Alcohol and your Finances?
Since I was in the hole by the time I gave up alcohol, I am just digging my way out right now with my extra money. Once I have done that I am going to start a savings account.
And yes, I also would scrounge up change to buy something to drink
And yes, I also would scrounge up change to buy something to drink
I blew so much money on alcohol, easily $100 a week and sometimes much more. It was so bad that I was always behind on bills, and just learned to live that way like it was normal or something. Now I'm learning to be more responsible with my money, but there's a lot of financial wreckage from my drinking past that still needs to be dealt with. So I'm not looking forward to that, but I am thankful that I'm in a place now where I can start to take care of it.
stayingstraight
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Lehigh Acres, FL
Posts: 66
I just went and spent the money I would have drank on for the month on this brand new laptop I'm typing this on. My monthly alcohol amount was around $200.00 just drinking at home. That doesn't count the drinks at a restaurant before dinner or playing pool at the local pub. I have been sober a little over 5 weeks. It's nice to actually have something to show for your money.
Fandy....I would buy booze before food or pay bills. Yeah I got bills paid but I was doing the minimum. Payday was like a green light to stock up my bar. I didn't care about clothing, makeup, traveling.....nothing except booze at the end.
I would have $20 in my pocket and put $8 in the tank and the rest into a box of booze. I remember pawning crap at one point in my divorce to pay bills and always would I buy booze before other priorities.
Probably spent $100 easily a week on booze and mixers. I wasn't your cheapo bottle of gin hidden in the laundry room drinker but I mine as well have been when I think back to the dark days of living my life and planning my budget around booze.
As I posted once before......I would do some grocery shopping, hit up the liquor store and the first items I brought in the house were the booze bags. Poured myself a drink before I started unloading. Sometimes I left dairy products in the car because I gulped the 1st to get feeling ok and then kept pouring.
Now I actually have money and put it into savings and pay my bills AHEAD of time.
Good stuff here Fandy!
I would have $20 in my pocket and put $8 in the tank and the rest into a box of booze. I remember pawning crap at one point in my divorce to pay bills and always would I buy booze before other priorities.
Probably spent $100 easily a week on booze and mixers. I wasn't your cheapo bottle of gin hidden in the laundry room drinker but I mine as well have been when I think back to the dark days of living my life and planning my budget around booze.
As I posted once before......I would do some grocery shopping, hit up the liquor store and the first items I brought in the house were the booze bags. Poured myself a drink before I started unloading. Sometimes I left dairy products in the car because I gulped the 1st to get feeling ok and then kept pouring.
Now I actually have money and put it into savings and pay my bills AHEAD of time.
Good stuff here Fandy!
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: NJ
Posts: 20,458
I think of the financial savings as just another motivating factor for staying sober.
it's a tough time economically for lots of people....i feel better seeing my mortgage principal go down every month with the extra payment...it gives me a sense of security somehow....i shudder when i think of how much $$ i spent over the years on wine.
and now i pay my bills when i get them too, no more sitting too long and chancing them being late....my checking account has more $$$. I get regular pedicures and it's nice to be able to just pay with cash....previously that cash would have gone towards wine.
it's a tough time economically for lots of people....i feel better seeing my mortgage principal go down every month with the extra payment...it gives me a sense of security somehow....i shudder when i think of how much $$ i spent over the years on wine.
and now i pay my bills when i get them too, no more sitting too long and chancing them being late....my checking account has more $$$. I get regular pedicures and it's nice to be able to just pay with cash....previously that cash would have gone towards wine.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Virginia
Posts: 61
For as long as I can remember, I've been buying liquor and takeout nearly every night of the week. I shudder to think all of the money I've wasted. It would be conservative to say that on average I spent $50 a night at the very least 4 nights a week on booze and food. That's $10,400 a year. And I've been at it for atleast 10 years. I've never neglected my mortgage, taxes or bills. But I have neglected my life!
I've hidden it well. Or maybe I haven't! I just know that it's time to stop.
I've hidden it well. Or maybe I haven't! I just know that it's time to stop.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: NJ
Posts: 20,458
If you want, take the 5 days worth of booze $$ you've saved tomorrow and buy some simple groceries (nothing complicated, but fresh salads, maybe some coldcuts, eggs and bread), you would save even more $$$.
I'm really *proud* that I have managed to lop almost 6 months off of mortgage by taking the booze $$ and paying extra on my principal.....
I'm really *proud* that I have managed to lop almost 6 months off of mortgage by taking the booze $$ and paying extra on my principal.....
Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,237
In the 7 months I've been sober I know I've saved big time!! Always have money now, where as before by Sunday I'd be broke...but of course managed to find booze money... I've also noticed my food choices are alot healthy..more salads, and greens...not so many pizza orders!! I'm sure they miss me there!!
Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Manchester, UK
Posts: 36
This past week alone I think I've dropped about £300 on booze, and that's mostly been drinking at home too. I'm late with rent (got the money just about but been too wasted to pay it), but I've been scraping by in terms of paying rent and bills since Christmas. I'm thinking back to the last time I quit, and even though I was in the same fairly low paid job that I'm in now, it quickly got to the stage where I wouldn't even realise it was pay day! Self-destruction aside, I'm generally quite restrained in my spending, so I always had money left over.
