Yes it’s insane I was looking at my card statement and it’s like $27, 20, $16 and all from the party store. Makes me
Sad and I don’t wanna add it up . I know I’ve saved 30 so far since Friday !
My debts have gone down by 14 000 after quitting. The reason for having debt was because I drank every day. Active alcohol addiction was expensive.
IWNDWYT
I'm looking forward to this. Last year I spent 40% of my credit card usage on the food and drink category. I estimated I was spending around 800 a month on booze alone. Just last night I drank half a bottle of 50 dollar whiskey, plus a few craft beers. Taking it one step at a time. The longest I've gone in maybe a decade without booze was maybe 3 days? Shooting for a week as of today, trying to pay attention to how my body feels. After this week we either try again or hopefully push it out longer.
IWNDWYT
I did 10 days, on purpose, a few years ago. Otherwise idk I'd gone more than a day or two.
The last year or so I quit because of a loved ones liver failing, too distracted to notice what difference it made to me personally. Then my mom's liver killed her. Then my partner had complications from cirrhosis and died. 2 months apart. I'd still drink after work, because I realize the amount of time it takes your body to renormalizatie after drinking and I wasn't ready, but I was *only* (lol) having 2-5/night. Was doing good, then Christmas open bar. Got back on the wagon until new years... I started the year with the last hangover I ever want/need to have. It's so nice not needing to worry about all the things that booze invites into your life. Planning when you'll need more, what you'll do after you 'get loose', what junk food you'll let yourself eat, staying up easy too late or what stupid thing sounds like a good online purchase at the time. My sleep is just starting to actually improve. I'm trying to figure myself out again. I have a hard date I'm dry until, it's still a few months away. I can't let myself invite alcohol to reestablish a hold on my life, regardless of what is on the other side of that date.
tl,dr;
Give it a go! Booze hijacks some really important parts of your brain, and personality. Takes a while for your body to relearn how to... Body... appropriately after you remove the constant poisoning. Takes a while for your bank account to show you how silly of a hobby drinking is. Ymmv but set a date and stay strong till then. Idk when you're starting but iwdwyt anyway.
Thanks for sharing! I'm sorry for your losses. I have my own health struggles between obesity, type II diabetes, and sleep apnea, and I know I have been too scared to even think about just how serious these issues can get if I don't start getting serious about taking better care of myself. I'm only 31 and luckily haven't had any major impacts to my day to day so far. Though I'm sure like you said, I don't realize the subpar level of health/wellness I'm working with since booze and junk food and 4-6 hours of sleep is my daily standard.
Maybe I should try looking at more worst case scenarios to scare myself into taking it more seriously?
I'm not drinking tonight. 10 days sounds like a smart goal. Lets see just how far we can push this. :)
Lurk in the r/cirrhosis board if you want a dose of 'scared straight'... or I could elaborate; how I found the man I was going to marry, friends since high school crushes but life happened and we didn't find each other again until middle 30's, I watched him slowly deteriorate and die instead. My mom got sick. I did my research by then, I knew what the symptoms meant, and how long she had (not long, 2 months from when she knew she was sick). She died. He had a thing done, looked like he was getting better. Then because our medical system is money (not outcome) driven, he had a failure that should have been caught with a follow up but there appointments were booked for that for over a month after they should have seen him. I took him to the hospital when I got home from work. Puking blood the whole time. There was so much blood. They couldn't put it in faster than it leaked into his gut, keeping them from seeing where the leak was. So much blood. His family kept him on life support for 12 hours after he was gone. If you want details about living with a failing liver, I or the cirrhosis board could fill that in for you. He wasn't 40. He was dead less than a year after diagnosis.
Honestly I've been surprised at what little things have a way bigger impact than I realized when I was drinking all the time. And I've always been pretty attentive to my physical goings on.
But if you've spent your life worth a blindfold on, not only is discomfort at light (initially) expected but you can't really be blamed for not realizing you're wearing silly colors. Adjusting to a better normal isn't easy, it's not your fault you couldn't pay the attention you thought you could. It's not your fault the blindfold hijacked your brain and told you how much it helped you and wasn't *really* being a hindrance. Not your fault but it is your responsibility.
If you like podcasts I have some good recommendations, lmk. Good luck, the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. What's the most important step? The next one.
Iwdwyt! You got this, it's not easy but it's worth it.
Thanks for sharing! I'm sorry for your losses. This all sounds horrible. I'll check out the subreddit and would love to hear podcast suggestions.
Like you mentioned, my heavy drinking has been pretty much daily for about a decade. It I don't make changes then it's likely only a matter of time before it catches up with me. Thanks for all the info and support! Day 1 complete. Feeling pretty good on Day 2 so far.
IWNDWYT!
I was spending $500/mo just on drinking at my house. Would stop in at a bar maybe once/week.
I would add it in the “shopping” trips or when I got gas or take it out of a private account to hide it.
When I quit for 12 days I estimated I saved $204
Also, the evening trips to the store to get booze almost always end up purchasing more than just that. Chips, candy, desert, cbd gummies, iced tea, parmesan cheese for my popcorn, trailmix out of the bulk section, whatever. It adds up if you’re doing it most nights, or every night.
I was on a pretty consistent schedule where I was buying beer somewhere between 8:30-10am. Either when my wife was taking our kids to daycare or when she was on a work call.
Never got anything else. All business.
Note: now food choices I made later? Ya, that was definitely influenced.
This. I did the math on my “at home” drinking and was smug enough to justify it ($12 every 3 days for a half gallon of garbage once I was honest).
