses people have...whether it's eating out, eating too much, spending too much, drinking too much...it's so easy to say, "Well just this one time won't hurt" or "Just one more". It's almost easier to go cold turkey than to cut back, because cutting back allows you to rationalize.

What are your thoughts on this???? Anyone else feel this way?

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Yes! you took the words right out of my mouth! seriously, say last week, i went to Walgreens to get some milk, i had a $6 RR that had to be used up so i thought i'd buy some stuff i need anyways and get it for free! well while i was there i was like ooooohhh christmas is 90%!! wow! i need to buy 20 votives...WHO in their right mind buys 20 votives!!!! well obviously me.. but you see what i mean! but i completely agree with you!

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My choices yesterday create my today. My choices today create my tomorrow.

It's like dieting, you're denying yourself and you start to obsess and then you cave in. Then there's the regret. I've been there too! I do it with anything related to food or money. I find it fun to be frugal or be on a diet for the first few days or weeks and then I kind of have this wave of justifciation.

I haven't done so well on the spending freeze (or diet for that matter ) as I would have liked. But it has been an eye opening experience. I feel that I'm a lot more cognitive about my decisions now. You just have to move on...

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Ordinary riches can be stolen; real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you. ~Oscar Wilde

Whew! For a minute there I thought you were going to confess to us that you were an alcoholic!

Yes it's hard to cut back on a habit. Thankfully, eating out isn't as dangerous as drinking, so instead of going cold turkey, maybe you could pick one or two days out of the week for your family to eat take-out so you don't feel so deprived. I realize that this doesn't follow the FTJ project, but it may be easier for you to slowly cut back on this than to completely stop.

Good luck!

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OOOPS!!!! Didn't mean to freak you out there I have many flaws and vices but so far that's not one.

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The important thing is that you are confessing and getting right back on the wagon. You are on the right track.

Pop is not on my needs list and I have been craving a diet pepsi like crazy. I didn't break down but when I was over at my Mom's yesterday, she asked, "Would you like anything to drink?" I asked her if she had a diet pepsi. She did. It tasted soooooo good. Even being away from it for a while made it taste all the better.

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After a lifetime of harping on my mom to quit smoking, I stopped. I couldn't go a week w/o chocolate.