How Much Money Has Alcohol Cost You In Your Life?
 

G'day!

It's late Saturday afternoon here and day 15 for me.. I actually put the lawnmower into repair this morning. Something I have been meaning to do for about three years but.. well, you know!

Also starting to tuck into Season 5 of Game of Thrones, alcohol free which means I'll probably follow the plot better :)

Anyway, this is something I have pondered once in a while and was just thinking about in the shower again so I thought I may as well post it straight here as a reminder of the financial cost of not being able to keep drinking under control.

I am 41 years old now and have known to some degree since the age of about 18 that I was not a normal drinker/did not know how to moderate my drinking and have never had any regard for boundaries. That means that I have been, let's say, getting drunk, for about 23 years of my life.

Throughout those years my drinking has been proportionate to my income, yet the more I earn, the higher the fall. If I am earning well, alcohol consumption ensures my productivity then dives, I'll lose a job, sales dive, whatever.. this cycle has just been stuck on repeat my entire life.

On average though I would estimate (since most of you are from the US, let's use US Dollars) I have spent about $500 a month on booze.

That is a conservative $138,000 of after tax income I have spent on JUST the booze.

On top of this, I reckon, heavy snacking with fast foods and sugary things, chocolate, confectionary - anything I would not have bought without those food cravings, probably amounts to another $200 a month.

That is another conservative $55,200 of after tax income I have spent on accompanying unnecessary food.

Here is the scary bit. I believe that without alcohol, I would have been a far more efficient sales person, or maybe I would have gone on to do something better paid or would have demonstrated more stability.

I believe this and hangovers, lack of productivity and the moods that have sometimes made me an objectionable person to deal with means that I have probably sacrificed $1,500 per month or $18,000 per year.

That is another conservative $270,000 of after tax income I have sacrificed because of alcohol taking priority over work/job/career (I estimated the tax here but this is based on British and Australian tax which for the purposes of this wouldn't be too much different to US tax)

Overall this adds up to $463,200 which I think alcohol has cost me.

If this were invested wisely, what could it be worth now? $600,000? $700,000? More? Who knows? Could have a house paid off, surely.

However, I have nothing to show for my life up to now. Nothing.

I just thought I would share this grim thought of the day but also add that the future is much brighter :)

Anyone else have any thoughts about how much they have spent/wasted?

Hmmm. I started when I was about 13, but let's go with the past 14 years instead, as that's when I began working from home and really began abusing it.

2000 - 2006 -- Let's say average $50/day * (365*6) = $91,250
2006 - 2008 -- Was in Europe, cheaper to drink, but consumption went up. Let's say $40/day * (365*2) = $29,200
2008 - 2009 -- Back in Canada, $50/day * 365 = $18,250
2009 - 2015 -- Various Asian countries, cheaper to drink, so $30/day * (365*6 + 180) = $71,100

Total Alcohol Purchases = $209,800

As for how much in lost employment income, don't even want to think about it. A lot higher than the alcohol purchases though. Who knows, there's no easy way for me to determine that, as I'm not on a fixed salary. Who knows where I would be right now if I kept my head screwed on straight.

I probably wasted a lot of money but to me that's not the real waste - I wasted 20 years , I wasted a lot of relationships, a lot of potential and I wasted my good health.

I'm just very thankful despite my best efforts at self destruction, I have the life I have now - it's worth more to me than gold.

D

A ton of money for sure, and as Dee says a lot of time and relationships. My guestimate was that I was blowing about $650/month on wine for the last six or seven years of drinking career. Hard to really guess before that. Before an ex got me into wine I was a beer snob and into scotch. Once I got into wine lore I drank nothing else. But obviously a ton of money, many thousands of dollars per year.

Ditto.I Wasted brain cells, too!
And now I'm down to two!:dee

I'd say about $300 a month for the last 5 years or so (some months more, some less) which is $18000
The 4 years before that about $200 a month (again, some months more, some less) which is $9600
Plus I smoke about twice as much when I drink, so I'd say about an extra $5000 on cigarettes
Same with extra food, because I'm lazy and order in when I'm drinking, so probably another $3000 on that...

I'd tack on a little extra as when I'm traveling (mostly Europe) everything is more expensive.. Like around $45000 total.

Ugh.

Like Dee mentioned, I'm more worried about the time and experiences I wasted, but the money doesn't make me happier either. Although, now look at how much we're all saving! Go us!

