How much do you spend a month on alcohol?

[Drummer's Wife]

Just curious, as DH and I created a new budget for 2012. He loves beer (and I enjoy wine and hard alcohol), but I'm just wondering where we stand as far as spending compared to other households.

This includes drinks out, as well as what you buy to consume at home.

Thanks!

[34me]

We hardly ever buy alcohol out, and when we do -it's dh and 2 beers max so $3-10. But we always have beer in the house. We get growlers from either here http://odellbrewing.com/home or here http://www.newbelgium.com/home.aspx So maybe $30. We are moving in the next 6 months though so I am going to start stockpiling at least a case every 2 weeks so it will go up.

[xekomaya]

We set a budget of $30 and that is just supposed to be for Dh to buy beer and the very occasional bottle of whiskey (1-2x yr). He doesn't drink much but he has a thing for fancy and unusual beers. We used to stick to the budget very well but lately have been going over (60-100$/month through the holidays) so I am going to have to remind him and reign it in.  We do live in AK so our prices are probably a bit higher than in the lower 48. 

[SunRise]

When we go out we may get one or two drinks (one for me as I have a toddler and thats about as long as we can sit). I don't have a monthly budget per se, but I did just buy a bottle of Baileys for 40 dollars. Occasionally Ill buy a wine or two bottles (10 bucks / bottle average). I usually buy when I need it (hosting or just feel like having a glass). Sometimes I get a case a beer if I think company will be coming. I dont always have it in my house.  (Rarely do I get hard liquor - just beer or wine)

So a budget of perhaps, 20 - 30 / month, but not necessarily every month, or maybe more in one month. Ha, no help here, back to sipping my Baileys

[lookatreestar]

i don't drink, so maybe $40 dollars in beer a month for dh (usually he has company brother/FIL etc)

[zebra15]

It depends on the month. 

[Drummer's Wife]

Hmmm. Thanks, all. This was one area of our budget we weren't agreeing on. I don't think it's unreasonable to allocate $150 or less per month for alcohol. It actually seems high, IMO, but not to DH.

I mean, just yesterday I spent $50 on some beer and rum at walmart. So, that's 1/3 of the amount I want to hold us to.

[xekomaya]

It can be so easy to spend those higher amounts, especially when you prefer *good* beer over PBR and higher qualities of liquor and bottles of wine are an especially fast way to spend an alcohol budget. We certainly used to spend quite a bit more on alcohol but what changed for us was looking our total per year and what percentage of our after tax income it represented. I also multiplied it out over 10-20 years and made the decision that I did NOT want to spend that much money on an unnecessary beverage. $200/ month on alcohol is $24,000 over 10 years. There are so many more fun things to do with 24k than drink it all away!

[dealic]

My husband gets about $50, once a year, usually for his birthday  He'd prefer a bit more, but well, its not a priority and he'd rather good food, so if we have extra, we go out to eat instead.

[Imakcerka]

Maybe 10 a month... maybe.  I have a hard cider now and then and DH is into more earthy things.  So... yeah it's just me.

[Ruthiegirl]

We spend less than $40,  usually around $25.  I usually get dh a nice bottle of bourbon for Christmas as well.  We used to spend a lot more when we drank wine, but both of us stick to beer these days.  I still love wine, but get crazy headaches from it now.  That's the breaks with getting older, I just can't drink like I used to.

[Imakcerka]

I'm actually starting to think I don't spend enough.  After having to play lego Batman with DD1 for over an hour yesterday and being told to just hand over the controller numerous times because I was holding her back... I wanted a drink.  Also because she figured out the game before me.  I was stuck on level 1 forever the night before.  She forced my sad self through level 4.  I got yelled at twice for not taking out Catwoman and staying in my position.  Really kid?  She's into MMO's so she get really bent out of shape if you don't play your part right.  It's actually pretty funny because she never talks to me like that and afterwards she patted me on the back and told me she knows she shouldn't have gotten on me like that but if I'm going to play games with her a little effort is all she asks.

HA!  And vodka for mommy!

Oh well not as bad as me teaching her how to play chess and her kicking my ass in game 3... and then every game after that.  I'm such a loser!!!

[justmama]

Nothin!  And I love it.  My dad brews so I get beer from him and I bake bread or cinnamon rolls or whatever for my parents in trade.

[FloridaBorn]

I like the $150 dollar amount a prior poster said.  We probably spend about that.  Usually a big bottle of wine every night split between myself, my husband, and my mom.  Sometimes gin or scotch is bought for the household.  No more beer since my husband had gastric bypass surgery.

[EmsMom]

I spend about $10 a month.  One large bottle of cheap wine.  I drink one glass a couple of times a week. 

[Peony]

I only drink a few times a year so maybe spent 20 a year on drinks while out to dinner with a friend. $150.00 sounds reasonable to me, I come from a family of beer drinkers, I know my parents spend more then that a month. DH probably spends that a month, maybe more in the winter because he gets at least one drink a day on the mountain while snowboarding. 

[annethcz]

Ours varies tremendously.  We can easily spend $200-250/ month on alcohol if we decide to buy nicer bottles of wine.  Other months we'll be more frugal and spend closer to $75 on alcohol. 

We drink wine with dinner several times/week.  DH enjoys beer, and although we occasionally homebrew, we're out of the habit at the moment.  We also buy hard liquor, most frequently rum but also whiskey (DH) and tequila (me).  We entertain frequently and so we buy beverages for ourselves and our guests.

[Momsteader]

Never unless I need wine for cooking, and I usually just do without. I did buy 2 shots of booze at the bar in November to get my turkeys drunk before I butchered them! But, that's the extent of my alcohol consumption for the year.  I in general try to stay away from 'drinking' money as food itself is expensive enough. Water and sometimes tea/coffee and the once in a while treat of soda or juice, etc.  I think maybe if you looked at it as a yearly amount, it might seem larger and make the point as to why you think $150 is enough. Or, look at other items in your budget and see what's more/less than that and compare what you find important. Cut another area down a bit if he needs more beer money, but there has to be a give and take.

[Poddi]

I don't drink and DH drinks very occasionally.  We probably buy 2 bottles of wine a year, so that probably work out to about $2 a month.  I don't think we're typical, though.  Most people we know probably do 2 bottles a month.

*I forgot to include the 2 - 3 bottles of wine that we receive as gift in a typical year as well.  I guess that makes the total 4 bottles instead of 2.

[alicewyf]

I don't drink but my husband loves specialty beers (don't even know if that is the actual term), and he spends about $15 a month. He doesn't have one every day. We are far below average though, I know. My mom probably goes through a bottle of good wine a week, so probably spends about $100/mo on alcohol.