How much do you spend on alcohol in a year?
Asked by
JLeslie (
65421
)
September 19th, 2012
Include what you drink at home and out at restaurants and bars.
Please write as a separate number money you spend on alcohol to entertain others. For example buying alcohol for a party you might host.
Include all alcohol in your answers, beer, wine, and hard liquor.
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95 Answers
$0—$20 a year on myself. I rarely drink, and my husband drinks even less often. We also very rarely go out to eat, let alone ordering drinks at bars and restaurants – that’s a special occasion thing.
For entertaining, it’s difficult to guess. Including holidays, I’d say a couple hundred dollars, maybe. Max.
We spend between $300 and $500 a year on alcohol. I don’t have a breakdown on it.
Hosting an annual party for 75 people: $30 Beer, $40 Wine
Bringing bottle of wine to homes of friends when invited to dinner: $80 Wine
Buying something special for myself to try: $40 can be wine, liqueur.
Dinner out drinking = $10 . It’s too expensive.
Total $200. Call it $250 in case I forgot something. I am not a drinker
Okay, I’ll be the honest one. I drink. Love to. Beer is delicious.
A couple of times a month we’ll buy a 12 of bottles of beer. So… High estimate $30 a month. (it’s probably really closer to $20, but we’ll play safe)
$360 a year on beer.
Wild guess, maybe 4 bottles of grocery store wine a year. $40. We’re up to $400.
Restaurants – I agree with @LuckyGuy – $10. One drink a piece, per year. Bars – my hubby gets free because he’s in the band, and someone’s always more than willing to buy me drinks. ^_^
I haven’t thrown a party in a few years, but when I did, we set aside $80 – $100 for booze, and asked others to pitch in, too.
Response moderated (Off-Topic)
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I will spend about $8 on average on a date’s drink, about one and a half time per month, so about $150 per year.
I don’t consume any alcohol at all.
All of these answers (that are not zero), make me think that maybe I have no idea what alcohol actually costs. Makes sense, if we don’t buy it often. Maybe a couple hundred is far too high.
I buy a $15 bottle of hard cider about once every other month. I drink a margarita while eating out at our favorite Mexican restaurant on average about once a month – not sure what they cost.
About $20 a year for a bottle of sherry, much of it used for cooking.
Home
Maybe $1900 ($1250*)
±250 depending on when things run out; finding something intriguing; or going dry (which can easily drop it by half).
Can easily top $3500 if we’re doing a big restocking of liquor & buying wine; but then that lasts for years.
*See entertaining
Out (wife & I)
Probably < $400
Unless we host a big dinner out that easily doubles or triples (well our bill does, it’s the guests that drink it all), but we’ve been doing that less and hosting more at home the last few years.
Entertaining
Usually I do the cooking so it’s BYOB+ as in bring your own and more for everyone. We might spend between $100 and $300 on alcohol we wouldn’t have otherwise bought over the course of a year for events.
With that said what I included under “Home” can get hit pretty heavily once or twice a year by guests. I’d be willing to say an easy third might be consumed by guests. So feel free to consider between $650 of my stock as entertaining.
0.00.
I’m not sure what motivated the comment implying that people are being dishonest. Lots of people don’t drink. I’m one of them.
Not implying that the ones saying “Zero” are being dishonest, but that people who do aren’t speaking up. It was a little tongue-in-cheek
I don’t drink at home alone but I probably spend about $250 a year on wine or beer for entertaining. And if I’m out to dinner or in a bar, I will often have one drink so maybe about $450/$500 on that.
I spend about $350 a year on beer. I drink one a day. My wife doesn’t drink at all.
I also spend about $75 a year on wine, usually as gifts for friends.
to drink $0.00
entertain $0.00
to cook with $20.
I knew this question might be tough since so many jellies who usually answer alcohol questions are not drinkers. I appreciate all the answers so far. Hopefully we get a few more.
I’d guess $5 or $10. I use it in cooking. When we used to drink, it was a LOT more. Really good wine is expensive!
We don’t drink much. I would guess we buy about $100 to $150 of wine a year for home. Used to buy a case of beer or more a year, but I don’t drink much beer at home any more, so that’s down to $0 at the moment.