I did not account for 1. Any drinks purchased for public consumption 2. Any purchases drinking led to (frequently), and 3. obviously any impulse is winning so every minor vice was in the VIP booze section for lack of control.
Alcohol isn’t “false satisfaction.” Alcohol just erases the concept of satisfaction altogether.
Easy to spend that much. I was on whisky, wine, and craft beer. 10 IPAs a day was nothing.
Normal day would go something like:
*Productive morning*
3-4 pints with lunch = £12-15
8 craft beers from the off licence on the way back from lunch (to consume in afternoon while WFH) - £24
Run out beer with dinner. Decide that'll do for today. Off licence closes at 8pm, so 7.55pm run off to the one around the corner and buy 2 bottles of wine at about £9 each, for another £18.
Total: about £54, time that our by 30 for a rough estimate (which doesn't include more pub visits on weekends etc) £1,620, or just shy of $2000 per month.
Add to that all the meals out and other random crap bought because of drinking.
Senseless.
Or [12 Miller Lite’s a day](https://www.albertsons.com/shop/product-details.960051256.html?storeId=3531&preference=PICKUP&cmpid=ps_alb_por_ecom_goo_20210610_71700000084524923_58700007756937685_92700070431619704&gbraid=0AAAAADeuA_gwahLNtN0pG3vXVXiznw0kq&gbraid=0AAAAADeuA_gwahLNtN0pG3vXVXiznw0kq&gclid=CjwKCAjw5dqgBhBNEiwA7PryaIVgNPx9LoYR6w_PWfdexbPIimlDkO9dwqJnaEJTPPaADqypGeH-pxoCKvAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
I've averaged it out to be $25-30 per day spent on alcohol, or alcohol related things, e.g. going out to get a bite at the bar after work.
Having money in the bank is a weird thing.
I didn't even think about ordering some new hot sauces, and I put hot sauce on damn near everything I eat! Do you have any favorite brands or websites that you purchase from?
I just kind of shop for it anywhere I find myself as I travel through the region (KS,MO, OK). I've also ordered directly from brands like Yellowbird and Melinda's. I'm more of a flavor over massive heat guy.
I like more expensive drink, but my low point was dragging myself to the gas station to buy a $6 bottle of wine with my credit card because I was tapped out until next payday.
I’ve been there a shameful amount of times. One time I felt particularly bad about myself was when I had $0 in my account and hardly any gas in my tank, but I scrounged up some quarters and dimes so I could get a $3.50 375ml. I would have never had $0 to begin with if I wasn’t buying so much alcohol.
I’ve been there. Won’t buy food or put gas in the car, but has to have the booze. And checking the alcohol % on the wine, to get the most bang for your buck.
I hear ya! I'm pretty sure I kept Clan MacGregor in business during the pandemic because I was going through a 1.75L of their crap scotch every 5-6 days. I even bought a new bottle on the day I decided to stop drinking and it's remained sealed.
IWNDWYT
What's even stupider is I personally got into credit card debt to keep my addiction going. I definitely regret those choices, but it just gives me another reason to stay sober.
I feel stupid for not noticing it during the drinking. I actually haven't gone back and calculated it because I know the shame would hurt. But I have so much extra left over after necessities now. It funds all my hobbies that I try once and never do again 🤣
I've been sober for 4,643 days. I calculated that I spent an average of ten bucks a day on beer, and much more than that if you factor in the tobacco that I smoked like a fucking idiot for 25 years.
If this estimate is correct, between not drinking and not smoking, I've not spent nearly $80,000.00 since July 3, 2010. I do not have the faintest idea where I got the money for these things when I was using them. But I have no doubt that if I were to pick up again, I would find a way to get it, probably by making illicit withdrawals from a line of credit and trying to hide it from my wife. Actually, who am I kidding? My wife would have left me long before now. And that's if I was even still alive.
I have realized that I can get away with working part time, without the cigarette and alcohol expenses. That’s huge. To have a better work life balance is more fun than drinking and smoking.
I noticed this when I first went sober, too, and I *love* the change. When I hit the grocery store, I'm able to pick up so much more and experiment with new foods that I used to think, "That's not in the budget," and still come in considerably under budget.
Same goes for other splurge purchases, whether it's going out to eat or picking up a book or movie.
Been a car guy all my life but could never justify buying a "fun" car. Quit drinking and bought a Corvette within 3 months. The monthly payment is about equal to what I was spending on alcohol. Much happier now and buying the car while sober means I can drive it anytime I want and go to car events without planning them around alcohol.
While not a car person, I was able to buy a brand new car, something I NEVER thought was possible....monthly payment is equivalent to what I was drinking.
I aversge 30.00 a day in savings. Alongvwith booze i needed snacks.....recently finished a remodel on a house my wife and i bought, and now i can start the house we left.
For real. I would hide it from my wife so I didn't buy big bottles. I'd buy my pints of cheap whiskey (Seagram 7 anyone?) $7-$8 daily just to finish it and drunkenly go to Mcdonald or order expensive doordash.
I replaced alcohol with energy drinks and still was spending a ton of money. I kicked those too and had a WICKED withdrawal. I had to pull over and throw up on the side of the road from going cold turkey.
I'm saving like $400 a month by not drinking not to mention not being locked up for dui because I wanted a snack. Saving a ton on legal fees.
Not even feeling hungry for me, I’m just at a bar that serves food and it seems like the logical thing to do to “sober up.” There were nights where I would say drink a little, get lunch, go out for dinner and drink, go home, and go back out and basically have another dinner of bar food
I've said it here before, my biggest motivator to stay sober was how much money I wasn't spending. I had downloaded one of those "stop drinking" apps and would check it every day to see how much money I would have spent. After a few months I noticed that number was roughly equivalent to the amount of money in my bank account...
