When I hit bottom and bounced into sobriety, I was soooooo broke I needed professional help to untangle my finances. Mostly through cutting up my existing credit cards and not getting new ones for a couple of years, I finally managed to zoom up to a net worth of zero. In other words, I got out of debt. It was a day Alice (my personal name for HP) and I did some serious, spiritual high-fiving!

I have plastic again, but I use it advisedly—credit card for any travel that needs a reimbursement record or a tax trail; debit card for daily life. As a result of long-term sober spending habits, I almost own a house, do own a couple of non gas-hogging cars, and have some savings. And, more importantly, I have a sense of internal order about finances and life in general.

And, you know, I don’t miss spending a lot of money I don’t have the way I used to when I was still using. For example, it’s the beginning of holiday party season. I’m married to a recluse, but I occasionally sashay out on my own, and I still have a hard time going to a party in last years clothes (progress, not perfection is all I’ll ever claim, in the fashion department). So just last week, I took myself and my debit card to this great store I’ve discovered in a funky part of town that sells gorgeous clothes at about 1/20^th of their retail value. After about twenty minutes of rummaging, I found the most gorgeous pair of kind of floaty black pants at 75% off the already reduced price.

When I was using, I would have marched into some high-priced, designer-ish shop, added to my debt load, and left with a leaden, sock-in-the-stomach feeling that such out-of-control behavior always delivered.

Does sober life rock on all levels, or what?