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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think student DS spending £50 on his nights out is ridiculous?

441 replies

OwlBabiesAreCute · 20/06/2023 23:30

Maybe my age but I used to go out with £5 - into a club for free, couple of halves of lager, 10 fags. Admittedly a good few years ago!

DS (2nd year of uni SE England) says he cannot go out with less than £50 for drinks in the pub, then admission and drinks in a club. And possibly an Uber home after.

He does have a job but is saving that money for when he goes back to uni.

AIBU to think this is not a typical amount that uni students / teens spend on a night out?

YABU - £50 is a normal amount and you have no idea of the true cost of a night out

YANBU - he's a student with limited income and should therefore limit nights out / spending

OP posts:
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6
marblemad · 21/06/2023 01:40

Are you deluded? Most clubs average 5 pounds entry, drinks even on offer now average anywhere from 2.50 to 5 pounds and ubers home are probably ten pounds if not more if you live more than 2 or 3 miles away from the town or city center. Say he goes in wetherspoons for pre drinks ( 10 pounds gone) goes into the first club (15 pounds gone at least), second club (same) , grabs a kebab and then gets an uber home you'r looking at a minimum of 60 pounds

TrickorTreacle · 21/06/2023 01:44

ROFL @OwlBabiesAreCute

A night cost more or less £50 back in 1998. I've been there (West Midlands, so not quoting London prices). A quarter of a centuary ago.

£7 club entry
£3 x beer or alcopop 10 bottles
£5 kebab
£5 taxi

Ohdofuckofdear · 21/06/2023 01:47

In the SE £50 for a night out and a lift back is good!

I live in the SE and could spend nearly twice that,if he's doing a student's night or only going to pubs like spoons then £50 is doable but since the cost of living crisis everything has gone up,drinks in bars and clubs have gone up,lots of places have put the price of entry's up, taxi's have put their prices up, everything is more expensive now.

LadyJ2023 · 21/06/2023 02:23

I would say good on him a night out for 50 quid is that all

MrsMikeDrop · 21/06/2023 02:25

TheGirlWhoLived · 20/06/2023 23:31

Yeah that’s pretty normal tbh. Maybe on the low side

This

Hawkins0001 · 21/06/2023 02:43

Morelike 150 minimum

Strawberrydelight78 · 21/06/2023 03:14

I would say that's average now for a night out. Before the pandemic I would spend average £30-£40 with taxi home. I've not been on a night out since before the pandemic but it used to be £10 for a taxi. Be more than that now and that was rarely off the rank. If I got food I would spend at least another £10

whatausername · 21/06/2023 04:05

£50? Bloody heck! I'm impressed at his budgeting skills and self-restraint, he can't be drinking much when he's out.

blahblahblah1654 · 21/06/2023 04:10

He's doing very well at £50 on a night out these days.

Alaimo · 21/06/2023 04:46

I don't think £50 is that unreasonable (although I don't think i ever took a taxi after a night out), but how often does he spend that much? As a student I went clubbing maybe 1-2x/month. Other weeks were either just a couple of quiet pints in the pub or a house party. If he's spending £50 twice a week that's a different story...

MysteriesOfTheOrganism · 21/06/2023 04:46

When I was a teen my evening out left me with change from £1 - so your £5 would seem outrageous. Unless, of course, we take inflation into account...

stayathomer · 21/06/2023 04:56

20 years since I was in college and I used to spend not quite this but definitely over half. Yes some nights are cheaper than others and you can drink in/ not drink/ not have to pay in places, but other than that it’s absolutely normal. Not fine because obviously it can go towards something better but we all did it! Do by all means tell him every bit of money not spent helps with something more important or tangible but also let him have his student life!(I used to go to the beautician’s, buy books instead of the library and have decent clothes and nights out from a part time job. How?!😅)

Londonnight · 21/06/2023 05:23

My son is also second year at uni. There is no way he could spend less than £50 on a night out. I know one night he spent £150!!! Which I did think excessive. He does have a job and this is his own money, so it is up to him what he spends it on.

GrinAndVomit · 21/06/2023 05:43

I don’t think £50 is necessarily unreasonable but that’s if he’s earning that money to spend.

If he’s expecting you to pay £50 for him to go out every week, that’s where him being unreasonable comes into it.

LiquoriceAllsorts2 · 21/06/2023 05:48

When I was at uni a student night was normally very cheap but going to a non student night wasn’t. If it’s not a student night (and you say he saving to go back to uni so probably not) then I can imagine £50 is necessary and definitely not extravagant

MattDillonsEyebrows · 21/06/2023 05:54

Ahhh those were the days! Student night down Krystal’s on a Tuesday night, £1 to get in, £1 a pint of Red Rock, 20 Marlboro lights and a taxi home, all for about £12! I lived on the country so a taxi was about a fiver!

That was in the early/mid 90’s OP!

I think age is creeping up on you! 😂

Tgirl19 · 21/06/2023 06:06

Very average amount. This is why pre-drinks exist.

JeminaSunshine · 21/06/2023 06:09

Mine would be pleased if that's all they spent on a night out.

Heatherbell1978 · 21/06/2023 06:12

I feel sorry for your DS having to explain to you this is 2023, not 1993😂 These are the kinds of chats I have with my mum in her 70s when she goes on about the cost of things and I have to remind her that 30 years have passed since the price point she is talking about. Inflation OP.

00100001 · 21/06/2023 06:13

He's an adult that can spend his money how he likes. As long as he isn't coming and asking you for money...what does it matter?

User0311 · 21/06/2023 06:15

YABU I wish I could have a night out on only £50

ThatFraggle · 21/06/2023 06:16

Back in my day we spent tuppence and a farthing! I send the grandchildren a shiny fifty pence piece, which should be good for several excursions, but I never even get a thank you back!

Sissynova · 21/06/2023 06:16

Maybe my age but I used to go out with £5 - into a club for free, couple of halves of lager, 10 fags. Admittedly a good few years ago!

What was this in 1962???

TerfIngOnTheBeach · 21/06/2023 06:16

when mine were at uni as students, they would do “pres” (pre drinks) in other words they all pile into one house for drinks, bought from the TescoExpress and stay there until 11 then go out, likely to a club on campus in the SU and drink their much cheaper drinks like VKD.

roll home at 5am after spending £20, usually a walk back to a relatively close student house or after getting the all night bus.

being at home in the holiday is probably far more expensive to socialise because they were out in town and getting Ubers home.

ElTingo · 21/06/2023 06:17

I used to spend £4 on a night out 1999-2001. 2x £2 double vodka and coke, free entry into a club and walk into town and then back home (dangerously naive)

That was 20+ years ago. They'd probably charge you £4 to take a piss in a club these days.