Big.Money.Wasted.

Some good things have to come out of taking this whole "no drinking" plunge. Shedding a few pounds would be nice, but I think saving some money would good too! I took a hard look at my alcohol spending habits and frankly I am blown away. While this is just a rough estimate, the hubby and I probably spent about $3100 on alcohol in 2017. Seriously? With that kind of cash I could travel, buy my kid a horse, redecorate my house, start a savings fund for a bathroom remodel, send extra payments to my mortgage, or work on paying off my car.

This seems like Big. Money. Wasted!

There is a good Alcohol Spending Calculator at if you are interested in Rethinking Drinking- Alcohol & Your Health. They also have some other great calculators such as calorie count and drink size calculators you can play around with. When I tried out their calculator I came up with approximately $1500 spent each year on alcohol. I wanted to dig a little deeper than their basic calculations and take into account the many special events each year that contribute to additional alcohol consumption. In order to come up with the $3100 household figure I looked at my 2017 calendar month by month and listed out the big events and what possible alcohol purchases were made. I then used general cost figures to come up with an estimated total. I also added in general monthly purchases at the grocery store and dining out. I plugged this into a spread sheet and calculated the grand total. This chart was definitely just a rough estimate as I did not keep formal data but it still drives home the point for me. As a family, we could save over $3000 per year if eliminate all alcohol purchases.

Take a look at my detailed chart here.

Even if some of these savings will be reabsorbed by purchasing sodas or other non-alcoholic drinks, I imagine we will still save a decent chunk of change each year...maybe just enough to go get me some Botox!