I know someone who went to good colleges graduated top of there class went on to get there masters degree in law etc.. Had a high paying lawyer job. went nuts got diagnosed with bi-polar dis-order can no longer hold down a job like that has 100's of thousands in student loan debt etc.. This person did everything write followed the book did everything everyone told them to do properly etc.. and got smacked with this.

Point is it really doesnt matter whatever will be will be it is what it is. It can stink for htis person but this persons also happily married now with a kid and live still moves forward for them.

We can dwell on how much it screwed us or we can dwell on how great it is that it drove us to the state we are in now where we wanna be sober.

But yeah I wasted a small fortune on cigarettes and booze. its so senseless. the money i wasted to basicly commit passive suicide. But its over and done with the money coulda been yanked from my fingers in a number of other ways anyhow whats it really matter.

I guess it cost us a small fortune to learn that sobriety is a better way. I woulda paid millions for my sobriety if it hwere that easy and i had it to pay.

Dee hits it on the head for me too.

I worked around alcohol and hardly ever had to buy it. At least compared to how much I drank. I probably still spent more than most people do.

I wasted most of my 20's "partying" and that's something I can never get back. I can however look forward to the future and be happy that I bottomed out early. Sill trying to build a solid foundation but every day I get closer to where I should be.

More time wasted for me. In reality it is difficult to quantify the monetary loss. The what could have been etc. The fact that I lost a job that would have brought me close to 200K this year. And future earnings. I was definitely not prepared to lose income. I always assumed it would be there and didn't do the right thing.
Now, I realize I can be happy with a lot less. No choice really - for now. But I am discovering the life of no stress is good for the soul.
Freedom in a sense.
And as Dee points out, a life is worth more than gold.

There is no price for happiness, it is a choice too.

Congrats on day 15!

Let's say I spent an average of $500 a month for 16 years for booze alone--that's being way conservative some years when I was big on going to the bars and is over-estimating how much I spent the last two-three years when I mainly drank cheap wine at home alone. But I think $500/month averages it out pretty well. That's $96,000 on booze.

My DWI in September 2004 probably cost me another $20,000. Not to mention a ton of anguish and shame and four years of not having a license because I couldn't afford the fines that built up until I sold my childhood home in 2008.

Then there's the other stuff that people mentioned--the tons of extra food, the ridiculous drunk shopping sprees (especially once online shopping really became a viable option)--that probably doubles the money spent so far.

And then I'd say that I missed at least one day of work a month due to drinking and, honestly, two or three days a month probably would be closer to the truth. That's another $50,000 or so.

Just by those rough calculations, that's a quarter of a million dollars. And I'm estimating conservatively. And, of course, as Dee said--those financial losses pale in comparison to all the shame and guilt and mental anguish I caused myself and the pain I caused others who love me.

Life is much simpler today. I don't drink. I don't tell lies. I try to do the next right thing. It's a much better way of life.

I agree with what has been said above that the direct monetary cost of the booze is tiny in comparison with the wasted time, energy, health and ambition. Especially here in the USA where alcohol is very lightly taxed in comparison with other countries (I was astounded how expensive booze is in Canada). I'm pretty sure if it were not for drinking and related distractions I would be much wealthier by now. Oh well. Can't change the past, the the future is looking up!

I forgot all about my DUI and drunken amazon shopping sprees! Let's tack on another $5000 for me haha

I am sure my drinking $ costs add up to quite a chunk of dough that I will never recoup but what it cost my soul, I believe is being recovered a little bit each sober day.

When I walk by my old liquor store I always chant under my breath "you don't get my money no more, nay, nay, nay"!!!!! :lmao

Too much.

At what age did you quit for good and how long has it been?

Money is the least damage alcohol done to me

Money, time, my health . . . alcohol nearly cost me my life!!

Definitely cost me far too much in all areas!!

Bucket loads of cash p*ssed up the wall over decades of drinking.

But on a positive note, I'm still alive, despite everything.

Now, I'm working out how to deal with the windfall coming to new sober me.

Meanwhile

"I'm as poor as a church mouse, whose wife has recently left him, taking all the cheese" - Sir Edmund Blackadder

I'm 54 and trying to remain sober. There's no way for me to even begin to add up all the money I spent on alcohol, much less the other sundries I indulged in in my youth.

At this point the real question is how many chances and opportunities were lost. That's the real cost of addiction.

I don't dwell on what is wasted or lost, I relish in the prosperity of my sober life.