Pure profit: a break brings in money

Based on previous IkPas editions, it appears that 55% of the participants saves money during the break period. Such savings paves the way for fulfilling a long-cherished wish, such as, for example: buying those perfect, but expensive, jeans, investing in high-quality wireless headphones or providing all the lamps in the house with LED lighting. Whatever your goal, achieving it suddenly goes a lot faster when you temporarily leave the alcohol.

A few drinks on a pleasant Sunday afternoon, a bottle of wine while watching your favorite series or in the late hours a few specialty beers, and that sometimes more than once a week, will certainly hit your wallet. A global calculation tells us that if you 'have fun' once a week, you will be on average €40 lighter. This amount goes towards food – you order a nice meal at home or eat a snack outside the door – and a few tasty beers or a fruity wine.

Another quick calculation

Suppose you drink one bottle of wine a day. One glass before dinner, two glasses with dinner and then two more glasses on the couch. If you assume that that bottle costs about € 6, that is € 42 per week and therefore € 180 per month.

Do you go to a terrace once a week and spend about thirty euros on drinks and also buy two bottles of wine for home? Then you also have that €42 per week and €180 per month.

On an annual basis you then drink away € 2160 in alcohol. That is on top of your holiday money in May, another nice amount.

savings target

To see exactly how much money you have left after your break, you could put the amount you normally spend on a night out in a separate account. To make it even more concrete, you could make your wish to save visual and tangible. Always wanted to have a nice watch, but was this not financially feasible until now? Find your dream watch and check it regularly. This motivates you to persevere and not succumb during the difficult moments. Or have you been thinking about spoiling your mother/sister/brother/girlfriend/neighbor/aunt with something nice for a while? Plan the surprise in your own agenda and look for a nice gift or find a nice outing (it's possible again!). Think regularly about the moment when you will surprise the other person. That's great anticipation!