# How much do you spend a month on alcohol and tobacco **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 28, 2004, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314 "2004-07-28T19:51:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314/1 "2004-07-28T19:51:27Z")
I’ll start Alcohol - Roughly $5 Tobacco - $0. I don’t smoke. I was thinking about this today and how some people smoke 1.5 packs a day of name brand cigarettes which with taxes in america are around $4 a pack (so about $240 a month). I was also thinking about people who go to bars and can spend $100 in a single night on drinks and how their alcohol/tobacco budget is probably around $600 a month or more. Lucky me, i drink bum wine. Wild irish rose, which is $2.50 for a fifth. I only drink about 2 of those a month. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314/2 "2004-07-28T19:56:02Z")
Well, lemme see now… nuthin times nuthin… carry the nuthin… ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314/3 "2004-07-28T19:58:45Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Well, lemme see now… nuthin times nuthin… carry the nuthin… I see you get high on life instead. Join us on the dark side where cheap wine flows like a mighty river. ---
**Author:** ![Leonard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@Leonard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leonard)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314/4 "2004-07-28T20:18:37Z")
Wow, $4/pack. There are stores around here that sell them for that much, but that’s far from average. Let’s see…1/2 pack a day @ 2.75/pack = $41.25 for a 30 day month. I quit drinking so that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314/5 "2004-07-28T20:19:30Z")
Another “zero-zero” clean-living sort. I did, however, smoke two packs a day for damn close to 20 years – quit 5 years ago when cigs went to $2.50/pack. I can’t imagine smoking with the current prices. ---
**Author:** ![Padmaraga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@Padmaraga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padmaraga)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314/6 "2004-07-28T20:22:04Z")
Including drinks bought out, the alcohol tab is roughly $70 a month for my husband & I. We don’t spend any money on tobacco in any form. ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314/7 "2004-07-28T20:24:51Z")
Tobacco-$0 Alcohol-~$100, though I think for the month of August, it could be closer to $200. 3 “bender” weekends with my old high school friends. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314/8 "2004-07-28T20:28:58Z")
Smoke:$0.00 Drink:$20.00 a month. I tend to go out to dinner to a nice restaurant a couple times a month and have a glass of wine or beer with the meal. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314/9 "2004-07-28T20:31:27Z")
Alcohol - I spend anywhere between $5 and $25 a week. Cigarettes - I usually buy one or two packs a month, freely distributing many of them to my friends. I’m probably in the neighborhood of $75 a month. ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314/10 "2004-07-28T20:35:28Z")
$0 on alcohol My husband and I both smoke about 1/2 pack per day, each. So, 1 pack per day @ $4.80/pack for 30 days = $144.00. Damn! We’ve got to quit. That’s my monthly Visa payment! ---
**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314/11 "2004-07-28T20:39:43Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Well, lemme see now… nuthin times nuthin… carry the nuthin… nuthin times two ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314/12 "2004-07-28T20:43:44Z")
$10 on alcohol, maybe, and nothing on tobacco. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314/13 "2004-07-28T20:44:02Z")
Tobacco: $0 Alcohol: I’d guess around $40-$50, mostly on wine. Last month it was closer to $200, after a night out after a wedding with many old friends in attendance. Good fun. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314/14 "2004-07-28T20:44:23Z")
Since I’m coming up on the one year anniversary of my quit date, I will calculate my monetary savings to date: I have no idea how much cigarettes cost now, but I was spending $25/week last year when I quit. I will err on the side of caution and estimate that prices are still the same. 51 weeks \* $25 = $1,275.00!!! Woo hoo!!! 🙂 I don’t drink much alcohol, but averaged over a year I probably spend about $20-30 per month. My addiction to P. F. Chang’s Kung Pao Chicken, on the other hand, sets me back a cool $80 a month. Ohhhhh but it hurts so good. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314/15 "2004-07-28T20:51:26Z")
Cigarettes - $0 Other tobacco - $20 (I like this Scandinavian product called snus. It’s loose or bagged tobacco you put underneath your upper lip. Something like Skoal, except it doesn’t require you to spit and isn’t awful.) Alcohol - $50-$150 ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314/16 "2004-07-28T20:58:10Z")
Cigs- $130 ($5 x 30 days) Booze- Meh, somewhere around maybe $200. $330 isn’t too bad methinks. I spend more on that for food. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314/17 "2004-07-28T21:00:42Z")
Alcohol - $0 Tobacco - $26. I roll my own cigarettes (no chemicals added), and I get the tobacco in cans for $12.99. They last a little over two weeks. Mind, when I left Canada six years ago, the price for a can of tobacco was $45! I can’t imagine what highway-robbery price they’re commanding for it now! ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314/18 "2004-07-28T21:02:34Z")
Technically speaking, nothing. I don’t use the foul weed and brew my own beer. If you count the fixin’s for the brew, I’ll estimate about $28-40/month. Once in a blue moon I’ll stop after work and have a beer at a casino here in town, but I have enough “free drink” coupons to make me an Irish poet. I usually give away a few when I’m there, but still, nobody wants to be my friend. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![\_Deep\_F\_ied](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/7cd45c/32.png) [@\_Deep\_F\_ied](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Deep_F_ied)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314/19 "2004-07-28T21:07:48Z")
I know this is gonna scare me… 1 1.75l of whiskey a week - $30 x 4= $120 1 750ml of rum or vodka a week - $20 x 4= $80 18 pack beer a week - $20 x 4= $80 booze= $280 * * * around a carton of Camels a week - $35 x 4= $140 tobacco= $140 * * * monthly total= $420 yearly total= $5040 **HOLY CRAP ON A STICK!!** ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314/20 "2004-07-28T21:21:27Z")
Cigarettes: $0. Alcohol: $0. Once, I bought a 4 thing of Mudslides thinking, “hey, if I’m going to like ANY kind of alcohol, I’m going to like the chocolate shake alcohol.” That was about 3 dollars. I didn’t. I think I also made my fiance buy me cheap sangria once. It was about two dollars. It tasted like alcohol. Yuck. I think I’ll be sticking to mulled grape juice (which tastes to me like how wine looks) and oxygen for the rest of my life. Meh. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-spend-a-month-on-alcohol-and-tobacco/257314.md?page=2)