I also buy some hard liquor. Probably an average of one to two bottles a year. So maybe $50, there.
I think mostly I drink out. An average of two beers a month, which might come to $140. Then probably about one mixed drink every month, so that’s another $100.
This is mostly me, although my wife probably has a few wines a year and maybe a mixed drink or two. Say $50 for her.
So let’s say $500 per year for the household. Seems like too much, but liquor is expensive.
Why do you ask?
Holy crap!!! I’m an alcoholic compared to most people answering here. I have a serious beer habit, and usually buy a few bombers or a six pack on our weekly trip to the grocery store. I love stocking up on good beer. I’m also getting into brewing my own. Just finished bottling my first go at it. Different story all together. However, I would say I drink 4 to 5 beers a week. My wife probably has 1 to 2 beers a week. We probably go through 2 to 4 bottles of wine a week. Really cheep wine though. And during the summer I am always making mojitos. But now the seasons are changing and I will not be making those as much. We usually always have one drink when we go out to eat. We only eat out on weekends.
For home consumption, rough estimate, $1000 a year for all alcohol. Probably double that or just under for eating out at restaurants.
@wundayatta I ask because I was talking to a woman a few days ago, a wife of one of the drivers at the race track, and she said something about drinking, and she said it assuming I drink, and that everyone does. As the conversation continued, I basically explained I just don’t bother to, and she said she never met someone who doesn’t drink and it wasn’t for moral or religious reasons. I said there were a lot of people like me, she probably just is not in those circles, because she drinks herself. She is a glass of wine every night type of person and some other drinking at times. She said she grew up watching her parents always having a drink of some sort in the evening. Anyway, I mentioned how in college I had money to travel while my friends used it up drinking, I have said similar here on fluther. It had me thinking…how much do people really spend on alcohol? Especially those who drink regularly. I tended to think I blew the number up larger in my head than possibly what the reality is, and wanted to check myself. So, basically just curiosity.
I kind of know prices of alcohol, but really was not sure just how much people drink. Someone who has a glass of wine per night, is there 3 of their glasses in a bottle? 5? I know people tend to pour more than a glass in their glass, if you know what I mean. Do beer drinkers usually have at least 2? I think alcohol drinks at restaurants and bars run around $6—$14? Is that right? For the first time in probably 10 years I decided to look at a drink menu when I was out the other day, because I decided to have a frozen virgin something. I noticed the drinks did not have prices next to them.
I really wasn’t sure what people would answer.
@JLeslie
The wine we buy is $2.99 a bottle, and the way that I pour it is six glasses total. Some times when feeling special we will buy a $10 to $15 bottle of wine. When I am buying beer it ranges. For a six pack it can be $6.99 to $15.99. Lower end usually being a sale, and the higher end being a really special beer. Spirits, we use sparingly and a $20 bottle of something can usually last us a year or more. Drinks out usually are between $3 to $10. We try to hit up our favorite restaurants during happy hours.
Probably between $300 and $500 for personal use. I would guess entertaining breaks even, since people often arrive for dinner with a bottle of wine. I rarely buy wine for myself for that reason, but do buy beer fairly regularly and keep the liquor cabinet stocked.
Oh, but I also tend to buy a nice champagne (~ $50) for New Year’s, no matter where I am.
Oh god. This is terrifying.
We host people a lot, at least once/week, and often have wine with dinner (although we recently have cut way back). We also have drinks whenever we go out to dinner, and go to bars once a week or every other week.
Household re-stock runs about $100 every 6 weeks = $867 annually
Drinks while out at restaurants—probably 2–4 drinks (I’ll use an average of 3) once a week = $1,560 annually
Drinks at bars—probably an average of 6 every 1.5 weeks = $1,664
Total = $4,091
@nikipedia and that’s why we largely stopped drinking out. $10–18 for a martini? I can buy a bottle for $20–35 + vermouth which, as dry as I drink, basically just sits there and stares hard at the glass. $8–30 for whisky that I can buy a bottle of for $20–90? No thanks. A lot of our drinking out now is if I find something new that I want to try or catch something at a reasonable price plus the occasional glass of scotch or wine as a treat. Sort of sad, but then that’s where a lot of places make their big money.
