Sorry all. Like I implied in the OP, I’ll be a drunken fuckwit until Monday. My GF is out of town, by BF (best friend) is out of town, The Air & Water Show is going on, there are neighborhood festivals galore; this is why I love Chicago.
I’d like to offer you large amounts of money for your sobering-up efforts.
Step one: Buy one of those big popcorn tins, the ones with the three flavors inside. Dump the popcorn off into ziplock bags, and wipe the can out real good with a bit of soapy water. Dry thoroughly. Use a boxknife and cut a slit in the lid of the can just large enough to fit a dollar bill folded twice. Then put rubber cement around the inside edge of the lid and put it on the can. Put more around the edge where the lid meets the can. Completely self-proof the lid, in other words.
Step two: Each night when you drive your new alternate route from work to home by-passing the liquor store, take the amount you would have spent in the liquor store that visit, take it home and put it in that can. You won’t miss it, because you’re already used to spending that much out of your budget.
Step three: Keep this up until you can’t cram one more bill into the can lid. Then comes the fun step.
Step four: Using the tool of your choice, chop that can right in half. Count your fortune, stack it into neat piles on your bed, take off your clothes, and jump in it. Roll around for a while. Toss it up in the air and pretend it’s raining money.
Step five: Splurge the shit out of yourself. Clothes, electronics, home furnishings, etc. You earned it.
Good luck!
Someone I know had a minor drinking problem. His solution was to buy a dry ginger ale at that too-convenient store and drink that instead. He said he liked it because it wasn’t really sweet like soda.
Another thing he told me that helped him was keeping busy. He took up a new hobby that he really enjoyed. Part of his problem was that he drank because he didn’t have anything else to do. It became a habit not because he really wanted to drink, but because that was just what he *did *in the evenings.
Unless you’re truly an addict, it’s not like you can never enjoy a beer again. Sometimes people get wrapped up in the idea if they ever have a drink again that they’re failed, and since they’ve already failed, they might as well go back to their bad habits. But I see nothing wrong with having a few beers on a Friday evening after a long week.
This is not a good idea. If you want to stop drinking, stop now. As in right now. It won’t be any easier Monday. What do you do next time the Air&Water Show is going on? What do you do the next time both your girlfriend and best friend are out of town (How is that a reason to drink, by the way? Are you going to drink to celebrate their return too?)?
Just don’t give yourself excuses to drink. Stop now.
What PriceGuy said. It’s never a problem finding reasons to drink – it’s time to start finding reasons to not drink.
The good news is, if you’re not drinking, your life improves in ways you can’t even imagine right now.
Both of these sentences are absolutely true.
After a while of not drinking you find yourself thinking that drinking again would be such a damned shame, such a waste, such a letdown, that just not drinking itself becomes a motivating factor.
Not drinking doesn’t guarantee you a life of leisure, but it sure removes much of the heartache–and that, by comparison, make life seem infinitely better.
And it saves a helluva lot of money.
No reason to apologize to any of us. The fact that you decided you don’t like your drinking and decided to do something about it, is a necessary first step.
And don’t beat yourself up about enjoying this weekend. But one of these days you’re gonna have to decide to cut down, or stop. Maybe next week - maybe next month. And once you try to moderate/abstain - you might screw up. Well, if that happens, just start on your plan - or another plan - again.
You might want to try moderation management. I moderated with varying success before stopping 2+ years ago. And I’d still love to get drunk just about every day. This p.m. after golf, I was sipping my iced tee and the bartender was pouring someone a stiff Tanqueray (my old stand-by). Sure looked good on a hot day. The urge is still there - but it’s just easy to say no these days…
The main thing is to not be a problem drinker. Some folk can drink in moderation. Others have to stop altogether. My experience has been that it is easier to not drink at all, then in moderation. Whenever I would set a limit, I would interpret it as a target or goal.
Some folk - like myself - were able to moderate and discontinue drinking by themself. Other folk like various programs - there are effective alternatives to your various 12-steps.
Keep talking - let us know how it is going…
No advice, but I wanted to wish you luck. Sending supporting thoughts your way. 
That’s what I’ve done. I drastically reduced the amount I drink about six months ago. I let myself drink on the weekends if I feel like it, but I find that I don’t feel like it all that often. Instead of bringing a 12-pack camping this weekend, I grabbed four cans, and only drank one of them. Beer just tastes a little funny to me now.
