How much do you really drink?

I have found it! It is Radio 4. 20,502 episodes since 1951(?). I think I can download them too. I'm a keen swimmer and have an MP3 player that is waterproof...
Good swerving, BitOutOfPractice but I'm glad you're back. You have indeed prompted me to check out The Archers in earnest now, a willing, tomato-popping convert.

Nothing, zero. It’s a dreadful waste of money, makes you fat and depressed and destroys families.

Me too. People are surprised, but respect my decision.

I don’t tend to drink at home unless we have a special occasion I.e might have a couple of cans of cider watching boxing etc
I will drink at a meal out maybe once per month. A few glasses of wine or beers depending on location. I will also drink socially at a party/event, which is probably 6/8 times a year.
It’s not something I actively monitor. DH drinks less than me.

Oh my life will be complete if I have converted you to the Archers @LyingWitchInTheWardrobe! I have been listening for over 40 years - it’s part of my dna now. And the pictures are better on the radio!

yes I’ve been around a while. I took about two years off around the pandemic. I guessed that this might be a bit crazy-making so I swerved it.

Indeed, BitOutOfPractice, you've taken me right back there with 'The Archers' reference. I've only listed to a few episodes, out of synch, when I've managed to be on the right station (R4?) at the right time but I enjoyed them very much. Just right for recklessly popping tomatoes into my mouth whilst listening to it... that's the life!

I think you've been here a while? Me too. Mumsnet used to be more tolerant and less 'fighty' over things that really don't matter. More tolerance would be a good thing.

I'm going to investigate 'The Archers' to see if I can find them to tune in to.

People tend to hang out with people who are similar to them, though, so it's not especially surprising that a drinker doesn't know many people who are tee-total.

But saying you don't drink is a perfectly valid answer to the question.

And just because you don't come across many non drinkers in real life, it doesn't mean they don't exist. It just means your circle of friends is made up of people that socialise in a similar way to you. Birds of a feather and all that.

Oh I definitely drink too much. I have 2 or 3 days AF a week though.
Weekends I probably drink between 4 and 10 units a night.
More on a proper night out.

Think this thread should be renamed
"How many of you are teetotal?"
The vast majority of responses suggest this

Not what I see in real life.

You have 100% summed up my exact feelings about MN. I too take long breaks and usually get drawn back in by the Archers thread. Such is the rock and roll nature of my life. We like to live life on the edge, you and I @LyingWitchInTheWardrobe eh? You will your tomato roulette and me with my radio soaps!

I'm very sorry for what you went through, sounds horrific.

As much as I want to when I want to.

I am so over being told what I should eat and drink.

In my adolescent tearaway phase, I drank well over the limit. I was being sexually abused by my maternal uncle, and none of my family believed me.
I was into very fast cars, fast and dangerous horses, climbing dangerous mountains and going to dangerous countries by myself. My parents never stopped me doing any of that and didn't ask why I wanted to go to these dangerous places and do dangerous things. I suppose that they had self-acclimatised to danger. My father had been a Tail-end Charlie (rear gunner) in WW2 and returned with PTSD which was not recognised then. He had a hair-trigger temper and I was very frightened of him.
Suddenly, nasty uncle and aunt disappeared. I think he might have tried to assault my elder sister who was all that I was not. She was a strait-laced good girl and never overstepped the lines.
We never saw them again, until my father died unexpectedly young. I was sent home from school and the aunt was there. I was told to go and change and then go outside and ride my pony. I did so. My father was never mentioned again.
I've inherited his clever mind, his hair-trigger temper and hatred of bullies. I only really trust my animals.
I have been teetotal for decades now, and don't miss it at all.

I get that. Forums are full of windbags, some of which live to judge other people for what they do. You have to be quite thick-skinned to read replies sometimes, I know that too.

I also understand the defensiveness, it's a pre-emptive strike almost, isn't it? Attack first to stop any attacks. It's sad but a fact of life. Some people are so fixated on comparing themselves with other people and finding themselves lacking. To counterbalance that they 'dig out' an 'undesirable' behaviour such as drinking, drugs, being overweight, not working - and start dishing out spite. That's their own inadequacy shouting out, loud and clear.

I post on MN but every now and again I give myself a break because it's too much, so much negativity and determination to set yourself up as 'better than them'. It's pathetic but at the same time, it can really hurt people. I haven't read the 'savings' threads because I can just check my balance, no need to get a view from other people.

I'm really sorry if posters who drink feel judged, I understand how that could feel. Somehow, I never feel that these threads are started in good faith...

