The decision to stop drinking alcohol was the best financial decision I’ve ever made.

The decision to stop drinking alcohol was actually the best decision I’ve made in a decade. Period.

But there are so many reasons, I have to break them down by area of life.

Today, I’ll be starting with the financial reasons

This might seem like a shallow one to put at the top of the list, but financial stability affects all other aspects of your life probably more than anything else.

Just estimating conservatively, you could save $400–800 a month on alcohol depending on how often you go out, where you drink, and how much you drink.

Here’s how:

Eating out is now affordable

Half the reason I moved to the city was for the food.

I now regularly go out for dinner and spend $20–40 for an arguably better experience than I would previously have spent $40–70 on with a couple of drinks.

Even on the conservative side, eating out at least 3 times a week (especially prior to the pandemic). This could easily mean savings of $60–90 a week.

That’s up to $360 per month.

I can now comfortably budget $150 per month for date nights and $100 a month for outings with friends, and I am still saving over $110 per month

The true cost of one night out drinking.

In the city, A night out at a bar can easily cost you more than $80–120.

I would often find myself on one of these nights with one friend or another or alone at least once a week, often more. Costing me ~$400 a month.

And the costs add up.

You buy dumb shit when you’re drunk.

After a night out drinking, hungover, you’re much more likely to buy convenience food or eat out, easily adding $50 a week to your bill.

Not to mention transportation and opportunity costs, that’s $200 a month.

The amount you can save is truly empowering.

In this example, I’m saving $710 per month. Over $8,000 per year. That alone is enough to pay off more than 20% of my $30,000 student loan.

Even if the numbers are closer to $200 a month, that makes $2400 per year. An 8% repayment would mean paying it off 4 years sooner.

And the savings don’t end there.

With better sleep, health, and extra faculties and time I found many more ways to save money. I was able to improve my income by having the time to interview for and land multiple job offers at good companies.

Sobriety gives you the energy, & time to actually budget!

without alcohol to disrupt my schedule, I was finally able to create a budget that helped me pay off $40,000 in debt in 2 years.

And that's why I'm proud to be sober.

But that's my choice. What do you think? Please tell me below 👇