Interestingly, a few places have recently adopted an informal bring your own policy that, for regulars, sees the corkage fee waived; I’m starting to like that idea, but it’s hardly common, and I’m thinking won’t last.
I’m with @wonderingwhy on that one – restaurants and bars are no place to drink socially. It’s totally unsustainable. I greatly prefer to have people over.
$0.00 (excluding the very occasional sip from a friend’s glass of wine; I quite enjoy that…the next sip, much less so.)
$50 for wine as gifts for hosts of dinner party.
Once before I die, i would like a small glass of a really! expensive wine just to see what all the fuss is about.
@wonderingwhy, you must live somewhere expensive too. I have seen the $18 martini you mention. Although—one martini, and I’m done drinking for the night!
For personal use, I would say about $1300 to $1400 a year. The wine I like runs about $10 a bottle. My husband likes beer that is more expensive than something like Budweiser or Coors, so that’s anywhere from $450 to $600 a year. Approximately $2000 a year if we add the occasional weekend where we might have a little more. If we run out of a hard liquor, we’l replace that but I have no clue what a fifth or a liter of anything costs.
For gifts to others, about $50 a year in wine. That’s all for my father-in-law.
We rarely have people to our home, so I would include anything they drink in our alcohol consumption as it’s so minimal.
@wonderingwhy $18?! I though $14 was ridiculously high. Do you think there will be a tipping point where the greed is just too extreme and people will stop drinking out in large numbers and the prices will have to come back down again?
In college people would drink heavily before going out so they did not have to buy so much while at the bar. I have no idea if they were driving to the bar also? Among my close friends I was always the driver since I had a car and didn’t drink. Many of the people did live within walking distance of the bars.
Mmm…probably less than $500.
I don’t go out and drink, very occasionally I will have a beer or two at a local haunt in the summer here in my tourist community. I do enjoy a few beers or wine, primarily in the summer months and have it around for company. I do not drink hard alcohol, save the occasional bloody mary. I live in wine country and am surrounded by vineyards, wineries and microbreweries so I do patronize the local farm trails for the majority of my alcoholic beverages.
It’s almost harvest and crush right now! :-)
Most people here know I enjoy my “Happy brownies” on occasion and I prefer a little marijuana to alcohol any day of the week. Speaking of which, it’s almost harvest time for the California green right now too.
Yep, there is a lot of gold in my hills, award winning gold medal wines and California green gold. lolol
@Coloma
Lucky you. I would love to live in that area. So jealous, there are a ton of great micro-brewers in that area. I am visiting this fall for a wedding and I am very excited to visit the Russian River brewpub In Santa Rosa. I have been dying to try some of their beers. Oh and all those wineries as well.
@JLeslie I’d like to think so, but it’s so much about the socializing that goes along with the drinking and breaking that habit socially can be very tough on the customer side. Some also see the cost of the liquor as being chic, so that just adds to it, and encourages places to bump up new “specialty” or “premium” drinks. Plus a lot of people, if they’re drinking more than three, don’t really get the bill the the next morning when they sober up, but by the time they go out again it’s “Hey, were with friends. Sure let’s buy another round.” I think the increase of BYO in my are is an attempt to reverse what was a trend of people not going out at all with a reasonable corkage fee to make up for the “lost” alcohol revenue.
Again, I’d like to think that’s also a tip of the hat towards recognizing how expensive drinking out regularly can be, but I’ve a feeling once business picks up it’ll be back to the same ol’ ways. One other thing that gives me a little hope; talking with an owner about their half-price wine night, he was saying it really picked up his business to where he’s thinking of expanding it to additional nights. He typically marks up between 2x and 3x over retail so at worst he’s breaking even on a bottle and pulling in new and repeat business he wouldn’t otherwise have. If others are seeing that and getting the same boost it might encourage some to just lower their prices in general. I don’t flinch at picking up a large bill at the end of the night, it’s the food I’m really out for and at the high end that frequently comes with the territory. But if I can get good food and get sloshed for noticeably less, you’re a hell of a lot more likely to see me back sooner rather than later or not at all.
Here’s hoping for tipping points, I’ll drink to that!
