When you become addicted to drugs or alcohol, you probably don’t care very much about your finances. If you can afford it, you likely spend blindly, purchasing substances until you have no money left. That’s how many homeless addicts stay homeless—the mentality is not to acquire money to use on getting food, shelter, or other necessities to survive, but rather, it’s to get money for more alcohol and drugs. That’s the central focus. Money’s no longer for material possessions, rather, it’s for your preferred high—that’s the definition of money for the addict.

A key sign of alcoholism is spending a great deal of money on alcohol, even when you can’t afford it. When you have less money because you’re spending more and more on alcohol, that’s when it’s time to take charge of your situation.

But in recovery from addiction, you might find that you have more money than you thought. When you discover that your wallet isn’t being drained by your addiction, you may very likely some leftover, to save.

Here’s some tips for keeping track of the money you do have:

-Check out this alcohol spending calculator if you’re curious about your money habits when it comes to alcohol. If it’s far greater than you thought, it’s time to reconsider your relationship with drinking.

-Use a budget tool like Mint to keep track of your budget.

-Think about creating a sobriety toolkit in order to stay on track.

Recovering from addiction involves a great deal of perseverance, and one of the great side effects of going through recovery is the improvement of finances, which is common for many recovering addicts. It doesn’t take much effort to scoop up the savings from something you no longer spend money on. It’s yet another opportunity to shape your sober life the best way you see fit—to improve yourself, to reach your loftiest sobriety goals.