“I’m only going to have a few drinks tonight.”

Famous last words. You wake up around noon the next day wondering what the hell happened. Your pride took a hit and you can’t even remember how much money that you spent on drinks and random stuff. You feel like an idiot because you only wanted a few drinks and you somehow ended up spending over $200.

Be realistic. Don’t be delusional. It’s time to get realistic about going out and how much money you’re going to spend.

If you go out for drinks, you will drink all night. You’ll spend tons of money on alcohol. This is just the way it works.

Don’t say to yourself anything along these lines:

“I’m only going to have a drink and leave.” or “I’ll stay until the place picks up and then I’ll leave.”

That’s not going to happen.

How can you be realistic about going out and how much money you’re going to spend?

This is what works for me…

Plan to drink all night.

If you’re going out with a good group of buddies, you will drink all night. I don’t care what you say now. The group will bother you all night until you take that first shot. Then it’s all over! Plan to drink all night instead of lying to yourself and thinking you won’t do anything.

Take out cash before you go out.

I always hit the bank machine before the night starts. It’s never a good idea to pull out money after a few drinks. You just don’t know what can happen and what you’ll do. I say that you hit machine before one drop of alcohol hits you.

Cut back on the nights that you go out.

You don’t have to go out every single night. If you can’t be frugal when you go out, then just cut back on the nights that you hit the town. Life’s about quality and not quantity, right?

Figure out your transportation.

Where will you sleep? How will you get there? I always try to plan out my transportation so that I’m not scrambling at the last minute trying to get home or find a place to sleep because I’m so far from home.

When you’re not delusional, you won’t disappoint yourself. I totally support having fun. Just be prepared for it and you won’t be stressed about the money you spent.

Martin Dasko

Martin Dasko