Taking5

I drank a fifth of Whiskey daily.

savexourxship

For about a year I drank a 12 pack a day, or four 40's. About a month before I quit, I switched to Vodka. I would drink a handle every 3 days.

Bamboozle

5 liters of wine in a 24 hour period at my worst. I had empty boxes all over my apartment. What a mess...

lauraandersen4

I'm really sorry... I hope you are truthful on here because how I determined that I didn't believe this post is that it would imply that you would spend approximately $1000 PER MONTH ON ALCOHOL. You must have had one HECK of a job and maintained it while practically drunk... and should be more happy medically speaking that you haven't ended up in the hospital by now. That is the cost of our rent and then another half. I don't know many who could afford that much of a financial blow.

THAT is why I have a VERY hard time buying your story. Then again, if true good luck with maintaining your sobriety...

Jomey

Hey Laura, I don't know if Streetpizza is telling the truth or not, obviously, but there are people who hold jobs, appear to be living "normal" lives and are also shopping-lifting their alcohol, stealing from their family members and friends, mooching money from family members and friends, selling or pawning personal items, etc. to get their booze.

My brother happened to be one of them, so I know up close and personal about having him come to visit and later thinking, I thought I had a $10 in my wallet? Oh well, I guess I spent it or forgot about it or DH took it. Or he would show up, visit for a few minutes and say he had promised my nephew pizza on the way but he forgot his wallet, could he borrow a $20? Things like that happened a lot before we realized it was all going to booze and put a stop to it.

My brother has not worked in over a year and yet he finds the money for 2 cases of beer a day. I don't dare ask how but he is never without it.

No reflection on you Streetpizza.

streetpizza

Well its not like I was going around drinking Crown royal and Sam adams... it was more like McCormick's rum ($6.50/fifth) and Busch Light ($20/case). It was probably more like $400/month... maybe $500 if you factor in the tobacco use. I promise, I've spent enough on alcohol in one Vegas trip to basically keep me drunk for 2-3 months before.

Plus, when your stomach is in shambles all the time, its hard to eat the same amount of food you usually do, so it caused my grocery bill to go down, too.

hopeful999

3-4 bottles of wine per week is my low point. That is one bottle per night, 3-4 times per week. Does not sound like a lot compared to others, but I'm less than 100 pounds in weight.

Caria

i could drink a big bottle of wine every other day ... every week the same thing. when i started moving to rum or vodka (to not smell for my family) i could drink at least 5 glasses with coke but they were pretty big glasses. not good..not good at all.

exquisitered

Well, I believe you streetpizza. I spent about $150-200 dollars a week ($600 to $800/month) on alcohol the last year or so I was drinking. And drank anywhere from 15 to 30+ drinks a day. And I'm a woman who weighs 115 lbs! I'm not rich, I just put it before groceries, bills, or anything else. :-(

Boleo

At the height of my drinking I was consuming about 1 liter (32 ounces) of Vodka a day and going through 2 - 3 cases of Ice Beer on weekends.

By no means am I some kind of record holder. I know of some who drank 2 - 3 fifths (24 ounces each) of hard liquor daily.

CALYNN

I also believe streetpizza. Up until April, I was spending over $1,200/month on wine. 2 or more $20+ bottles of wine a day (wine snob). I don't see why that's so unbelievable...

rhnorment

Jeesh, the attack on streetpizza is a little uncalled for. 12-14 shots a day does not mean he was at a bar paying retail.

I drank a liter of vodka every night and spent about $500 per month doing it. His story is very believable.

slimjim30

Same here. I was spending about $200 a week on alcohol when I quit.

I always bought beer by the 6 pack which costs more. I rationalised that if I bought two 6 packs it might cost a bit more, but then I wouldn't drink any more than 12 beers that night. I also bought a lot of imported beers.

It never seemed like much money at the time but I cringe to think about it. Since I quit I've bought a piece of new furniture and a new laptop with the spare money!

lauraandersen4

I'm just failing to understand what kind of jobs you people must have had to support this? Maybe I'm lucky that I'm a student. I mean really? Who has 12,000/yr to just throw away? I could see how someone would maybe spend $200... maybe $300/month and get away with it... but over $10K over a year?

I wouldn't even know how to come up with that much extra money... unless I let them cut off my electricity and evict me.

Then again... as a previous poster said... I'm not into stealing either.

freeflyin

the last time I drank I had 2 large melomn martini's then went too the liquor store and bough a pint of 101 proof wild turkey and a tall can. I drank all that within about 2 hours.

should have died

BUT-0- blacked out and survived to suffer another day.

it's got to stop!

FF

exquisitered

Well I am only a high school graduate, so not a very good job. LOL

But really, when it's your #1 priority it isn't a stretch at all to say the majority of your $ goes to alcohol.

Plus I am married with no kids so that helped, but honestly when you HAVE to have it you find a way, I guess.

I'm so thankful I don't feel like I HAVE to have it today!

Astro

Laura, I put my alcohol purchases before everything else too. If it meant my kids ate ramen noodles instead of a decent meal, then so be it. I always factored the alcohol figure into my shopping trips, whatever was left over after I hit the liquor aisle was used for food and necessities.

I used to be a micro-brew and single malt scotch snob. The last few months before I quit, quantity was more important than quality. Instead of Samuel Adams I drank Schlitz, dropped the scotch and drank the cheapest vodka I could find. The last day I drank, the only thing left in the house was dry vermouth and lemonade. So that was my last drunk. Blech!

lauraandersen4

It's not the quantity I'm not believing... it is the EXPENSE! HS!

CALYNN

Not all alcoholics are homeless & poor! My ex-boss was a "functioning" alcoholic (also a wine snob) making over $1M/year. I guarantee you he "threw away" well over $40k/year on wine.

Just because you don't know anyone who could do that, doesn't mean there aren't any (a lot) out there...

lauraandersen4

I'm glad too... I mean for your sake. I know of 3 medically diagnosed alcoholics close to me... and NONE of them went so far overboard. As addicted as they were to alcohol... they were more addicted to the thought of keeping a roof over their head. Granted there are different stages etc.