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Hello, darling heart, and welcome to the drink less, live better podcast. This is the podcast that helps you to see that drinking
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less doesn't need to be stressful, lonely, or boring. I'm your host, Sarah Williamson, and I decided to have a year alcohol
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free as a little life experiment and haven't looked back. With my experience and training, I now help other women with their
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alcohol free or drink less adventures. I'm here to tell you that you can relax, connect, and have fun without alcohol in your
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life. Join me here each week to find out how. Alcohol and money. I used to spend a lot of money on alcohol. I wouldn't ever
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have told you I spent too much on booze because what I was spending was money on fun, and hey, what price do you put on fun?
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Part of the irony now that I look back on the situations that were supposed to be particularly fun, like big birthdays or
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parties, days at the races and other big days out, weddings and anniversaries, I can remember very little as alcohol stole
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those memories. Anyway, back to The Price of Fun. Of course, on a night out, you buy drinks, but there are also the associated
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costs, a taxi because you cannot drive, extra rounds at the end of the evening, perhaps there was takeaway food on the way
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home and maybe a breakfast in a greasy spoon the next day, paracetamol, and the list goes on. I had my nights out drinking
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I used to do, but also my nights in drinking. This alcohol was just added casually to the weekly shop of course, so it never
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really felt like spending money, but it was. My average weekly shop has gone down in price significantly. When I drank at
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home, I was also prone to a bit of late night online shopping. It was often a bit of a surprise to see what urgent purchase
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on a Friday or Saturday night turned up on a Tuesday morning. When I first started to use an app to count my days without
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a drink, I also tracked my saved cash on it. Seeing the money add up became a real pleasure. Last year I put off buying a
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really fancy pants backpack. It was waterproof, just the right size, had lovely pockets and was really expensive. I had it
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in my online shopping basket for a couple of weeks until the day I thought, hang on a second, I've wasted so much money on
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booze in the past and saved this year by not spending it with only hangovers to show I'm having that bag, and I did, and I
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love it. When I went out for dinner with friends, the dining element may have been 20 to £30, but the bill split was always
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for around 60 or £70 odd each. We drank cocktails, fizz, and wine all evening. When I'm out with the girls now, they always
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insist on taking the booze off the bill so I don't pay for it. I couldn't care less, as I'm really happy to be out having
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a fab time, but I do feel good spending a fraction of the cash on a night out, and I'm always happy to be the taxi driver
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for everyone home too. After I had gone a while into my alcohol free life experiment, I committed to doing something totally
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fabulous. I now pay for a cleaner, which fills my heart with joy. I never used to love cleaning, and the thought now of choosing
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either a lovely clean house or a few bottles of booze, I choose clean house every time. When I finish work on a Friday and
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the kids get home from school, I have a quick scan of the room I'm in and think, oh, my house feels lovely. I'm so lucky to
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have someone to help me with this. I've chosen this for myself, and this is how I want Friday evenings to feel. Thank you
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for listening to this episode. Please listen in again next time. You can sign up to my 5 day drink less experiment and find
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out about working with me one to 1 at drink less, live better.com. It would make me happier than a Buddhist monk if you would
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please subscribe, 5 star review, and comment on my podcast on whatever platform you listen. Imagine it like tasting notes
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on the finest wine I am never going to drink. Thank you, and PS, I believe in you.