Oh My....the money I've wasted
 

I was scrolling through Reddit. It's a fun website where people comment on every single topic you can think of. There is also a few forums for alcoholism.

There was a post by someone who showed the amount of money he had saved after he stopped drinking 5 years ago. He laid it all out in cash. Too much to count in the video.

I did my own estimate starting 20 years ago when I got my first real job out of school.

At various times, I drank mostly at home or mostly in bars, or both. I've had astronomical bar tabs on a regular basis so l factored those in.

Over 20 years, I would estimate that the average amount I have spent for alcohol (drugs were also a thing in my 20's) would be approximately 200 dollars a week.

200 x 52= 10400

10400 x 20= 208000

$208,000 wasted.

This may be a conservative estimate....

At least you had the courage to do the calculations, WastingLife. I can't bear the thought, although I know I was spending around $10 a day at the end. For a while that was every day. That's $300 a month.

Well, I can't get that money back, but I can make sure I never spend another cent on that poison ever again.

I wonder how much money you saved with all the sober days you’ve had since trying to stop?

I'm sure I wasted a lot of money too - but I've saved a lot being sober.
We can;t change the past but it's never too late for a new beginning :)

D

I regret the money spent to feed my habit, but more than that, I regret wasting my precious time/life drinking. :( I can never get those days back but I am making sure I never have any more of them.

Both Dee and Least commented exactly what I was thinking. Think of all you can do with the sober days that lie ahead for you!

I figure up that over the last years I was drinking about $650/mo. And I didn't drink in bars the last ten years so I maybe saved money. It wouldn't surprise me if I blew $150,000-$200,000 on alcohol over the years.

Wow yes the amount of money spent during drinking 6 bucks plus a beer. Since not drinking I like to enjoy a good meal. That's money well spent.:herewego

I don't even want to think about the money I squandered on beer. Not to mention the police fines from getting arrested for being intoxicated.

Definitely a huge motivator to not drink

Think of it as an educational investment. Sure it was a pretty sadistic choice of education and took longer to graduate than from medical school, but we sure did learn a lot!

Yup, after a 25+ year drinking career, I can only imagine what my dollar tally would look like. I know that a lot of my money now goes towards supporting my family, and I can't think of a better way to make financial amends.

I think I'm more upset about my wasted potential. Drinking really held me back for most of my life, and although I'm content with my current career/life/etc, I spend a lot of time (probably too much!) thinking about what could've been...

I don't regret the money I spent as much as I regret the time lost and opportunities wasted. I can earn more money, I can't earn more time.

Looking back is necessary to ensure we dont make the same mistakes but dwelling on those actions to cause regrets can be more trouble than its worth. Look to the future and what can be achieved in sobriety, this is how I am planning to move forward.

I am aware that I spent a ton of money on booze. I don't have the exact figure. I've also had things like - had to retake a $2,500 college class, or the drunk online shopping - type costs. I won't even bother trying to tally it up.

I did download an app to see how many sober days I had if I ever wanted the number - but it also calculates what I have saved since I got sober. I like to look to the future and the good things.

It tells me $9,255.00 - 617 days. That's pretty nice. That's the $15/day estimate. I'm sure real cost savings is much higher than just the straight up bottles and weekends I tried to guess to get to 15/day.

I haven't gotten myself into very costly nights or purchases due from blacked out behaviors. So when I'm about to buy a $7.00 dessert in a restaurant and I'm tormenting over the price - I just have to remind myself - you used to spend that on EACH drink, 2-3 for this dinner - so have that piece of cake. It's still cheaper. :)

As others have said - TIME is really where can't tally costs. Having all that sober time to do other things. Using time to get to work and not call in sick.

It's never too late to start working on the positive tally.

Now why did you have to go and post this? <g>

Where's my damn calculator?!

Yeah it sucks. But the only way forward is to stay stopped. During my last year’s drinking, I calculated my drinking expenses. They were so consistent, my drunk brain figured them out easily.

I drank more than my rent each month. Quite a bit more.

And still i drank.

Now, I have plenty of money for mortgage, I’m not going into booze debt, I easily make payments on my new to truck, have an expensive hobby that I easily afford, and am putting money away.

I used to look at it as all the money I could have saved. Now I look at it as all the money I’m saving and having fun with now.

Congratulations on saving money now! 👍🏽

Yep it's crazy
 

I have the app called I am sober and I've only been sober for 43 days and I've already saved $1,700 by not buying drugs and alcohol and that's actually probably conservative as I had a very expensive habit... it's actually hard to believe😳😳😳

Sure. And if it motivates you to quit, then great. If it's just another reason to turn back to the bottle, then just move on and take care of the one thing you can take care of - the present moment.

I've got a program called Microsoft Money on my computer that I use to track my income and expenditure. I got the software free with a computer I bought many years ago (Microsoft discontinued Money a number of years ago). I have a history of what I have spent going all the way back to April 2006. Since April 2006 I have spent £61,333 (US $78,115) on alcohol and cigarettes. Mainly alcohol though. Cigarettes are included simply because the only time I smoke is when I drink alcohol so I put them both in the same category for tracking expenditure. That is a ridiculous amount of money, and a complete waste. By comparison Microsoft Money shows that I have spent just under £21,000 on food shopping. In other words I've spent almost three times as much money on alcohol (and cigarettes) as I have on food, which shows a completely warped sense of priority over the years.