what budget does alcohol come out of

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If alcohol adds significantly to your weekly shopping cost, would you still account for it it out of your food shop budget or personal spends for hobbies/books/treats?

Not unlimited money no, just personally if I had to have set budgets for everything each month I wouldn’t buy alcohol, I’d save the extra money or prioritize something else as alcohol isn’t that important to me. We don’t have unlimited money but we don’t have to be very careful throughout the month so no, we don’t have budgets for food etc we just buy what we want and need each month. So alcohol wouldn’t fall under one budget or another as we don’t allocate money like that. And nowhere did I say people shouldn’t buy alcohol, I’m just saying what I would do.

Same.

After years of it coming out of the household budget my DH now uses his personal money for his alcohol at home (approximately £50 per week). We use our personal money for nights out if we go out separately.

We share our incomes, and do have joint budgets for different things (i.e. food shop, petrol costs, personal spending).

Alcohol (when bought) is usually bought as part of the food shop, so has to fit within the food budget. My husband drinks more than I do, but not excessively. We might spend £90-100 a year on alcohol bought to drink at home though. We usually spend £60-£80 a week for 2 adults and 2 children (5 years old and 1 year old), so buying alcohol bumps this up to £75-£95 a week, but i would estimate we buy alcohol 6-8 times a year.

I would feel differently about it coming from a joint budget if only one partner drank, and if it was a more significant chunk of money (say £30 a week).

It comes out of the joint account, in a week it’s about £12 a week for beers that dp drinks, a bottle of wine (£7?) that we share. I stock up on Baileys at Xmas on half price for me.

I find people who don't have set budgets for things a bit odd tbh. I'd rather be in control of where my money's going and actively prioritising what I want to spend it on even though we are not on the breadline. We probably have an extra holiday a year because we budget sensibly!

I hardly drink now tbh...too expensove and unhealthy. Not helpful I know
Went out at xmas and it was £9 for a large glass of pinot...ouch!

£9 for a large glass of wine while out, while expensive for what it is, is very much at the lower end of the price range.

I don't usually drink wine while out, partly due to the cost, but I remember that it was over a tenner the last Christmas before COVID, so 5 years ago, at a local neighbourhood mid priced small chain Italian. Dread to think how much they're charging now.

Ours is in the entertainment budget as we always drink with friends. I took it out of the food budget as it was distorting it, particularly at Xmas

I prioritise being able to spend my money on what I like, within my means. We put money into a savings account so that it is there if we need to make a big expenditure or decide to spend a bit more than usual on a holiday (we generally holiday fairly cheaply).

I don't drink at home so it would come out of my personal spends. Expensive out so try and limit it!

If you have to ask this question, you're buying too much alcohol

We don’t have separate personal budgets so any alcohol comes out of joint funds. I don’t drink alcohol at home and I’ve given up drinking it out now because it’s got so expensive but DH will get/ ask me to get the odd crate of Budweiser for home occasionally and he does drink when out. I find it a bit irritating TBH as the cost of living has made things much tighter and it seems like a waste of money but it’s his choice.

We don't really set budgets that tbh but in my head I would think that a bottle of wine shared is part of the joint budget, be it food or entertainment. But if one partner is drinking a lot more heavily eg a whole bottle of wine a night or regularly buying whisky then that is their personal spending. It all depends on what you can afford though. My DH drinks a lot at home. I meet a friend for lunch each week. We can afford this so it's not an issue (aside from his health) but it would be different if one persons drinking was taking money from essentials like food and heating.