On the side, that reminds me…
With some associates, I once paid some insane unjustifiable price, I want to say $34 but I think it was more, (certainly no gold floating, diamond at the bottom price, but still) for my martini at some trendy socialite bar we were dragged to by a client who wanted to thank us by showing off (I also noticed he didn’t start a tab). I paid, left, went several blocks to a neighborhood pub, put my bill on the counter and told the guy after that last one I need a drink and make it a double; he gave it to me on the house. I called the guy’s I’d left behind, told them where I was. We closed the place out drinking with the two bartenders and the owner somewhere around dawn. There still some good ones left. :)
@wonderingwhy I just hate what seems like gouging. Or, high prices for the wealthy (or not so bright middle class) to feel like only they can afford something or to keep the rif raf out. But, maybe I am a peasant at heart. Thanks for the explanations and stories.
@wonderingwhy That is one smart bartender! I love to hear a story like that.
I have no idea. In a year I’m estimating about two thousand.
Well…I am spending $100 today on some fresh off the mountain brownie buds. lolol
Why do you ask? Are you doing a study on whether people are spending their rent money on booze, like they did during prohibition? Just wondering.
I buy about 2 to 4 glasses of wine at restaurants in a year, and keep my home bar stocked with rum, vodka, whiskey, Bailey’s (and peppermint schnappe’s for medicinal purposes.) Also make a run to St. Catherine’s Winery in Palisade, Colorado once every couple of years to stock up on wine. All in all, I would say that I spend less than $100 a year.
Out: about $60. Maybe as much as $75. I usually (but not always) have one glass of wine when I dine out, and that’s not as often as every month. I usually pay $8–9 per glass, and try not to think about it when I do.
Oh, better add champagne at the opera intermission. Ok, make it $100, and that’ll be high.
Oops, almost forgot the monthly writers’ club meetings. Add about $50. So say $150 tops.
In: probably $40–50. I used to like a glass of wine toward bedtime, but I no longer keep it around and really don’t miss it. What I offer to guests is tea, coffee, soft drinks, and fruit juices. Most of them just ask for water.
My husband doesn’t drink and neither does my younger son. My older son handles his own finances.
So $200 would cover it for my household.
There are absolutely no religious factors in my choices and preferences. My lifestyle is freely chosen and not dictated by an authority.
Oh, I see. Took me a while to find that. I certainly don’t spend enough for it to make any difference in my finances one way or the other.
All numbers in us $ est. annually
For cooking: 80
Home consumption: 100
Out: 200
Gifts: 200
I was interested in finding stats on what percentage of the US population drinks after seeing answers from the collective, and this link was very interesting. Around 30% total abstainers more or less and the percentage of non drinkers by income level I found surprising.
Overall the answers here on the Q reinforce my thinking that I was probably overestimating how much people typically spend. It’s like anything, people spend their money the way they prefer. I don’t care about drinking, I rather take a few weekend vacations with similar money, or feel like I don’t have to watch my pennies on other things, or see my savings grow. People who really enjoy drinking probably refer being able to do that every weekend, than take a mini vacation. People who have plenty of money for everything is a whole different thing. Although, even when I have the money, spending $18 on a martini just seems so wasteful and gouging I don’t want to do it.
@JLeslie I agree, but once in awhile it is fun to have a few drinks at a particular place you enjoy. There is a great little seasonal cafe with an outdoor patio and live entertainment in my hub during the summer. I don’t mind paying $4—$5 a pop for a couple of Shock Tops while I enjoy the music, open mic nights, comedy gigs. The house entertainment makes up for the extra cost of a few cocktails. :-) $18 fro a Martini..forget it.
@Coloma Sure, I have no problem with it, no judgment. I once in a very blue moon, less than once every three years probably have a drink, it’s not that it is forbidden in my mind, I just don’t bother. My husband has a drink every couple of months. We do keep a little liquor at the house.
I can’t put figures on it because my own personal drinking is fairly spasmodic. I occasionally open a bottle of wine but mostly I would have a glass or two out of it. So, I tend not to open a bottle since most of it ends up down the sink. I have a glass with dinner when we go out. We used to go out at least once a week but now it is more likely every couple of weeks. I almost never have more than one glass, but very occasionally have two.