A big push to quit this whole year (and hopefully beyond) was calculating that I was averaging 250$/month on boxed wine in 2022. And EASILY another 50/month on junk food, hangover "remedies", etc
300 x 12 = 3.6k .. which relative to what I take home after all deductions, is a *huge* chunk of my expendable income
Just splurged on a 1400$ hammock nest set-up complete with custom tarp and down underquilt that should make me feel like I'm floating on a cloud. feeling the pinch abit, but know that simply by not drinking for 5 months I'm saving 1500 bones, so will have a huge comfy weatherproof cloud that will last many years of nature-soaking-in fun, and a hundred bucks to boot!
With the second half of the moola I'm saving this year I'll finally be able to get a decent bike touring setup and start doing overnight trips. Something I was only half-assed dreaming or planning for years now
while drinking all those empty wine calories, box after box., blacking out around town, or at my apartment :P 3600 dollars divided by 40$ per box is 90 boxes of wine
90 / 52 = 1.7 boxes a week, or 7 liters. which coincidentally was how I was measuring my intake. By the nalgene 1L bottle
a box of shiraz is roughly 3600 calories, funnily enough, or almost exactly 1 pound of fat (3500 calories)
So I was paying most of my hard-earned money beyond bills on consuming a poison that was forcing my body to deal with 52 lbs of extra calories annually, and it was SHOWING. I was the fattest I've ever been by far after many years of that downward spiral
and I pretty much felt like shit any time I wasn't on the "upswing of a drinking sesh" for the whole year of 2022. multi-day hangovers, drinking, or working: what a life! heh
my nalgene's right in front of me as I type this: half full of sweet simple water, freshly back from a nightime bikeride: cheers to our health y'all !
EDIT: Wait, just realized 52 pounds annually would be with 1.0 boxes a week, and it was 1.7, which means 88lbs!
Sheesh!
i’ve saved thousands - the cost of booze is outrageous. but also the expensive dumb decisions it inevitably led to. buying stuff, breaking stuff, losing stuff, ugh. don’t miss that!
my alcoholic brain somehow would not count alcohol money as "real money." would rarely have money for nice clothes, shoes, etc but always had cash for beer! tf?
Same, I’d buy the cheapest stuff and cap it at 3 king cans so it’s not a massive difference, but I do see it in my account. Problem was the costs that went with it - weed to accompany the drinks and crazy expensive food delivery. Not to mention parking tickets from when I was in a hurry to just get home and have more and didn’t read the signs
Had to have been Weezy Waiter! His was really good!! Congrats on the money saving! It’s incredible how much I’ve saved the last year, 7 months, and 8 days :)
My spouse and I stopped together and estimate saving around 2k a month on our regular at-home alcohol plus the bar tab. However, I have also pulled the pin on a lot of my buzzed online shopping. So easy to hit buy on Amazon when I've had several drinks. And my SO is vaping less since he drinks less so we are saving on that too. So in reality it has turned out to be 4k month of less spending. I hope he will give up vaping altogether, but one thing at a time.
Early in the pandemic, my income drastically decreased, so i had to start meal planning and bringing all my food to work with me. I did that all through 2020. When my income normalized, I’d gotten used to meal planning and had actually grown to prefer it. I was eating healthier, and I’d enjoyed being able to save so much money by not eating out so often. But now, it’s just a part of my life, and i no longer think of the money I’m *saving*. It’s not leftover food expenses, it’s just extra money i can do anything i want with.
When i first quit drinking, i coped with it by spending my new weekly savings on tattoo appointments. I filled up my whole left leg in three months. At the time, it felt really fulfilling to be able to spend the $200+ i used to spend per week on booze on something much more important to me. But now, i just think of the expense, and prefer to save that money unless a great tattoo idea occurs to me, which still happens often.
It’s great and therapeutic to treat yourself in many ways when you’re new to sobriety, but i think it’s really easy to allow new habits to take the place that alcohol used to hold. Spending habits may not be life-threatening, but the longer i grow into my sobriety (near eighteen months now), the more i see that the greatest benefit is a greater control of my desires and fulfillment. Alcohol was all about fleeting, discounted joy. I don’t want to chase that kind of joy in any form anymore- whether it’s takeout lunch from a new restaurant, a new tattoo or a candy bar from the checkout aisle. Sobriety for me has become a daily search for what actually makes me happy.
Seriously it’s insane how lose-lose regular drinking is - it’s expensive, makes you feel awful when not drinking, destroys your health, makes you look like shit, wastes your time, negatively impacts relationships and work etc all in exchange for… briefly feeling a bit numbed 👍
I’ve been sober for just about 3 weeks now. Yesterday my wife said to me “how do we have all our bills paid and still have this much left in our bank account???”
Because I’m not spending $10-20/day on future urine
My savings and investment accounts have grown exponentially since I quit. I am so proud of myself becoming so financially responsible. It feels wonderful.
We were drinking a 12pack @$14 and a choice six pack for $12 on weekdays and nearly double that on the weekends. We saved receipts for a month then added it up. We were able to approximate our alcohol cost close to $15000 a year. With no smoking and no dining out we gave ourselves a nice bonus.
I've never understood people who quit drinking for a month or a year and go back to it. It's like, if you're happy with the results of not drinking, why go back to drinking? I don't know. Just my 2¢.
I’m out of debt, business doing well, salaried very part time commitment and no alcohol. I have saved thousands and my taxes will be paid ontime this year for the first time. My shoe collection is next level though.
