How much money did you waste on booze in a year?
Member
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 3,597
1420 days sober. I was spending (conservatively) about fifteen dollars a day on booze, that's over $22,000 I've saved since February 2016. That's a nice little Sobriety Dividend.
That doesn't count the money I've saved by not making bad financial decisions, having to pay late fees because I forgot to pay bills (because drunk), and drunk buying. For instance, I have a very nice leatherbound set of Robert Louis Stevenson books I have no recollection of ordering. I think for some reason I wanted to read Treasure Island at 2 in the morning, and that's how that happened. I also impulse bought a $1500 espresso maker, while drunk, of course. It's nice enough, but I never use it. Stupid, stupid decisions.
That doesn't count the money I've saved by not making bad financial decisions, having to pay late fees because I forgot to pay bills (because drunk), and drunk buying. For instance, I have a very nice leatherbound set of Robert Louis Stevenson books I have no recollection of ordering. I think for some reason I wanted to read Treasure Island at 2 in the morning, and that's how that happened. I also impulse bought a $1500 espresso maker, while drunk, of course. It's nice enough, but I never use it. Stupid, stupid decisions.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 268
Originally Posted by VinnyMcM 
It’s sickening to think about but provides another valid reason to stop.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 308
Originally Posted by Outonthetiles
For instance, I have a very nice leatherbound set of Robert Louis Stevenson books I have no recollection of ordering. I think for some reason I wanted to read Treasure Island at 2 in the morning, and that's how that happened. I also impulse bought a $1500 espresso maker, while drunk, of course. It's nice enough, but I never use it. Stupid, stupid decisions.
I got heavy into sports cards again (why?). I think I read one article by some nitwit about them being a good investment. Spoiler alert: they’re not.
I probably spent upwards of $10,000 on them and estimate getting $3,000 back. Yeah, great investment.
Your espresso maker better also be a drone that flies to Columbia to pick out only the finest beans for $1500.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 374
Just in the (almost) two weeks I've been sober, I've saved enough money to buy another pair of work/hiking boots... and that only cost me a third of what I saved! The boots were on sale, but still, I count that as a win.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: S.E. MI
Posts: 1,025
This high class bar my sister in law used to go to people would run tabs in excess of 40 or even 50k a year. Granted they are probably buying other other people drinks as well but still. At a pint a day plus more on weekends I was spending $100 a week at least. So probably 6k a year. All I know is since I quit 7 months ago my bank account has never been bigger. Seriously. I used to have maybe 300 in the bank and these days I actually saved over 20k just since I have quit drinking. My biggest motivator really.
Guest
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 8,674
Early on it was explained to me that "drama" meant a lot more than throwing tantrums and slamming door kinda stuff (um, I did that too but bear with me here).
Money was a perfect example they used to illustrate this. Assuming we DO know what our expenses like rent are (the ones that are the same every month!), we plan on having the money by whatever date of the month works for our job, to pay on the 1st. But the week before we know we need it, we "decide" it makes perfect sense to spend half that amount on [drinking, drugs, or RL Stevenson collections, say]. Five days before rent is due - or 8, if you push it til the late fee date- we are scrambling to figure out how to pay it. The DRAMA of this completely self-created scenario and the double-pressure created to meet an obligation we KNOW is due is part of how we live.
I had wide margins for money for a long time....didn't see this as drama bc there was plenty. Then, as time and consequences went on, margins narrowed to near breaking and shell games like paying something on a credit card so I had cash for something else, or lying that I had a psych appointment my parents paid for so I could use the cash for rent...plenty of stuff in between and worse, even.
The mental gymnastics I DON'T have to do related in any way to alcohol/money connection are one of the biggest real-life-things I am free of now. We have enough, and that's largely based on how we make clear decisions on how we spend it! Oh, and we actually go out to a nice place when we WANT to eat that food. And the bill is actually reasonable, and the receipt in a wallet not crumbled at the bottom of a purse assuming I kept it. Just one example
Money was a perfect example they used to illustrate this. Assuming we DO know what our expenses like rent are (the ones that are the same every month!), we plan on having the money by whatever date of the month works for our job, to pay on the 1st. But the week before we know we need it, we "decide" it makes perfect sense to spend half that amount on [drinking, drugs, or RL Stevenson collections, say]. Five days before rent is due - or 8, if you push it til the late fee date- we are scrambling to figure out how to pay it. The DRAMA of this completely self-created scenario and the double-pressure created to meet an obligation we KNOW is due is part of how we live.
I had wide margins for money for a long time....didn't see this as drama bc there was plenty. Then, as time and consequences went on, margins narrowed to near breaking and shell games like paying something on a credit card so I had cash for something else, or lying that I had a psych appointment my parents paid for so I could use the cash for rent...plenty of stuff in between and worse, even.
The mental gymnastics I DON'T have to do related in any way to alcohol/money connection are one of the biggest real-life-things I am free of now. We have enough, and that's largely based on how we make clear decisions on how we spend it! Oh, and we actually go out to a nice place when we WANT to eat that food. And the bill is actually reasonable, and the receipt in a wallet not crumbled at the bottom of a purse assuming I kept it. Just one example
Member
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: Christchurch, NZ
Posts: 517
I spent probably half my pay every week for 15 years on average, so that's gotta be $25000 a year x 15 (again average)
Then I somehow managed to get married and have kids so it dropped dramatically from bar prices to liqour store prices, but probably still $100 a week for another ten years.
Good grief, 😣🤯💩😭
Then I somehow managed to get married and have kids so it dropped dramatically from bar prices to liqour store prices, but probably still $100 a week for another ten years.
Good grief, 😣🤯💩😭
G-Woman
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Mississauga, ON
Posts: 979
I actually wasn't spending huge amounts of $$ on booze. I was a binger, not an everyday drinker. I'm also a relatively small person, so I didn't drink huge amounts to begin with. But the consequences for my binges became more and more devastating to my physical and emotional health.
More than anything wasting my time being either drunk or in withdrawal made it almost impossible for me to function on a high level. My personal life was problematic, and I was spinning my wheels at work. It's amazing how much that has changed since getting sober.
More than anything wasting my time being either drunk or in withdrawal made it almost impossible for me to function on a high level. My personal life was problematic, and I was spinning my wheels at work. It's amazing how much that has changed since getting sober.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 774
In Ireland there is or used to be expression "he drank the farm". I used to be sceptical that anyone could drink that much. But now I see it's completely possible that a farmer could lose his farm if he turned to alcoholic drinking. For me it's not the cost of the alcohol per se, it's the indirect costs of an alcoholic lifestyle in terms of bad or questionable decisions.
Guest
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 8,674
^^^Absolutely! I made increasingly bad decisions about all aspects of money in/out as my drinking escalated. Pretty sure I wouldn't have had my gas cut off at one point because I rolled the dice on bill paying if I hadn't begun to make increasingly poor choices....
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