Wine

My girlfriend and I like to drink beer and wine on the weekend. I dabble in home brewing and we're both pretty low class when it comes to wine. We don't really have refined tastes and have a hard time telling the difference between really good vintage wine and Sutter Home. That being said, we've discovered box wine is a great way to offset the cost of drinking. A box of wine is 5 liters and $11, a bottle of CHEAP wine is 750ml at $5, but we usually buy bottles that are at least $10.

The math:
5L Box of wine: $11
.750ml Bottle of wine: $10

Box cost per Liter: $2.20
Bottle cost per Liter: $13.33

Savings per liter: $11.13


We're not snoody enough to care about expensive wine, so drinking boxed wine works for us. It's important to identify what you're willing to give up to meet your goals. If you assume a liter per weekend drinking boxed wine would save you:

$2.20 x 4 weeks = $8.80
$13.33 x 4 weeks = $53.32

Monthly savings = $44.52
Annual savings = 12 x 44.52 = $534.24

$530/year is nothing to snicker at. Be careful not to abuse it and become a wino... or you'll negate your savings. Discipline is very important during your savings plan. Limit yourself to a box a month and you'll be doing alright.