Last week I had a meeting with the young co-founder of Cabaret Design, an up and coming social media marketing firm, Josh Kallmeyer.

We were discussing the whole concept behind “Drink Less, Party More” and how to get the message out to more people (stay tuned for this – some exciting new initiatives coming your way soon!)

“I love the concept,” he said to me. “I love to go out but personally don’t like to drink, and my wallet thanks me for it!”

I hadn’t really ever heard someone so young put it that way before. I thought to myself … Wow, yeah, there’s a reason this guy is seeing so much success (both financially and in terms of recognition) at such a young age. He’s focused, with his eye on the prize, and he knows where he wants to invest his money–on growing his business and not on something so fleeting as drinks at the bar.

He’s figured out something before his early 20s that took me about a decade longer to get a handle on.

From a purely financial standpoint drinking alcohol equals money down the drain, quite literally.

A recent article on Time.com showed that by going out a couple of times a week, and drinking moderately, you could easily end up spending around $7,000 a year.

(This is, of course, dependent on where you live … it could be less, but it also could be a lot more).

Now, what if you don’t like to go out, but prefer a glass of wine to unwind at the end of the day? Let’s say that you buy on average one $10 bottle of wine a week. That’s $520 a year right there, that’s probably on the very low end, assuming you only ever drink inexpensive wine at home and never buy drinks when you’re out.

Either way you look at it, it adds up. It adds up to the extent that I refuse to do the math on how much money I’ve spent over the years – I prefer to be in the dark about the actual amount (yes, I’m still in denial).

I’m now acutely aware of how that denial exists in others as well. I frequently hear from clients or friends, “I can’t afford that” or “I have no money.” During discovery sessions, financial challenges are one of the number one struggles that many bring up with me. Yet these same people are often unwilling or just not ready to look at the hard truth around how much money they are spending on booze that they could be spending elsewhere, like on quality organic food, fresh flowers, spa treatments, massages, personal development (ahem coaching!) and more.

I remember watching Gabrielle Bernstein, best-selling author of A Course in Miracles and Spirit Junkie, talk about how she replies to comments that a daily fresh juice “habit” is expensive. “When I stopped drinking, I realized how much money I was saving by not buying alcohol. One or two fresh juices a day is still less expensive than the cocktails I was drinking before, and way healthier for me in the long-term.”

Instead of wallowing in the past choices I made and how much money I spent …

When I asked Josh (young start up co-founder) around whether abstaining from alcohol had ever been an issue in the development of his business, he replied that he hadn’t encountered it as an issue, and if it was, he would question whether these were really the people he wanted to be collaborating with in the first place.

Clearly, it’s only as much of an issue as we want it to be. Using the excuse, “I had to drink with the investor/client/boss, etc” may be more of an excuse for yourself to drink than you care to admit. Because when you find other ways to connect, network or impress … ways that are more aligned with your health, financial success will soon follow.

However, you don’t have to quit drinking altogether for your wallet to thank you, (though obviously you’d get the biggest THANKS if you did).

Cutting out just one or two drinks a week could save you between $500-1000 a year.

And if that’s not motivation to cut back, I don’t know what is!

Start making a list now of the wonderful treats you’re going to spend these savings on. Rewards make the process of drinking less alcohol all the more sweeter, wouldn’t you say?

Share your list in the comments, I’d love to hear. And if you’d like to schedule a time to talk, feel free to book that here.

xoxo,