Jauburn

How much did you or do you spend on booze? Break it down any way you want. By day, by week, by year. Factor in jobs lost, cost of lawyers to fight DUIs if you want. For me it was easily a hundred each week. I never went cheap, though. Only the good stuff.

Stang

I could have bought my house cash for what I spent easily.

Taking5

I drank a house too. I was a bar drinker, and I had to be the big shot, drinking top shelf bourbon. I easily drank $400 - $500 a week for 10 years. Do the math.

savexourxship

$100-150 a week on booze
$60 on ciggs
Thousands on drunk ebaying or amazon
Accidents, insurance surcharges, thousands
Court fees, fines, probation fees, thousands

Being overly generous to people I didn't really know, and people I was friends with while drunk, thousands

Biggest factor, losing a great job 2 years ago, directly as a result of doing something stupid while drunk, $150,000

Oh yeah, still unemployed because of the criminal record I bought myself, all be it only one charge, when they say it sticks, they mean it.

JohnnyDetox

OMG. Don't even want to know! Party favours alone...

Muunray

Too much.
Lived on beans and government cheese and stolen bread just so i could spend my measly wages on alcohol.

lovetodrink

$300-500 a week easily
but that includes some other party favors

thisisme

I drive what I have saved since being sober.
I drive a very nice Acura, new and paid for with cash.

priceyjunk

You've given me an idea, every time I get that little voice suggesting that it's a good time to reward myself with a drink, I'll just put it aside.

WhySoSerious

id spend probably $40-60 a week. Buy me an 18 pack and a fifth of jack on a friday and drink it all friday night and saturday night. I still dip so i spend probably $12-15 a week on 3 cans of that at 4.35 each.

not that bad but still looking at $300 a month that i could use for my credit cards (which are so high because of my drinking when i was unemployed).

priceyjunk

Just thinking.... About 50 dollars a week, more when I used to smoke. Maybe I should add in the 20-30 dollars I'd spend on greasy hangover food

Justfor1

I spent over 1.5 million dollars.

vichloe

Probably $500.00 per month on pricey gin and vodka.

InsertNameHere

What is an 18 pack of cheap beer say $15 so that at least 5 days a week then that plus the 50 dollar bar tab plus the $20 cab ride to the bar and back (split with a friend) so around $180 dollars a week with going out twice on the weekends and probably still buying an 18 pack on sunday. plus the carton of smokes for $40 bucks makes it $220 a week roughly, so $11,440 a year and that isn't factoring in lost money gave away money, or more expensive trips (one word Vegas). Yeah just wasting away a third of my pay, and back when I wasn't getting paid as much I litteraly spent entire paychecks on a weekend out.

INH

Watcher

With my familiar it was roughly 100 bucks a week. When I got to go "shopping" to the city and outside my little burg it was much, much more.

I once walked out of a Binney's in Des Plaines on a Friday with a box of bombers, singles and six packs that easily exceeded 350 bucks, and it was gone by Sunday morning.

DayTrader

Somewhere between $400 and $700 thousand dollars in total. And frankly, it's probably more than that but totaling it all up doesn't help me any so I don't do it. And really, what price do you put on: a marriage, a relationship with parents, a relationship with kids, friends, family, missed opportunities......etc? The "cost" of alcoholism is FAR more than just what we spent on the actual booze.

Given how much better life is practicing the 12 steps.....given the hope I usually walk around with now. Given that I'm sober and actually have a chance at being successful AND happy....at the same time. Given all the possibilities that are ahead of me....... I think it was a pretty good deal and money well well blown. ("spent" doesn't seem to fit.. )

Sure, I'd like to have it back but if that meant giving up the lesson and going back to relive those last 10 years or so......no thanks. Don't get me wrong though.....I'd take the lesson AND the money.....lol.

Justfor1

I was just being silly about 1.5million. I just feel sometimes that these questions turn into a big contest. Honest, towards the end I stopped using drugs (too much money) and drank cheap vodka and used my food stamp card to buy vanilla extract, cooking sherry ect.. to drink.

penny74

Not to mention the cost of collateral damage....

FlyerFan

I wasn't into it like super majorly, but I was spending at least 100 bucks a week (which is a lot considering i work for minimum wage)