Credit crunch wine suggestions please.

[yogababymum]

Hi, so me & DH have decided to stop living foolishly & start being frugal. However DH likes his wine to much to give it up & we don't go out much. He doesn't spend more than £9 a bottle but that's still to much as he drinks 3 bottles a week.

Any suggestions as to how we could reduce the spends on wine. I suggested box wine but apparently it's all rubbish. I don't see how it could be any different but I am no expert.

Thanks.

Don't tell anyone that this came from me, but I used to love Black Tower wine. White, £5 a bottle

Aldi have some very drinkable wines

Oh sorry should have said, I live in NI so no Aldi!! Only Tesco & Asda. & the odd Sainsburys here and there.

Oh I am very good at keeping secrets!

What colour wine does he drink?
I don't like cheap wine, it gives me a headache but Tesco regularly do half price wine deals that are a tenner down to a fiver (Dino Pino Grigio and Ogio Pinot or Sauv Blabc if my memory serves me correctly. It may not due to all the wine). I drink white though but there are often reds on the same deal.

Sauv Blanc.

Thanks This, he prefers White. I seem to be quite awful at choosing though so I'll leave that to him.

We've had less money for over a year now and were lucky to have a basic wine making kit from years ago, so we've been buying wine kits to make up. It works out about £2.15 a bottle and to be honest I wouldn't notice the difference. DH can't drink red wine as it gives him headaches and palpitations, but homemade doesn't have that effect.

You might be able to buy a kit second hand if that appeals. If not, I'd always buy wine when on offer at somewhere like Tescos. Here £9/10 bottles are often half price and keep coming around on the same offer, so if your DH finds one he likes stock up on it.

3 bottles at £9 each is £104 a month.

Unless you're drinking them too he's also over his weekly allowance of alcohol by about 3-6 units.

He could treat himself to a nice bottle costing £20 once a week and still better off.

agree with fluffy, he could reduce to one bottle a week and keep his prefered choice.

It's not the ideal solution but it's an option. I say not ideal because we've cut EVERYTHING back.

Am not a drinker so I don't really understand the need for it.

Do you have Majestic or Lidl in NI?

Lidl is a cheap supermarket like Aldi, that sells good quality products, including wine.

Majestic is a wine warehouse that sells a wide variety of wine - you have to buy at least six bottles at a time and the offers are usually £9 per bottle but £6-7 per bottle if you buy 2.

Is your Dh really on board with the money saving - sorry but £100 a month on wine is a lot, especially if you are trying to save money. Does this come out of his personal spends? Do you get to spend a similar amount on luxuries for yourself?

And it is also a lot healthwise - sounds like he is having half a bottle most nights - does he have alcohol free days - it is recommended people have at least 2 alcohol free days per week - does he.

2 bottles a week for a man is close to the recommended limit and if he spent a bit less on each bottle too he could half the amount he is spending but that would still be £50 pm which is still a lot if its unaffordable on your budget.