Where did all this money and time come from?
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: California
Posts: 228
Where did all this money and time come from?
There was a recent post about the money-saving benefit of quitting drinking. Sure, I usually drink about a bottle of wine a day ($10-ish) and then there's the $$ I spend going out to bars ($10-ish a drink, depending, amount may vary).
It's not unheard of for me to spend somewhere near $100 or more a week on alcohol. My husband spends who-knows-how-much on booze as well.
We bring home a nice sum every month, but in the days leading up to payday, it's always "where did all the money go?" and we scratch our heads and talk about how we should shop at Costco more or buy generic or whatever.
We never seem to bring up the giant 100lbs. gorilla in the room which is that we spend close to (or maybe even over sometimes) a GRAND on booze in a month. One THOUSAND dollars. True, we may not ingest all the booze ourselves, as we like to have guests. But that is a lot of money by any standard.
Last night, the kids were playing happily before bed. Sundays are usually a total waste for me because I'm typically a hungover mess and quite likely, already drunk all over again by Sunday evening. And you know how when you're drinking, your house is always a mess and there are dishes in the sink all the time and nothing is ever done? We have a cleaning lady who comes in once a week. But last night, I had all this energy (because I'm loving being sober) and I started doing the dishes, then wiping off the counter tops, then the stove top. Pretty soon I'm mopping the floor and windexing the windows. And this morning, I had to call my cleaning lady and tell her not to come because I cleaned the whole house. That saved me another $100 (my cleaning lady is going to hate me getting sober
).
This weekend the sink got all clogged up and I was going to call the plumber. But because I'm feeling so energized and my mind is working at top-speed, I googled the problem and fixed it myself. I just saved ANOTHER $200, which I credit to my sobriety.
I'm all done with my work, the house is clean, the washing machine is humming, the dogs are walked, I got my work out in. Now what do I do? I suppose I'll just have to go watch Games of Thrones or something!
It's not unheard of for me to spend somewhere near $100 or more a week on alcohol. My husband spends who-knows-how-much on booze as well.
We bring home a nice sum every month, but in the days leading up to payday, it's always "where did all the money go?" and we scratch our heads and talk about how we should shop at Costco more or buy generic or whatever.
We never seem to bring up the giant 100lbs. gorilla in the room which is that we spend close to (or maybe even over sometimes) a GRAND on booze in a month. One THOUSAND dollars. True, we may not ingest all the booze ourselves, as we like to have guests. But that is a lot of money by any standard.
Last night, the kids were playing happily before bed. Sundays are usually a total waste for me because I'm typically a hungover mess and quite likely, already drunk all over again by Sunday evening. And you know how when you're drinking, your house is always a mess and there are dishes in the sink all the time and nothing is ever done? We have a cleaning lady who comes in once a week. But last night, I had all this energy (because I'm loving being sober) and I started doing the dishes, then wiping off the counter tops, then the stove top. Pretty soon I'm mopping the floor and windexing the windows. And this morning, I had to call my cleaning lady and tell her not to come because I cleaned the whole house. That saved me another $100 (my cleaning lady is going to hate me getting sober
).This weekend the sink got all clogged up and I was going to call the plumber. But because I'm feeling so energized and my mind is working at top-speed, I googled the problem and fixed it myself. I just saved ANOTHER $200, which I credit to my sobriety.
I'm all done with my work, the house is clean, the washing machine is humming, the dogs are walked, I got my work out in. Now what do I do? I suppose I'll just have to go watch Games of Thrones or something!
recovering alcoholic
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Posts: 243
Yep. Since I have stopped drinking over a year and a half ago I have had several thousand dollars a year to do something with. I got back into motorcycle riding. My money and my time (what used to be drinking money and drinking time) now goes into motorcycles and riding.
I'm having a blast in sobriety.
I'm having a blast in sobriety.
Sober since 10th April 2012
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Posts: 6,047
Hi Whitefeathers, I completely relate to your post about saving money. I estimated around $50 a week on wine, but I think that's a little low. When I hit my 2 years mark tomorrow I would have saved $5200. But beyond that, like you, I've discovered Google for household jobs and have saved a lot of money on simple jobs like changing washers, unblocking anything, fixing wonky locks, making my own cleaning supplies, cooking and preserving. It sounds like a lot of work but it's not really because modern equipment makes most jobs very quick. I wish I knew this years ago when I had a good income because I would have saved a lot more money than I did.
I also related to your part about the hangovers on Sunday too. I once heard a radio program on how to cope with Christmas and someone said don't be hungover on Christmas Day because that's a time for your children. I always remembered that, and made sure I was clear headed on important days for the children.
I also related to your part about the hangovers on Sunday too. I once heard a radio program on how to cope with Christmas and someone said don't be hungover on Christmas Day because that's a time for your children. I always remembered that, and made sure I was clear headed on important days for the children.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 42
One year (2003), I estimated that I spent between £9,000, and £10,000 on alcohol and drugs
A night out typically costs £100-£150. A 'quiet' night in the pub will cost £60.
Staying at home and drinking will cost £30.
A typical year, I'll spend about £5,000 to -£6000 on alcohol and associated costs.
Taking into account interest and inflation, I've possibly spent up to £100,000 on booze and drugs.
Want to guess what my mortgage currently is??? Yep, £100,000.
Enough said.
A night out typically costs £100-£150. A 'quiet' night in the pub will cost £60.
Staying at home and drinking will cost £30.
A typical year, I'll spend about £5,000 to -£6000 on alcohol and associated costs.
Taking into account interest and inflation, I've possibly spent up to £100,000 on booze and drugs.
Want to guess what my mortgage currently is??? Yep, £100,000.
Enough said.
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