I bought the giant econo-sizes of the cheap stuff, and seldom drank in bars (unless someone else was buying). A friend of mine saved enough in a year of not drinking to pay for a trip of a lifetime to Africa. Makes me wish I hadn't been such a freakin' CHEAP drunk.
I used to spend about 250 a month.. then the past year prices went up on liquor.. Boooo
so since then I have been spending close to $400 or more a month. Thank goodness I'm not drinking anymore. Now maybe we can afford car insurance!
so since then I have been spending close to $400 or more a month. Thank goodness I'm not drinking anymore. Now maybe we can afford car insurance!
I only drank at home, I was too cheap (and also too secretive) to drink at bars. I probably spent $50 - $75 per week which wasn't a problem because I make good $. Now I have a kid in college. I wish I would have saved that $ instead of drinking it away. College is very expensive.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: NJ
Posts: 20,458
$400. a month covers a lot of bills....for me it would be both cable/landline phone/internet service AND my gas/electric bill.
just another perfectly valid good common sense reason to stop drinking.
just another perfectly valid good common sense reason to stop drinking.
Member
Join Date: May 2008
Location: London
Posts: 337
I actually did some calculations in the vain a few weeks ago with depressing results:
Cocaine: approx 44k P.A
Alcohol: 13.9k
Cigarettes: 3.8k
Caffeine: 2.3k
= £64k per annum on addictive substances
If I factored in food (an addiction for me) then it would be significantly higher.
Repeat that over 20 years (minus 4 years of sobriety) and that's over £1 million.
It's not just affected my life, my health and my ability to buy material objects but also taken a dent out of my charitable contributions. There were so many good things I coul've done with that money but, instead, I and others have suffered.
Cocaine: approx 44k P.A
Alcohol: 13.9k
Cigarettes: 3.8k
Caffeine: 2.3k
= £64k per annum on addictive substances
If I factored in food (an addiction for me) then it would be significantly higher.
Repeat that over 20 years (minus 4 years of sobriety) and that's over £1 million.
It's not just affected my life, my health and my ability to buy material objects but also taken a dent out of my charitable contributions. There were so many good things I coul've done with that money but, instead, I and others have suffered.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Sweden
Posts: 37
Unfortunately I earn quite a lot of money for my age, so I was able to spend many hundreds of dollars a month on alcohol. Somehow my drinking felt more "legit" if I consumed single malt whiskies and limited edition ales.
Most of my friends earn less money than me, so I'd often end up paying for them too -- not because they asked me to, but because I wanted to go somewhere to drink:
Me: "Let's go to a restaurant"
Friend: "Sorry, I don't have any money, let's go to my place and cook something"
Me: (desperate for alcohol) "That's ok, I'll pay"
Most of my friends earn less money than me, so I'd often end up paying for them too -- not because they asked me to, but because I wanted to go somewhere to drink:
Me: "Let's go to a restaurant"
Friend: "Sorry, I don't have any money, let's go to my place and cook something"
Me: (desperate for alcohol) "That's ok, I'll pay"
Last edited by nlogax; 08-23-2010 at 04:13 AM. Reason: Corrected spelling
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: NJ
Posts: 20,458
I am fairly secure financially and do have $$ to spend. however, I have a little voice inside me that keeps telling me to "save for a rainy day" (or my old age). The possibilities of what i can better do with *disposable income* open up every day, rather than pour it down my throat.
I don't have to scramble, i keep a slush fund...which is now going towards some minor home repairs...(new front door and storm door)...no problem, no extra bill on the credit card.
I don't have to scramble, i keep a slush fund...which is now going towards some minor home repairs...(new front door and storm door)...no problem, no extra bill on the credit card.
Well, I spent a fortune on drinking and smoking...easily have enough for a down payment on a house! I am now a month and a half in and so far not a huge savings...in part because I am still filling the hole I dug and in part because I did splurge a little this past month on food and Sephora:-) my goal for September is to end the money with a little extra...we will see how that goes since I still need to fill a few holes!
70 dollars per week on 2 large bottles of vodka. sometimes 3 bottles but 2 on average.
that's 3,600 per year.
some of that was offset because i now eat breakfast on the way to work.
but i still have a lot of my ghetto christmas check left and that was usually gone by this time of year.
and i've spent a ton on home improvements this year.
when i was drinking i would bounce checks and get late fees when i had money in savings and too lazy to do a mouse click and move it over into the checking account.
i haven't done that idiocy since i quit drinking.
thanks for this thread fandy. just a great side benefit to stop drinking. with my health and me being a better person the primary benefit.
david.
that's 3,600 per year.
some of that was offset because i now eat breakfast on the way to work.
but i still have a lot of my ghetto christmas check left and that was usually gone by this time of year.
and i've spent a ton on home improvements this year.
when i was drinking i would bounce checks and get late fees when i had money in savings and too lazy to do a mouse click and move it over into the checking account.
i haven't done that idiocy since i quit drinking.
thanks for this thread fandy. just a great side benefit to stop drinking. with my health and me being a better person the primary benefit.
david.
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