Thanks for the understanding of gall bladder... I was half-expecting a slapping down for 'boasting' about eating something 'good'. Still, we all die of something; my exit could be caused by cherry tomatoes...

If I ever am on a thread and see someone being told that they're drinking too much, I will look out for that and support, thanks BitOutOfPractice

Too much. Every day 2 gins or 2 glasses of wine. It's something I plan on addressing at least to have some alcohol free days but I've just had a terrible couple of years so not ready yet.

I haven't read all the replies on this post but judging by the first page I'm in a minority.

I tend to drink 3 nights a week on average, sometimes 4 (so mainly Fri, Sat and Sun and the odd time on a Thurs). I would probably drink most if not all of a bottle of wine over the evening on a Friday and Saturday depending on what time I start while watching TV with my DH after DC is in bed and sound asleep. Sunday I would finish any opened bottle of wine left as I don't drink on a Mon-Weds or if I opened a bottle I'd drink half or 2/3s maybe and bin the rest as it would go off after a couple of days. I don't always drink on a Sunday if there's no opened bottle of wine but probably drink on Sundays more often than I don't.

If I was on a night out I'd easily have 5 drinks depending on what time we started etc. I admit I probably drink too much since the pandemic (would have rarely drank at home before that)

Do you go away on holiday every couple of months?

But people do care and do Make some pretty outrageous judgements about people who drink what they consider to be too much. Several posters in here have said they are ashamed. Most people who drink too much shy away from these threads, just like people with little / no savings avoid the “how much savings do you have?” threads. They fear the judging.

but I totally get that the thimble comments are irritating.

commiserations about the gallbladder. It’s a real (literal) pain I know.

If you're comfortable with the amount you drink, why would you feel defensive over it?

On an average week I'll have a couple of small glasses of wine/lager two or three times a week. Sometimes less. But if I'm going on holiday, which I do more often than a lot of people, then I'll drink most days but still just a couple of glasses.

My husband is a heavy drinker, beer, wine, whisky most days. He drinks at home watching TV. If we are away somewhere or if he goes out, he tends to drink less. He has the occasional no alcohol day.

DS is early 20s and does the typical binge drinking on a weekend thing. His friends are the same. As was I at that age, but I keep reading that today's younger generation aren't into alcohol. Not my experience.

Interestingly, both DH and DS raise concerns about each other's alcohol consumption.

Just to add, DH quit drinking last time I stopped (2011) & hasn’t had alcohol since. He was never a big drinker, just wine with a meal out & the odd Magners Gold at home.

Nobody needs to be defensive though, do they? It's something that we put in our body. I can't eat cherry tomatoes because of gall problems. I know it and still I do it because I love them. If I posted about it here I would be told that I'm stupid to eat them. I know it, I don't need to be told - and neither does anybody who drinks alcohol, takes drugs or smokes. Everybody knows what is and isn't good for them.

The point that I'm trying to long-windedly make is that unless whatever you're doing affects somebody else, people really don't care. My gallbladder; I eat tomatoes at my peril. Nobody else's problem or business. Same with alcohol. Same with cigarettes, fast food, chocolate, whatever.

In practice, I don’t drink that much day to day. I can go for weeks and weeks without alcohol at home and often do. If I do drink at home it would be maybe three glasses of wine or three G&Ts or cocktails, one night in a week. But most weeks I don’t drink at home.

But I always drink when we go out - for a meal, to a pub quiz, with friends. We eat out maybe once a fortnight. I’d probably have an aperitif or two and half a bottle of wine with a nice restaurant meal, possibly a nightcap as well; with a more casual meal just a glass or two of wine. At the pub quiz I’d have maybe three or four pints. I sometimes spend a day with two mates and over the course of 12 hours and two meals we can happily put away four or five cocktails and two bottles of wine each. That’s about three times a year. I have a higher alcohol tolerance than most women.

It's not "competitive" to not like or not want to drink.

These threads always, without fail, bring out a poster or two who will say: "On Mumsnet if you have a thimbleful of sherry once a year you're an alcoholic." Literally every single thread.

Sorry, but these people are invariably people who know they drink more than is good for them and feel defensive so they want to neg people whose drinking is more healthy.

I have no problem with people who drink alcohol: I drink myself (though a lot less than I used to). But don't kid yourself that just because you and all your mates drink more than the healthy drinking guidelines that its OK. We live in a society which is hugely socially dependent on alcohol and people who drink too much tend to see everything through the lens of "everyone does it, so it must be OK". But it's not.

Drink as much as you like, but stop having a pop at people who don't. Its not their problem that you're uncomfortable with your drinking.