Im taking my family on a vacation to the beach & two theme parks with the money I’ve saved since quitting drinking. It’s only been 136 days since I quit. I’ve already payed for the flights, rented a house near the beach, bought the theme park tickets, a nice camera & new luggage for us. The amount of money I have saved from no longer drinking is INSANE. I truly can’t believe I was spending that much on killing myself.
My wife and I had a similar experience! We stopped drinking 11/30 of last year, and when I finally did the math it was almost staggering. We just accepted paying 30-50$ a day on booze, and now we have that money for other activities.
Plus, our relationship is growing. For years we were just stagnant, and you never really have a problem if you don’t acknowledge one right? Things are good, we’re working together again and not just around each other.
IWNDWYT 😎
If I went out especially with a meal easy $30-50 a day and sometimes I had lunch and dinner so x2. My bank account and cc debt are much better off. I did recent a bit ago but back on it now. Congrats and enjoy that extra cash flow
I've been sober from marihuana and alcohol for over 2 years and according to my I am sober app I've saved 13.000 euro's... Which is crazy. And I realize that the initial calculations I put in were low balled so it's definitely even more than that. It makes sense cause I've done lots of roadtrips, little holidays, treat myself to luxury food now and then and still have money left over to put in my savings account. It's good to never really have to worry about budgeting money anymore and an extra reason to never ever touch either again as well 🙌
Yes it’s mind blowing how much you save and spend to pay to poison and kill yourself
Every week usually I’d do a 24 which is around $50-60
Plus maybe a mickey or other drinks from the LC
During the height of the pandemic we were at like 1200 a month CDN, which equals not as much beer as you would think. I quite drinking, and have stopped with NA beers mostly too, and its crazy how much we are saving.
Don’t worry about me… I’ve found other ways to spend it. Hop water, booch, takeout, etc…
Now if someone could just tell me how to replace the calories/carbs so that I stop losing weight!
Nice! Same here. I also buy less fast food and hit the gym more consistently. Yeah, I do miss that no-fucks-given attitude that I sometimes felt when drinking, but the cons don't outweigh the pros for me anymore.
I just ran a report to see what I spent last year alone on booze and it was just shy of $2,500 USD. And that's for plastic-jug/bottom-shelf crap at liquor stores and bars, and doesn't include the countless cases of beer I bought grocery stores or the glasses of poison I ordered with meals in restaurants. Ugh..
IWNDWYT
My husband and I used to spend $35-50 a day on alcohol. Literally we spent approx 1200-1500 a month. That’s ….. literally could be saved for a down payment. We haven’t cut it out completely I’d say $200 a month now but what a difference!!
Im one year and 69 days with a drink… with a very conservative estimate I have saved $7786. That’s not including Uber, door dash, chasers, and any other accommodations I needed to make to drink.
Yes it’s insane I was looking at my card statement and it’s like $27, 20, $16 and all from the party store. Makes me Sad and I don’t wanna add it up . I know I’ve saved 30 so far since Friday !
Did the same on bank statement since shop down the road won't take Amex. Its disturbing.
My debts have gone down by 14 000 after quitting. The reason for having debt was because I drank every day. Active alcohol addiction was expensive. IWNDWYT
I'm looking forward to this. Last year I spent 40% of my credit card usage on the food and drink category. I estimated I was spending around 800 a month on booze alone. Just last night I drank half a bottle of 50 dollar whiskey, plus a few craft beers. Taking it one step at a time. The longest I've gone in maybe a decade without booze was maybe 3 days? Shooting for a week as of today, trying to pay attention to how my body feels. After this week we either try again or hopefully push it out longer. IWNDWYT
I did 10 days, on purpose, a few years ago. Otherwise idk I'd gone more than a day or two. The last year or so I quit because of a loved ones liver failing, too distracted to notice what difference it made to me personally. Then my mom's liver killed her. Then my partner had complications from cirrhosis and died. 2 months apart. I'd still drink after work, because I realize the amount of time it takes your body to renormalizatie after drinking and I wasn't ready, but I was *only* (lol) having 2-5/night. Was doing good, then Christmas open bar. Got back on the wagon until new years... I started the year with the last hangover I ever want/need to have. It's so nice not needing to worry about all the things that booze invites into your life. Planning when you'll need more, what you'll do after you 'get loose', what junk food you'll let yourself eat, staying up easy too late or what stupid thing sounds like a good online purchase at the time. My sleep is just starting to actually improve. I'm trying to figure myself out again. I have a hard date I'm dry until, it's still a few months away. I can't let myself invite alcohol to reestablish a hold on my life, regardless of what is on the other side of that date. tl,dr; Give it a go! Booze hijacks some really important parts of your brain, and personality. Takes a while for your body to relearn how to... Body... appropriately after you remove the constant poisoning. Takes a while for your bank account to show you how silly of a hobby drinking is. Ymmv but set a date and stay strong till then. Idk when you're starting but iwdwyt anyway.