Since it’s more of a diet than a moral choice, I don’t beat myself up if I’m in a social situation and have a few. And I’m definitely a cheaper date now; my tolerance has gone way down. 
Start looking NOW for something without caffeine to drink in the evenings. If you’re drinking like I did, you’re going to have trouble sleeping for a while and getting wired on Diet Pepsi doesn’t help at all. I finally discovered Diet 7-Up and pineapple juice, plus OTC sleeping pills (probably not the best idea in the world, but it worked for me).
It’s not easy, and it’s not fun, but you can do it if you really want it.
Bobo - sober so long that I can drink a beer occasionally (11 years)
And how do you know if you are an addict? The OP already characterized himself as a “problem drinker” and a “dependent drinker”.
I can only speak for myself, but it was exactly this kind of thinking that ended six years of sobriety for me. I thought since I had quit drinking successfully, I could start drinking non-alcoholic beer. Soon I was having an occasional real beer, then six, and… well you can guess the rest. After three years of drinking again, I decided that sitting in jail for a DUI was a sign, and I accepted the judge’s invitation to go into rehab. I will have nine new years as a recovering alcoholic in October.
Or, not sober. Okay.
Sorry if that sounded a bit snarky, but it’s been my experience that if you are an alcoholic, you cannot drink at all. There is no moderation.
If you are just a heavy drinker (but not an alcoholic), then who cares? Stop if you want, drink if you want. If you’re not an alcoholic, you can have a few beers without a problem.
Heavy drinking is bad for you whether or not you’re an alcoholic. It can still be a problem.
Of course, I am not a professional, but I’d gander to say that you’re a true “addict” if you have no self-control whatsoever. There are the people who cannot control themselves, and then there are the people who will give in if the temptation is just too strong. Then there are the people who just have a bad habit.
The fellow I knew who had a drinking problem fell into the last category. He drank not because he was addicted to alcohol, but because it became a habit to drink in the evenings while he was watching TV. In this case, it wasn’t necessarily the alcohol he was addicted to, but a behavior.
Then, of course, there’s the physical side of it. From the desscriptions the OP has given, it doesn’t sound like he gets the shakes or anything like that, so at this point it seems to be more of a psychological addiction. You can get psychologically addicted to a lot of things: gambling, eating, drinking, etc. In a psychological addiction, the key is to refocus your energy into something productive. An addictive eater can’t swear off food for life, of course-- they have to learn to eat in moderation and fill that need with other things.
I’m very sorry that happened to you. Congratulations on your sobritety.
Only the OP can say if he’s a person who simply cannot control himself where alcohol is concerned. If that is the case, you’re right-- it’d be best just to eschew the stuff forever. But if he finds he can leave half of a six pack in the fridge for a week while he’s focused on other things, I don’t think having a beer or two as a “reward” will hurt him. He just has to know if he’s able to set limits and stick to them.
The hardest part about quitting a bad behavior is really wanting to do it. I’ve made a couple of half-hearted attempts to quit smoking, but I was always hamstringed by the fact that I didn’t really *want *to quit. I enjoy smoking. Until I come to the point where I really, really don’t want to smoke any more, I’ll never be able to kick the habit.
If the “heavy drinker” is not an alcoholic, they can just cut back. If they can’t just cut back, then most likely they’re alcoholics.
Leaving half a six pack alone for a week hardly constitutes setting limits and sticking to them. Many alcoholics are binge drinkers, and can leave it alone for weeks or months at a time. But when they start, they never know when they’ll stop, or what they will do while drinking.
Point taken.
Or maybe there is such thing as an ex-alcoholic. Just because you and some other vocal people define it as a disease that is impossible to overcome and want everyone to live the way you do doesn’t mean that it’s true. I don’t make my living telling people what they can’t do, and think maybe it’s possible for people to change if they really want.
If you’re “just a heavy drinker”, then avoid EJsGirl, for she cares not.
Sorry if that sounded snarky, but it’s been my experience that if you can’t get over your own problems you’re not helping anyone else by telling them what they can’t do.
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Only the OP can know if they are an alcoholic. I would say go to a meeting and find out for yourself.