Money and Drinking Alcohol; Save money by Cutting Back or Quitting, Take an EPIC TRIP with your Savings!

Nate discusses how much money he and Megan were spending at the peak of their drinking.  It was pretty staggering, he is encouraging listeners to just take a look and see how much they are spending.

Invitation to Megan’s Breathwork event and her new podcast!!

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2598458

https://www.glimpselove.com/pl/2148749364

Welcome to The Dry Life- Alcohol -Free Lifestyle, Marriage Growth In Sobriety, the podcast where one real couple gets honest about sobriety, personal growth, and everything in between. Join us — a husband and wife duo — as we share our sobriety journey, including the raw ups and downs, the unexpected benefits of alcohol-free living, and the lifelong learning that has transformed our lives and our marriage. Whether you’re sober curious, newly sober, or years into your recovery journey, this podcast is your reminder that life after alcohol can be full, rich, and deeply rewarding. Each week we dive into real conversations about sober living, self-development, mindset shifts, and the daily commitment it takes to keep growing. If you’re looking for a sobriety podcast that goes beyond just quitting drinking and explores what it truly means to thrive, you’re in the right place.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Hey, it's Nate with the dry life. Hope everybody's doing well. Um, you probably recognize that song. If not, uh, here's a hint. Yeah, that's money by uh Pink Floyd. Came out in 1973. And that's uh that's the topic of um today's discussion. I'm flying solo here. Megan's got the week off. Um so we want to talk about the uh uh the effects of money when it comes to alcohol and when you know you're drinking. Uh I went through a painful process and uh just remembered back to when um Megan and I were at the height of our drinking and um and just looked at you know the um the weekly costs. And you know, it's it's not um it was just not for us necessarily. We we kind of had a a crew of people. So, you know, the amount we spent on every week was not just for us, it was um, you know, to have for people to come over to our place. Um but here it is. I mean it it's just it was uh kind of staggering to me when I looked at the numbers, but um I I guess at the peak, um we were you know we were going out um to our favorite establishment a couple times a week, and um I would say probably averaging $75 um per outing. Um mostly alcohol, maybe some food, but uh and then um $25 for a bottle of vodka and two of them, so that's $50, you know, a 12-pack of IPAs. I'm sorry, uh $12 for uh six pack of IPAs, um twice a week, that's $25. Uh seltzers were pretty popular back then, a couple of six packs that'll run you a total of 40. Uh regular beer, uh 12 pack of regular beer, you know, 15, probably got two of those a week, and then uh, you know, our most uh uh unfavorite habit out of all of this was um at some points we were smoking cigarettes, and you know, if we got a couple a few packs, that would be like $25 a week. So uh weekly the grand total would be $300, and you spread that over the course of uh a year, you know, we're talking about um $15 grand, and um that's crazy. I mean the amount of money that we were spending um to you know uh to fund this habit was you know just not good. And you know, uh we're we're very fortunate that um you know we we are no longer drinking and no longer putting that amount of money into the habit. Um, you know, it's it's uh it's pretty steep. And I I think if people uh it's not it's not fun to um take a look in the mirror and really take a look at how much you're spending on this stuff, and uh it can add up. And I mean this might be one of those things that you know you may decide to to uh scale back a little bit on your drinking because of the financial impacts. I mean, you know, 15 grand a year, even 10 grand a year. I mean, gosh, you do a lot with that, and uh so you know I think that is um that is something that really uh could could tip the balance for you um if you're looking to quit or look at a scale back is just simply the money. And you know what? We're not we're not even talking about um um you know uh like vacations you take and how much of the vacation is is uh uh allocated uh to alcohol and that type of stuff. I mean, you know, you could likely cut down on on those costs if if alcohol was not in the um in the plan. Now uh when you get into drinking and driving and a dui conviction, one of those could cost you up to 10 grand. Um I would I would say that we were we were very um uh very careful about that. We didn't, you know, um another another cost to to all this would be um you know Uber lift drives. And we would we would do that um if we couldn't catch a ride uh with somebody else or we had one place that was close enough to even walk. But um, you know, that's not always the case. And you know, it it really doesn't take much to get over that alcohol threshold that would uh from a law enforcement standpoint um put you in a um uh you know over the limit case. And again, I mean I mean uh uh DUI conviction, 10 grand, easy fines, court costs, insurance, increase, and not to mention, I mean, there there may be some some job-related financial impacts. Um, you know, if you do a lot of driving uh for your job, there you go. I mean, that's that's gonna be an impact there too. Um so you know that's that was one of the topics that I I wanted to really look at was just the the idea that um it goes beyond health, uh both physical and mental health. Um and it goes, you know, it's just another aspect of of and and consequence of drinking. And you know, I want to get back to the point of um, you know, the the $300 a week was was not just for for Megan and I. It was um to be able to entertain our friends, and actually our place was turned out to be a hangout, um, which caused other problems. But you know, we wanted to make sure that uh we had enough to go around. Uh now, of course, our friends would bring their own, and um, and that was you know, that was fine, but at the same time, you get to the point of the night that you don't want to be going and making a run to the liquor store. You just want to stay home for obvious reasons, and um you want to make sure that your your pals have have enough, you know, to go around. So it um and that of course goes into the social aspect of of having a group of friends that reinforce this, um that you know um gathering not necessarily just on the weekends, it could be during during the week, and um, and the amount of money, you know, spent. I I just think of like um $300 a week. I mean, what kind of things could you do with it? Uh I mean, going out for a nice dinner, uh there are there are tons of things that you could do with that kind of money. Um, but the point is that it's expensive, it's expensive, and I think a lot of people just don't really look at it, they don't um really consider it, especially you know, at a certain peak of of drinking, and um it can be staggering. So, you know, and we certainly don't want to be preachy, but I want to you know share our experience and the amount of money we were spending, and uh and maybe just to ask for you to to to kind of check that, just to to see what you're doing and whether you want to quit or you just want to scale back, think about the you know, the things that you could be doing with that money. Um and uh um yeah, that that was just the kind of the thought of the week. Didn't have much beyond that, but I'm sure there are other financial implications that go along with it. Um, you know, you could talk about long-term health, um, you know, gosh, if if your marriage does not hang in there, I mean there are financial implications there. So, you know, just uh just a really uh uh uh uh microscopic look, weekly budget, how much you're spending on it is is just kind of a starting point. Um but there are other many other things that um that you could be saving, that you could be spending your money on on other things, but alcohol. So yeah, that was um this is a short one, fine solo. It's not a surprise because I I don't talk all that much generally. Um but here we are. So I really appreciate um your time today, and um I hope you have a good week. And uh, you know, maybe just play um Pink Floyd every once in a while so that it just reminds you how much uh drinking can cost. Alright, folks, have a good week. Take care.