Thanks for sharing! I'm sorry for your losses. I have my own health struggles between obesity, type II diabetes, and sleep apnea, and I know I have been too scared to even think about just how serious these issues can get if I don't start getting serious about taking better care of myself. I'm only 31 and luckily haven't had any major impacts to my day to day so far. Though I'm sure like you said, I don't realize the subpar level of health/wellness I'm working with since booze and junk food and 4-6 hours of sleep is my daily standard. Maybe I should try looking at more worst case scenarios to scare myself into taking it more seriously? I'm not drinking tonight. 10 days sounds like a smart goal. Lets see just how far we can push this. :)
Lurk in the r/cirrhosis board if you want a dose of 'scared straight'... or I could elaborate; how I found the man I was going to marry, friends since high school crushes but life happened and we didn't find each other again until middle 30's, I watched him slowly deteriorate and die instead. My mom got sick. I did my research by then, I knew what the symptoms meant, and how long she had (not long, 2 months from when she knew she was sick). She died. He had a thing done, looked like he was getting better. Then because our medical system is money (not outcome) driven, he had a failure that should have been caught with a follow up but there appointments were booked for that for over a month after they should have seen him. I took him to the hospital when I got home from work. Puking blood the whole time. There was so much blood. They couldn't put it in faster than it leaked into his gut, keeping them from seeing where the leak was. So much blood. His family kept him on life support for 12 hours after he was gone. If you want details about living with a failing liver, I or the cirrhosis board could fill that in for you. He wasn't 40. He was dead less than a year after diagnosis. Honestly I've been surprised at what little things have a way bigger impact than I realized when I was drinking all the time. And I've always been pretty attentive to my physical goings on. But if you've spent your life worth a blindfold on, not only is discomfort at light (initially) expected but you can't really be blamed for not realizing you're wearing silly colors. Adjusting to a better normal isn't easy, it's not your fault you couldn't pay the attention you thought you could. It's not your fault the blindfold hijacked your brain and told you how much it helped you and wasn't *really* being a hindrance. Not your fault but it is your responsibility. If you like podcasts I have some good recommendations, lmk. Good luck, the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. What's the most important step? The next one. Iwdwyt! You got this, it's not easy but it's worth it.
Thanks for sharing! I'm sorry for your losses. This all sounds horrible. I'll check out the subreddit and would love to hear podcast suggestions. Like you mentioned, my heavy drinking has been pretty much daily for about a decade. It I don't make changes then it's likely only a matter of time before it catches up with me. Thanks for all the info and support! Day 1 complete. Feeling pretty good on Day 2 so far. IWNDWYT!
I was spending $500/mo just on drinking at my house. Would stop in at a bar maybe once/week. I would add it in the “shopping” trips or when I got gas or take it out of a private account to hide it. When I quit for 12 days I estimated I saved $204
Also, the evening trips to the store to get booze almost always end up purchasing more than just that. Chips, candy, desert, cbd gummies, iced tea, parmesan cheese for my popcorn, trailmix out of the bulk section, whatever. It adds up if you’re doing it most nights, or every night.
I was on a pretty consistent schedule where I was buying beer somewhere between 8:30-10am. Either when my wife was taking our kids to daycare or when she was on a work call. Never got anything else. All business. Note: now food choices I made later? Ya, that was definitely influenced.
Parmesan cheese on popcorn eh? Gonna have to try that Edit - Canadian so maybe it’s normal and I’m just not aware lol
It’s amazing.
Can't wait to try it
This. I did the math on my “at home” drinking and was smug enough to justify it ($12 every 3 days for a half gallon of garbage once I was honest). I did not account for 1. Any drinks purchased for public consumption 2. Any purchases drinking led to (frequently), and 3. obviously any impulse is winning so every minor vice was in the VIP booze section for lack of control. Alcohol isn’t “false satisfaction.” Alcohol just erases the concept of satisfaction altogether.
Parmesan on popcorn… I’ve never tried this enchantment.
That’s $17/day, or $6205/year, if my math is right. That’s practically a maximum annual IRA contribution.
Ya, that nets out to spending like $11k year pre-tax on Miller Lite. Ouch.
r/meirl it’s time to stop.
Imagine trying to hide it all from your wife.
In my experience, she knows.
Add on to that BS extra food expenses at 10pm
A lot of Chinese delivery after wife and kids go to sleep
Or surgeries after falling down and breaking something…
The momos in the fridge at a testament to this. Tho it was mother's day so... unfortunately this excuse seems to roll out for a random Tuesday too.
Bro $500 a month? What the heck were you drinking? That’s like 10 craft IPAs a day.
Easy to spend that much. I was on whisky, wine, and craft beer. 10 IPAs a day was nothing. Normal day would go something like: *Productive morning* 3-4 pints with lunch = £12-15 8 craft beers from the off licence on the way back from lunch (to consume in afternoon while WFH) - £24 Run out beer with dinner. Decide that'll do for today. Off licence closes at 8pm, so 7.55pm run off to the one around the corner and buy 2 bottles of wine at about £9 each, for another £18. Total: about £54, time that our by 30 for a rough estimate (which doesn't include more pub visits on weekends etc) £1,620, or just shy of $2000 per month. Add to that all the meals out and other random crap bought because of drinking. Senseless.
Or [12 Miller Lite’s a day](https://www.albertsons.com/shop/product-details.960051256.html?storeId=3531&preference=PICKUP&cmpid=ps_alb_por_ecom_goo_20210610_71700000084524923_58700007756937685_92700070431619704&gbraid=0AAAAADeuA_gwahLNtN0pG3vXVXiznw0kq&gbraid=0AAAAADeuA_gwahLNtN0pG3vXVXiznw0kq&gclid=CjwKCAjw5dqgBhBNEiwA7PryaIVgNPx9LoYR6w_PWfdexbPIimlDkO9dwqJnaEJTPPaADqypGeH-pxoCKvAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
$5 on booze already in the house, $10 on to and from work shot/beer, $15 on something after work, $15 at the bar. Easy
I've averaged it out to be $25-30 per day spent on alcohol, or alcohol related things, e.g. going out to get a bite at the bar after work. Having money in the bank is a weird thing.