In contrast, my husband drinks beer about five nights a week. He would drink every night but I nag him to have a couple of alcohol free days. He only drinks medium strength beer and I couldn’t fill one hand with the number of times I have seen him affected by alcohol. He isn’t really into wine (another reason I drink so little) but will occasionally have a bourbon and coke.
How much that costs… no idea. I would spend around $20 on a bottle of wine and a glass of wine in a restaurant would usually cost between $8–12.00.
I would estimate somewhere between $600 to $900. It would be significantly less if I drank beer or cut down on the top shelf whiskey a bit.
I don’t drink alcoholic beverages. Well, I have had one beer in my life (in college I guzzled one 12 oz can of beer down fast while holding my nose) and I didn’t even pay for that one.
We’re not big drinkers….when we have extra $ (not lately) we’ll spend about $50 at a bar, $100 at a restaurant approximately once every month or two.
Entertaining others – Holidays or special occasions only- @100 each event.
Hubby says I underestimated by about ½, so a better figure is $800 – $1,000. – That does it – I hereby make a pledge that after my current supply is done, I will never replace any of it again! I could be visiting my son in Sweden every year for that kind of money.
Somewhere around, hmmm let’s see 60 to 80 bucks a month.
Times 12….
Heck lets say $1000.00
Damn, all this cypherin’ got me real thirsty.
@YARNLADY Hahaha. Let us know when you are planning the trip. I wonder if people frequently under estimate the cost. It wouldn’t surprise me. I think in general people underestimate the costs of a lot of things, alcohol, gas, groceries, a lot of things. I have one creidt card that sends a summary at the end of the year and it divides up where you spend the money. It is shocking every year.
@gondwanalon You are truly an extremely self disciplined person. My discipline and lack of, goes in spurts, and some spurts can last years. haha
Oh… to be a natural born hedonist is a challenge indeed. lol
Yep, Coloma indulges in just about everything short of hard drugs. ;-p
I drink a little less than a 6-pack of beer per week, which is about $416 per year.
When we eat out, I have a cocktail about once a month, which is about $60 a year.
For drinking – 0, decent wine to cook with – about $25 a year.
This is going to be very depressing for me to think about. Honestly if I calculate and give you an accurate estimate I will probably have a mental breakdown. I’m just going to round to approximately $1000.
@Coloma I learned at a young age what booze can do to you. I just told myself that I’m not going down that raod. You will find this hard to believe but I grew up having 4 alcoholic step dads (My father died when I was 4). My Mom (I never saw her drunk) divorced 2 of them and two died within 2 years the marriage (one from a drunk driving accident the other from liver failure. All of them have been dead for a very long time now. They all died young. I feel sadness for them.
For ourselves (when I’m not pregnant), I’d have to say we spend a few hundred a year on beer, wine, and the occasional bottle of Vodka. We drink wine with dinner several times a month and the wine we buy ranges from $12 and up. The beer just depends on the mood my husband is in when he goes to get it. So far this year though, we haven’t spent much because I was pregnant all year and my husband doesn’t like to drink in front of me since I couldn’t drink while pregnant.
In addition to that, we might spend another hundred or two on beer, wine, and liquor for entertaining or gift giving.
A couple cases of Straub for about $15 each. That reminds me, I have to stop by the brewery for another case.
I go out every other weekend or so with friends for drinks, and also brew my own beer on a regular basis. Impossible to seperate the cost for myself vs others.
Probably around $2000—$3000 per year.
@JLeslie You’ll notice that no heavy drinkers have answered this. When I was still drinking (over 25 years ago) i would have had an estimate of $10,000 a year. But that would be closer to $25,000 today.
About 3 months after I quit drinking I was stunned at how much more money I had.
@zenvelo A jelly above kind of implied heavy drinkers probably are not answering. Why do you think that is? That among so many nondrinkers they feel they will be judged? Embarrassed? And, judged on what? The heavy drinking? Or, the money spent? Most of America drinks, and probably most of the countries represented here. I don’t know how America breaks down for moderate and heavy drinkers. I wonder if at the very beginning of the Q if the first 3 answers were high numbers if we would have had many many more answers like that?
@JLeslie I think it is a mix of embarrassment amongst a group of infrequent drinkers (as the first few posters) and also a bit of their internal belief system. When I was an active alcoholic it was a harsh reality that I had spent so much the night before.
