Weekly drinking budget

Ulysses · #1 06-13-2005, 05:39 PM

After much deliberation, some friends and I in NYC have come up with a drinking budget. The plan is, Sun-Sat, this is our limit. Once we hit it, no more drinking 'til Sunday. The number we've arrived on is 20. Which kinda sounds like a lot. But then you think about going out for happy hour Friday (2-3 drinks), going to dinner (2-3 drinks), and going out after (3-4 drinks) and you've hit 8-10 drinks without really doing anything crazy. Do that a couple of times a week and maybe go for beers after work one day and boom, you're at 20. So, put that way, it doesn't sound like that much. Anyway, we were wondering what people thought.....

Along with your answer, I'd be interested in hearing how old you are, what you do for a living, where you live, and whether you're single/married/have kids/etc.

FishNChips · #2 06-13-2005, 05:45 PM

I voted: "reasonable number" ... however, its 10 - 20 times more than I drink in a week. I'm 30-something, married, 9month old baby at home. Work a 9-5 type job in SoCal... so I don't get out much and when I do, its not to drink, its to play "cards".

If I'm a 20-something single guy not in a 9-5 job without a kid then 20 doesn't seem out of the ordinary. Expensive if you're drinking all of them at a bar/restaurant, but not excessive drinking.

If I misunderstood and the question was "for your place in life how does 20 drinks/week sound" then I have to vote for RAGING ALCHOHOLIC or whatever that choice was.

F&C

IndieMatty · #3 06-13-2005, 05:45 PM

27, currently single.

I have some questions -some are actually serious:

Can I carry over these drinks into next week?
Can a bottle of wine count as one drink?
Can I switch to Long Iced Teas which is effectively (3-4 "drinks") and still have it only counted as one drink?

There are too many loopholes to do this sort of thing. And if you plan on drinking more then twice a week, the number itself is unreasonable.

ChoicestHops · #4 06-13-2005, 05:46 PM

Im a pretty big binge drinker, I can drink 20 in one night sometimes. Im only 20, and Im too scared to try my fake at the bars as I only have one left. Im sure if I could go bar hopping I would spend alot more.

With that fact aside, I probably spend about 50/wk on alcohol. Usually two fifths of something like Evan Williams and a 30 pack.

IndieMatty · #5 06-13-2005, 05:46 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Im a pretty big binge drinker, I can drink 20 in one night sometimes. Im only 20, and Im too scared to try my fake at the bars as I only have one left. Im sure if I could go bar hopping I would spend alot more.

With that fact aside, I probably spend about 50/wk on alcohol. Usually two fifths of something like Evan Williams and a 30 pack.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is not a $$$ question.

nothumb · #6 06-13-2005, 05:47 PM

I'm not thrilled with the answer choices, I guess I would say that 20 drinks a week is, technically speaking, very bad for you, but I know plenty of people (including myself) who have functioned or do function perfectly well on as many or more.

The figure I always hear as a sort of line to keep is 14. Don't know how medically accurate that is since I think I originally read it in Maxim. Just speaking in liver-regenerative terms here.

Your weight is obviously a factor. I assume you're a normal sized male.

I guess my answer is, if you're young, single, and want to party, limiting yourself to 20 is a weird number. I'm just envisioning how it wouldn't really blend with the lifestyle. I certainly drank probably double that during college at times. (I was also able to drink on the job... daytime drinking is a major factor here and it doesn't sund like you are into this.) If you are trying to find the right blend between a fun, single lifestyle and more responsibility as you advance in years, 20 isn't a bad start. If you're looking at it strictly medically, in order to allow your liver to regenerate (which it does, remarkably well) you want to cut another few drinks out of there.

BTW I am 22, I am a social worker and live in the Berkshires, and I'm coming up on 3 years with the same lady friend.

NT

partygirluk · #7 06-13-2005, 05:47 PM

What counts as a drink? Over here we use "units" - so a pint of beer is 2 units, whilst a 25 ml shot of whisky is 1 unit. So are you breaking down drinks into some kind of unit, or does vicious cocktail = shandy as far as you are concerned?

DeezNuts · #8 06-13-2005, 05:51 PM

Single in Los Angeles, go out Friday and Saturday every wknd to various bars and clubs, but usually no happy hours. apprx 5-8 drinks per night on the wknds and maybe one drink(usually a glass of vino) on the wkdays. Used to go out on Thursday nights, but just got sick of feeling like crap at work on Fridays(but will still occasionally do it). 20 drinks is definitely reasonable, although I am trying to cut it to more like 14-15/wk.

I would say I spend apprx. $500-$600/month on alcohol(buying drinks for others included).

DN

ChoicestHops · #9 06-13-2005, 05:51 PM

You're right, I need to get some sleep. To answer the question 20 a week isn't much at all. Usually when I get really drunk I'll have a fifth which is 17 shots, but that's in a period of 8 hours.

I dont see it as a big deal at all drinking 3-4 at a time.

The Dude · #10 06-13-2005, 05:52 PM

For somebody who drinks regularly throughout the week, this seems pretty reasonable to me. However, if your MO is to only drink on weekends, I can't imagine this is healthy. From what I gather from your posts, I think for you this is the former.

Edit: I'm 23, single, and eat out at restaurants a lot. If I cooked at home more, I would probably be down around 5-10/ wk, but as it is, I'd say more like 15-25, depending on if I have a night where I decide to get drunk.

View Poll Results: How much of your total income comes from this type of game?
All of it, or very close (some money from other games or odd jobs)	101	54.59%
A large chunk of it (party time job or something)	56	30.27%
Not too much of it (but it supliments the full time job salary)	28	15.14%
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