Fandy

I was calculating how much $$ I spent on wine/alcohol on a regular basis and how it affected my budget...$40.00 a week or close to $200 a month...(we are talking home consumption only, not counting bars, restaurants, etc).

I am fortunate enough to have an excellent career and job, but i have mortgages, bills, taxes, and should be making some home repairs...the $$ i spent on wine in the last 3 months could have gone to replace my front screen door and one toilet that is cracked in the bowl ...(instead of ignoring it and waiting for a disaster). I am a single person and there is only one income, i have no spouse's income....the $$ i was spending on wine would pay the cable/internet every month too.

anybody else make alcohol the priority before real necessities?

academia

I definitely know about blowing your finances on booze. For the past 6 years or so, every time I would get a student loan refund or my scholarship stiped, I would blow through the money quickly going to bars, buying liquor, and all sorts of useless alcohol induced purchases. This was when I should have been spending money on auto repair, textbooks, etc.

For a while, I had a job that paid very well but I have absolutely no savings to show for it because I blew most of it on booze. It makes me sad when I look back on it, that I gave alcohol more of a priority than the actual things that keep me alive everyday (like books, my car, rent, etc). I never got to the point where I had to file bankruptcy or anything but my life is definitely inconvenienced today because of the sauce.

But at least we can all look forward to saving money and being significantly more productive in our sobriety.

least

I am on a limited income but it didn't stop me from spending ten to twenty dollars a day on wine. Now that I'm not drinking I am able to pay my bills and am not always behind on my financial obligations.

CAPTAINZING2000

I paid everything off after I quit drinking. I did buy a new car recently and took out a loan for the first time in years

It's all good today

NEOMARXIST

Spent a ridiculous amount of money on booze over the years. Spent an even more ridiculous amount of money on Cocaine. Would spend £160 just for myself on a quiet Friday night in. LOL. I can laugh now!

Wouldn't change any of it though. I have no regrets about the past anymore and everything that has happened has got me to the point I am at now.

Without my heavy use of drugs I am sure I wouldn't have reached the acceptance of my alcoholism at my age. Kind of really speeds up the process as my mind/body just wouldn't have been able to put up with it for too many more years.

Nearly all my money I receive each month goes into my savings for my future now, a future which has only happened because of my acceptance of my alcoholism/drug addiciton.

peace

Fandy

I thought I would begin this thread as i was able to purchase all my groceries and household items easily this weekend, i seemed to have more cash in my account, because I had not depleted everything at the liquor store. i did not need to use my credit card at all.....it makes so much sense, it's so obviously LOGICAL.....weigh the odds.......drink myself sick? or have a bathroom toilet that does not leak and flood 1/2 the house and ruin the new wood floor?

febuary2010

I am pretty sure im one more binge drinking session away from financial ruin. The money ive wasted binge drinking two or three times a week for the last five years is my main motivation to stay sober at the moment. I rent a flat to some people but for the last year like clock work ive gone to collect the rent off them on the 1st of the month and then gone straight to the pub and drank almost every penny of it by the following day, leaving me having to scramble around to pay the mortgage on the flat, meaning i cant pay the mortgage on my house.
Ive missed 22 days of work in the last twelve months due to binge drinking so lost more money there.
My house mortgage is months in arrears, not to mention all the bills i havent paid, i have a credit card i maxed out by using it in bars, i could go on forever but you get the idea.

Cold

I calculated days ago how many money i used to spent in alcohol and tobacco

a month and the numbers was around 500-600 $,

since i don't smoke and don't drink

imagine what can i do now with this extra money

all the months

Spawn

Cable Bill or Beer Store,....soon it was Phone Bill or Beer Store,..eventually it was Rent I fluffed off,....yep I can totally relate to the
un-manage-ability of alcoholism.

OZboy

..in one year 4 me?/...$7,200..wasted..

Fandy

I have a major renovation coming up at the end of May...new furnace, AC compressor....i should start throwing my wine $$ in a jar and see how much of the price i can offset by then....after all if I was going to the liquor store i would be handing the clerk the cash...i can hand it to myself....I would then have an Emergency Fund as opposed to always doing the Panic Dance.

DramaPrincess

I think I already mentioned it... sorry to repeat ... my partner and I in 3 years or so approx 68k - oh dear oh dear.... scary - that includes nights out approx every 6 weeks (they were V pricey! - we tended to buy everyone)

scotslad

I am the same. I am currently spending about $4000 a month. That is enough to buy me an average car per year.

Yes I know its stupid but just cant stop............

daisy1

Yes, it's funny how there is always enough to scrape together to buy some alcohol isn't it? We are maxed out and have drunk thousands of pounds over the years. I get a jolt everytime I get to the checkout now and it's £20 cheaper each time!

I wish I had the willpower to put that £20 in a jar - I just spend it on other stuff (but at least I need the stuff and am not just drinking it)

Fandy

yes, I could always scrape $$ together for wine....TD bank should do a commercial with me running with the change jar and then running to the liquor store.....Regis would not hold the door for me and Kelly would probably trip me with her foot.

(that's a US commercial for a NJ/NY based 7 day open Bank with lots of free offers including converting your loose change for free).

Fandy

bump....I now take my previous alcohol $$ and put it towards my mortgage principal every month.

LaFemme

Gosh, I wish I had only spent $40 a week...try $600-700

Drinking and smoking went hand in hand for me so, $20 a day for wine, $10 a day for smokes...I rarely went out to drink, too expensive getting drunk that way!

Fandy

think what you can do with your savings?

LexieCat

A friend of mine financed a month-long trip to Africa with the money he saved not drinking for ONE YEAR (it was his little reward to himself to celebrate his first year).

Man, makes me wish I hadn't been such a cheap drunk!

Stang

It was about $300.00 a month. I'm putting that money toward paying off my car right now.

Nobody is ever too poor to smoke and drink.