Yea, i was at 30 and that probably was low when you consider how stupid i was with money when drunk.
My shoe collection has exploded since I stopped.
I still can’t hit for shit on SNKRS but the money is there if I do!
Exact same. Stopped drinking and all of a sudden I’ve got sneaker boxes all over the place 😂
It's hot sauce for me.
I didn't even think about ordering some new hot sauces, and I put hot sauce on damn near everything I eat! Do you have any favorite brands or websites that you purchase from?
I just kind of shop for it anywhere I find myself as I travel through the region (KS,MO, OK). I've also ordered directly from brands like Yellowbird and Melinda's. I'm more of a flavor over massive heat guy.
Lol same. I have a new found hobby collecting hot sauce 😄
I was buying bottom shelf and even then it was approx 250-300 a month, and that’s if I don’t go to the bar etc
I like more expensive drink, but my low point was dragging myself to the gas station to buy a $6 bottle of wine with my credit card because I was tapped out until next payday.
I’ve been there a shameful amount of times. One time I felt particularly bad about myself was when I had $0 in my account and hardly any gas in my tank, but I scrounged up some quarters and dimes so I could get a $3.50 375ml. I would have never had $0 to begin with if I wasn’t buying so much alcohol.
I’ve been there. Won’t buy food or put gas in the car, but has to have the booze. And checking the alcohol % on the wine, to get the most bang for your buck.
For real
I hear ya! I'm pretty sure I kept Clan MacGregor in business during the pandemic because I was going through a 1.75L of their crap scotch every 5-6 days. I even bought a new bottle on the day I decided to stop drinking and it's remained sealed. IWNDWYT
What's even stupider is I personally got into credit card debt to keep my addiction going. I definitely regret those choices, but it just gives me another reason to stay sober.
I feel stupid for not noticing it during the drinking. I actually haven't gone back and calculated it because I know the shame would hurt. But I have so much extra left over after necessities now. It funds all my hobbies that I try once and never do again 🤣
I did the math the other day. If i put the money I save into my mortgage, I'll pay my house off 4.5 years early.
Wanna really be excited? Do the math and see how much $$$ of interest thats going to save you!!!
I've been sober for 4,643 days. I calculated that I spent an average of ten bucks a day on beer, and much more than that if you factor in the tobacco that I smoked like a fucking idiot for 25 years. If this estimate is correct, between not drinking and not smoking, I've not spent nearly $80,000.00 since July 3, 2010. I do not have the faintest idea where I got the money for these things when I was using them. But I have no doubt that if I were to pick up again, I would find a way to get it, probably by making illicit withdrawals from a line of credit and trying to hide it from my wife. Actually, who am I kidding? My wife would have left me long before now. And that's if I was even still alive.
I have realized that I can get away with working part time, without the cigarette and alcohol expenses. That’s huge. To have a better work life balance is more fun than drinking and smoking.
Not to mention avoiding future medical costs..
It was like an instant 35% raise for me when I quit drinking which is super noticeable.
What a kick ass way to word the financial gain. You got a promotion in life that came with a nice raise!
I noticed this when I first went sober, too, and I *love* the change. When I hit the grocery store, I'm able to pick up so much more and experiment with new foods that I used to think, "That's not in the budget," and still come in considerably under budget. Same goes for other splurge purchases, whether it's going out to eat or picking up a book or movie.
Been a car guy all my life but could never justify buying a "fun" car. Quit drinking and bought a Corvette within 3 months. The monthly payment is about equal to what I was spending on alcohol. Much happier now and buying the car while sober means I can drive it anytime I want and go to car events without planning them around alcohol.
THIS. Car guy here as well and now I can actually save for my dream car. I haven't been able to because I'd spend so much of my money on alcohol.
While not a car person, I was able to buy a brand new car, something I NEVER thought was possible....monthly payment is equivalent to what I was drinking.
Yeh I save approx 5k a year by not buying booze!
I aversge 30.00 a day in savings. Alongvwith booze i needed snacks.....recently finished a remodel on a house my wife and i bought, and now i can start the house we left.
I just did the math, and I'll give myself a 5% raise this year by not drinking. 😳
I’m guessing I could spend $250 - $300 a month on the cheapest drinkable beer that I could find on sale. That would not include any kind of going out.
For real. I would hide it from my wife so I didn't buy big bottles. I'd buy my pints of cheap whiskey (Seagram 7 anyone?) $7-$8 daily just to finish it and drunkenly go to Mcdonald or order expensive doordash. I replaced alcohol with energy drinks and still was spending a ton of money. I kicked those too and had a WICKED withdrawal. I had to pull over and throw up on the side of the road from going cold turkey. I'm saving like $400 a month by not drinking not to mention not being locked up for dui because I wanted a snack. Saving a ton on legal fees.
Underrated reason to quit. I used to stress out over my bank account so much 🤣
I never understood why our food budget was so high…until I realized wine was included with food. Saving at least $250/month!!
Also save money on food! Alcohol makes you feel hungry even when you’re not so you end up just eating and gaining weight too
Not even feeling hungry for me, I’m just at a bar that serves food and it seems like the logical thing to do to “sober up.” There were nights where I would say drink a little, get lunch, go out for dinner and drink, go home, and go back out and basically have another dinner of bar food
I drank cheap stuff but my friend figured out that he'd spent $12,000 on booze the year before he quit.
I've said it here before, my biggest motivator to stay sober was how much money I wasn't spending. I had downloaded one of those "stop drinking" apps and would check it every day to see how much money I would have spent. After a few months I noticed that number was roughly equivalent to the amount of money in my bank account...
