My $110,760 Soberversary
My $110,760 Soberversary
Over eight years ago, I started a journey that completely changed my life. One of the surprising motivators in those early days was a simple phone app. It tracked my alcohol-free hours, and it also showed me the money I was saving.
Every year, I mark my anniversary with a "soberversary" gift. For my fifth year, I bought my dream car, the one in this photo, paid for in cash. I love the car. I love what it represents even more. Driving the East Coast beaches in it, I feel a freedom and joy in alcohol-free living I never could have imagined. It's a tangible symbol of a life well-earned.
I also invested a good portion of what I saved and gave to causes close to my heart. I don't usually go for flashy things, but this one felt like the gift of a lifetime, proof of the work I put into reclaiming my health. It brings me joy every single day, and I have never once driven it after a drop of alcohol.
What's your number?
My story raises a question worth sitting with. What could you do with the money you're spending on something that's quietly working against your health, your well-being, and the people around you? Something that speeds up aging, is linked to several cancers, and leaves regret and headaches in its wake.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average U.S. household spent $7,644 on alcohol in 2023. For a lot of successful professionals, with incomes above average, that figure runs much higher.
Here's my own math. I used to spend an estimated $13,845 a year on alcohol. Over eight years, that adds up to a staggering $110,760. The numbers climb fast. The financial cost was real, but the deeper losses, lost days, strained relationships, the toll on my self-worth, mattered far more. That part is a conversation for another day.
So I'll ask you plainly. What would you do with your number? What would you build, buy, or feel if you stopped pouring it down the drain?
You don't need a meeting or a label to find out. You just need to start. Quietly, privately, on your own terms. No one has to know you were even looking.
That's the work I do, and it's exactly where I started too.
