I also realized that spending money on things when I was feeling depressed made me feel better for the moment.....but the things really didn't make me feel better in reality.

What I do is make up a budget.....I have specific bills that have to be paid & that money comes out of my income before food or anything else. If there is money for food, great, if not, I luckily have a freezer with a lot of food that I bought previous months, so I have plenty to eat these months when I don't have any extra money.

I have to be very careful on the spending....there are many things I would want to buy, but have to analyze everything very carefully & if I don't NEED it, I don't buy it.

It was hard when I was working & had an excellent income, I couldn't decide which thing I wanted, so I would just buy them all.....now I can't do that. I actually would love to be saving money for something other than a bill I know is due the next year (property taxes). It's wonderful to have money there for an emergency, or money for when I really want something special.

Budgeting is the only way & then sticking to that budget by holding myself accountable daily to my spending practices. It's NOT FUN, but it's RESPONSIBLE.