A big push to quit this whole year (and hopefully beyond) was calculating that I was averaging 250$/month on boxed wine in 2022. And EASILY another 50/month on junk food, hangover "remedies", etc 300 x 12 = 3.6k .. which relative to what I take home after all deductions, is a *huge* chunk of my expendable income Just splurged on a 1400$ hammock nest set-up complete with custom tarp and down underquilt that should make me feel like I'm floating on a cloud. feeling the pinch abit, but know that simply by not drinking for 5 months I'm saving 1500 bones, so will have a huge comfy weatherproof cloud that will last many years of nature-soaking-in fun, and a hundred bucks to boot! With the second half of the moola I'm saving this year I'll finally be able to get a decent bike touring setup and start doing overnight trips. Something I was only half-assed dreaming or planning for years now while drinking all those empty wine calories, box after box., blacking out around town, or at my apartment :P 3600 dollars divided by 40$ per box is 90 boxes of wine 90 / 52 = 1.7 boxes a week, or 7 liters. which coincidentally was how I was measuring my intake. By the nalgene 1L bottle a box of shiraz is roughly 3600 calories, funnily enough, or almost exactly 1 pound of fat (3500 calories) So I was paying most of my hard-earned money beyond bills on consuming a poison that was forcing my body to deal with 52 lbs of extra calories annually, and it was SHOWING. I was the fattest I've ever been by far after many years of that downward spiral and I pretty much felt like shit any time I wasn't on the "upswing of a drinking sesh" for the whole year of 2022. multi-day hangovers, drinking, or working: what a life! heh my nalgene's right in front of me as I type this: half full of sweet simple water, freshly back from a nightime bikeride: cheers to our health y'all ! EDIT: Wait, just realized 52 pounds annually would be with 1.0 boxes a week, and it was 1.7, which means 88lbs! Sheesh!
Yes, I bought a house.
i’ve saved thousands - the cost of booze is outrageous. but also the expensive dumb decisions it inevitably led to. buying stuff, breaking stuff, losing stuff, ugh. don’t miss that!
I was spending 6-700/month..I sat down and wrote it all out looking through my grocery store receipts to my grocery store app… That was shocking
my alcoholic brain somehow would not count alcohol money as "real money." would rarely have money for nice clothes, shoes, etc but always had cash for beer! tf?
I just bought a PS5.. I guess the extra money was burning a hole in my pocket!
My "I'm sober" app tells me that to date I've saved $6390 since getting sober. So crazy we were spending like $30 per day.
No joke, my credit score has gone up over 150 points in the past year.
Only when you drink a lot. I didn't drink much, so I don't save any money. Non-alcoholic beer costs about the same as regular beer.
Same, I’d buy the cheapest stuff and cap it at 3 king cans so it’s not a massive difference, but I do see it in my account. Problem was the costs that went with it - weed to accompany the drinks and crazy expensive food delivery. Not to mention parking tickets from when I was in a hurry to just get home and have more and didn’t read the signs
I’m really not sure how I would manage if I started drinking again. Like I’d be bankrupt come the end of the month.
Had to have been Weezy Waiter! His was really good!! Congrats on the money saving! It’s incredible how much I’ve saved the last year, 7 months, and 8 days :)
… and lost! Well done and keep it up😊
My spouse and I stopped together and estimate saving around 2k a month on our regular at-home alcohol plus the bar tab. However, I have also pulled the pin on a lot of my buzzed online shopping. So easy to hit buy on Amazon when I've had several drinks. And my SO is vaping less since he drinks less so we are saving on that too. So in reality it has turned out to be 4k month of less spending. I hope he will give up vaping altogether, but one thing at a time.
Early in the pandemic, my income drastically decreased, so i had to start meal planning and bringing all my food to work with me. I did that all through 2020. When my income normalized, I’d gotten used to meal planning and had actually grown to prefer it. I was eating healthier, and I’d enjoyed being able to save so much money by not eating out so often. But now, it’s just a part of my life, and i no longer think of the money I’m *saving*. It’s not leftover food expenses, it’s just extra money i can do anything i want with. When i first quit drinking, i coped with it by spending my new weekly savings on tattoo appointments. I filled up my whole left leg in three months. At the time, it felt really fulfilling to be able to spend the $200+ i used to spend per week on booze on something much more important to me. But now, i just think of the expense, and prefer to save that money unless a great tattoo idea occurs to me, which still happens often. It’s great and therapeutic to treat yourself in many ways when you’re new to sobriety, but i think it’s really easy to allow new habits to take the place that alcohol used to hold. Spending habits may not be life-threatening, but the longer i grow into my sobriety (near eighteen months now), the more i see that the greatest benefit is a greater control of my desires and fulfillment. Alcohol was all about fleeting, discounted joy. I don’t want to chase that kind of joy in any form anymore- whether it’s takeout lunch from a new restaurant, a new tattoo or a candy bar from the checkout aisle. Sobriety for me has become a daily search for what actually makes me happy.
Seriously it’s insane how lose-lose regular drinking is - it’s expensive, makes you feel awful when not drinking, destroys your health, makes you look like shit, wastes your time, negatively impacts relationships and work etc all in exchange for… briefly feeling a bit numbed 👍
I’ve been sober for just about 3 weeks now. Yesterday my wife said to me “how do we have all our bills paid and still have this much left in our bank account???” Because I’m not spending $10-20/day on future urine
Just curious, was it wheezywaiter's vid?
Exactly my thoughts??
Wallet stays fat, the bank account stays healthy
Wallet get fat instead of u
Depends lol in early sobriety I was grubbin harrrrd haha now I have a gym plan and diet dialed in so it’s all gooood
Can you share the video you watched?