What constitutes a “heavy drinker”? I would say I am on the heavy end of socially appropriate. $25,000 is more than I take home in a year so that is literally not even possible for me.
@nikipedia Good question. Probably everyone defines heavy drinker differently. I would say heavy to me is either 3 or more drinks daily, or total drunkenness on the weekends (probably 5–6 drinks + in a given day Saturday and Sunday) basically every weekend.
So, what does that total to in spending? One of my examples is just over 20 drinks and the other is more like 12. I’m talking the average person of course, very large or very tall people would need more alcohol to reach the same buzz of a smaller statured person.
College is kind of a unique circumstance I think, and should have some leeway.
I just tried to think about how much is spent on me (in total), counting all the free drinks I get for being “with the band”.
The number scared me a little.
Assuming I go to two shows a month (not unreasonable): a couple of Sapphire G&Ts, two or three craft beers… that’s another $720 a year without counting tips. Yikes.
@nikipedia, @JLeslie gave a good approximation. When I went to a bar, I used to have 8 to 10 drinks, and that was often three nights in a row. So at today’s prices with tips it’s 2 or 3 hundred a weekend.
If I went to dinner, two bottles of wine at $100 each, or two cocktails and 1 bottle wine and 2 after dinner drinks, that’s $200 before going out to a club or to see a performance where you have a couple more.
That’s 15 to 20 grand per year with out even adding in the rest of the week.
@zenvelo Wait, is that for just you? Or, you and your SO?
@JLeslie In the bar was for me. At dinner it was with a date. But I drank most of the wine.
I think the primary reason for the non participation of heavy drinkers is pretty simply denial.
As Zenvelo has so aptly stated, he was surprised at how much more money he had when he stopped drinking.
Denial is a powerful mechanism which clouds judgement enough to keep most who are on the road to alcoholism from spotting that it’s happening.
And where is that line between a heavy drinker and an alcoholic ? Good question. And denial is actively at work to prevent the obvious answer.
Well, my husband spends a small fortune on his hobby, cars and racing, so as far as money goes, like I said everyone spends how they want. Some people think we are nuts for spending so much on that activity, and on cars in general. Plus, I am JAPpier about what hotels we stay in at the races compared to our friends who stay more inexpensively…but they drink! LOL. So, maybe it all evens out.
Addiction I guess is the real question as @Buttonstc mentioned. I tend to think most people who drink daily are addicted to some degree. I do believe it can be a mild addiction, not AA worthy. Depends. I was physically addicted to caffiene, suffered when I stopped, but the drug did not run my life. I think alcohol can be like that. But, too often it is more than that. I just saw 20/20 tonight about excessive drinking and it was scary.
I remember watching a documentary years ago about a guy who was an alcoholic and only drank a glass of wine a day. I don’t think addition is about the quantity as much as the compulsion to drink.
This question has many different responses. I do drink alot of beer, but am I an problem drinker? AA would say YES. I enjoy my beer and spend approx. 4,000.00 a year on beer. OK, I need to join AA. Not really, as I get up for work everyday and never have problem with drinking. In fact, I am drinking now…figures. Oh well, I like Beer.
Now Gambling…that’s another issue that I feeel I DO have a problem with.
@kevinchase AA would NOT say you are a problem drinker. AA will say only you can decide that question. They have a pamphlet which identifies about 20 consequences or behaviors that might indicate you have a problem, but only you can answer them.
Approximately how many beers can you purchase for $4000?
Assume that you are buying them by the case and from a medium-priced non-imported brewery and drinking at home.
@gailcalled That’s only $11 per day, or two six packs or a moderately priced beer.
only… I can get 9 litres of pure orange juice for that money.
@zenvelo: So for $4000/annum, one could drink an average of 12 beers a day?
Is twelve beers a day excessive under any definition? What exactly do they do?
Disclaimer: I haven’t drunk the equivalent of 6 beers in my entire life.
12 beers per day is excessive.
Six beers a day is considered to be binge drinking according to some health sources.
Six beers is more than enough to put me to sleep. The equivalent in tequila and I just love everyone so much!! And then I don’t touch a drop again for a while.
However, someone like my husband, who’s literally twice my size, can drink six regular beers before he starts to feel them. It really depends on the person.
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