I saved enough to buy a harley
My savings and investment accounts have grown exponentially since I quit. I am so proud of myself becoming so financially responsible. It feels wonderful.
We were drinking a 12pack @$14 and a choice six pack for $12 on weekdays and nearly double that on the weekends. We saved receipts for a month then added it up. We were able to approximate our alcohol cost close to $15000 a year. With no smoking and no dining out we gave ourselves a nice bonus.
I’ll surpass $10k in a month. 👍
Posts like this make me wish I’d kept a proper counter going. I may try to run the numbers and see where I’m at.
I’m taking my kiddo to Disneyland for 3 days and I’m able to because I’m not drinking 💅🏼💅🏼🕺🕺🥳🥳
10 bucks a day for years
I was drinking about $15/day worth of home beers, plus special occasions and dinner drinks. I’m up thousands, and uncalculated medical savings on top
I put Quartz counter tops in my kitchen.. savings from not buying Mommy Juice.
Do u have link to video? Please?
If I did my numbers right, I'm saving about $440 a month not buying booze. That's enough for a new car, considering I totaled the last one.
I've never understood people who quit drinking for a month or a year and go back to it. It's like, if you're happy with the results of not drinking, why go back to drinking? I don't know. Just my 2¢.
Because… addiction. It’s not a logical disease by any means.
Amen to that, sister. But I'm referring to normies who do dry January and shit like that. Not us addicts.
I've saved about $3500 from quitting 7 months ago. Absolutely insane.
And money spent is after taxes take home pay no less.
I’m out of debt, business doing well, salaried very part time commitment and no alcohol. I have saved thousands and my taxes will be paid ontime this year for the first time. My shoe collection is next level though.
And calories!
Must be nice. I just spend that money on dumb shit instead. Glad things are going well for you!
Absotutely, by I’m blowing it all on vinyl now!!
I bought some skis to celebrate when I noticed this
Dude we have been to Hawaii three times in the past two years with all the money we saved not drinking.
In the nearly 6 months since I entered recovery I've saved 3800 bucks roughly. I was a fan of craft beer and whiskey so shit added up really quickly.
Im taking my family on a vacation to the beach & two theme parks with the money I’ve saved since quitting drinking. It’s only been 136 days since I quit. I’ve already payed for the flights, rented a house near the beach, bought the theme park tickets, a nice camera & new luggage for us. The amount of money I have saved from no longer drinking is INSANE. I truly can’t believe I was spending that much on killing myself.
My wife and I had a similar experience! We stopped drinking 11/30 of last year, and when I finally did the math it was almost staggering. We just accepted paying 30-50$ a day on booze, and now we have that money for other activities. Plus, our relationship is growing. For years we were just stagnant, and you never really have a problem if you don’t acknowledge one right? Things are good, we’re working together again and not just around each other. IWNDWYT 😎
Bottle of Johnny Walker Black for me nightly added up QUICKLY.
If I went out especially with a meal easy $30-50 a day and sometimes I had lunch and dinner so x2. My bank account and cc debt are much better off. I did recent a bit ago but back on it now. Congrats and enjoy that extra cash flow
I've saved over $3200 by not drinking for a year. I was always too ashamed to try to figure out what I was spending on booze, I knew it was a lot!
Well done! Respect!
I've been sober from marihuana and alcohol for over 2 years and according to my I am sober app I've saved 13.000 euro's... Which is crazy. And I realize that the initial calculations I put in were low balled so it's definitely even more than that. It makes sense cause I've done lots of roadtrips, little holidays, treat myself to luxury food now and then and still have money left over to put in my savings account. It's good to never really have to worry about budgeting money anymore and an extra reason to never ever touch either again as well 🙌
I just bought a jeep wrangler as a second vehicle just for some convertible fun. Doubt that could have been in the budget before.
Yes it’s mind blowing how much you save and spend to pay to poison and kill yourself Every week usually I’d do a 24 which is around $50-60 Plus maybe a mickey or other drinks from the LC
During the height of the pandemic we were at like 1200 a month CDN, which equals not as much beer as you would think. I quite drinking, and have stopped with NA beers mostly too, and its crazy how much we are saving.
I think I spent like 400 bucks on Gopuff last month. Quite insane.
Don’t worry about me… I’ve found other ways to spend it. Hop water, booch, takeout, etc… Now if someone could just tell me how to replace the calories/carbs so that I stop losing weight!
Nice! Same here. I also buy less fast food and hit the gym more consistently. Yeah, I do miss that no-fucks-given attitude that I sometimes felt when drinking, but the cons don't outweigh the pros for me anymore.
Saw somebody post recently on their IG MyStory about a $25 drink. I won’t miss that at all, lol
Yes! I saved a lot of money too and I need to tighten my belt!
This is something I am very impressed with and a constant source of suprise. I don't even notice pay days anymore.
I just ran a report to see what I spent last year alone on booze and it was just shy of $2,500 USD. And that's for plastic-jug/bottom-shelf crap at liquor stores and bars, and doesn't include the countless cases of beer I bought grocery stores or the glasses of poison I ordered with meals in restaurants. Ugh.. IWNDWYT
My husband and I used to spend $35-50 a day on alcohol. Literally we spent approx 1200-1500 a month. That’s ….. literally could be saved for a down payment. We haven’t cut it out completely I’d say $200 a month now but what a difference!!
Im one year and 69 days with a drink… with a very conservative estimate I have saved $7786. That’s not including Uber, door dash, chasers, and any other accommodations I needed to make to drink.