How do I save more money on the weekends?

Club soda?

Stay home
I don’t see the need to go out every weekend.

Get a job where you work at the weekend.

Eat at home and get good and drunk before going out. That should save you plenty. See ya….Gary aka wtf

Stating the obvious probably, but how about inviting your friends to your house, to have a meal and drinks there, let’s say, every two to three weeks?
That might save you some bucks/pounds/euro’s/rubels.

You answered your own question. Stop drinking, the expense is ridiculous. You can go out and have fun with your friends without drinking.

Bring only a certain amount of cash and leave all cards at home.

Don’t go out: spend the money you’d spend on one weekend’s drinks on putting together a first-class bar for your place, and invite your friends over. Instead of all going out to a bar to drink, you could rotate among your various places to drink, saving a great deal of money.

(Example: you can get a 750 ml bottle of Grey Goose vodka for about $30. Mixers are unlikely to cost more than $2 a liter. How many screwdrivers does it take before you start saving money?)

I like the idea of taking cash and leaving the cards behind. Another thought, do some online research into restaurant alternatives – most cities have a fair number of “cheap eats”, usually ethnic. If they don’t serve alcohol but allow you to bring your own, all the better. Then suggest that Vietnamese (or middle eastern or burrito cart) place you’ve “heard good things about and have been wanting to try”. Make it an adventure.

Get the Entertainment Book for your area and get two for one dining. (If you guys share that cuts the cost of the meal in half).

It’s August. Organize a big picnic where everyone brings something at a nearby park or beach (make sure alcohol is OK). Set up volleyball and/or softball and have fun.

Do what @rebbel said and make it BYOB or potluck.

Fun does not equal expensive restaurants and bars!

Opt out of buying rounds with your friends at the bar, and stick to cheap drinks for yourself. And as @bpeoples suggested, make every other of your drink club soda. You’ll save money.

$2–300 a weekend is nuts.

@JLeslie Your answer was totally banal. I’m looking for creative answers to the question, not the same recycled answer I’d get if I asked my mother.

There are a few approaches:

1. Spend less money while doing the same activities. So keep going out, but order a water every second drink instead of an alcoholic drink, voila 50% savings. Or eat/drink in advance so you don’t buy as much stuff.

2. Spend less money while doing different activities. Try hosting a house party for your friends, buying the booze in advance at cost, have everyone bring a dish for a potluck. You can still have a great time with your friends and drinking, but you save money.

Leave your credit cards and check book in a locked file cabinet at work on Friday. Sounds snarky, but I bet it would work.

Sometimes the thought of doing something that drastic is enough to curb behavior.

@NoCatharsis I actually know a lot of people who don’t even bother to think that they can have a good time without drinking. They grew up watching their parents drink, and they think it is just normal and what everyone does. When I was in college my friends used to ask where I get the money to go to Florida during winter break and fly to Atlantic City to see friends for long weekends. I pointed out to them that if they didn’t drink for 6 weeks they could take a vacation also. If you have seen me on Fluther before I have admitted that I am not fond of drinking, so I am very biased. I guess by your answer you are not willing to give it up. I think there are some very good recommendations on here, drinking at home before going out (assuming you are not driving), not buying rounds, bringing limited funds when you go out. If social pressures are causing you to spend more than you want to, then again I will be like your mother and say don’t give into peer pressure to look like you have a lot of money or to keep up with the Jones’ I think your friends will understand.

@JLeslie Ok, well I appreciate that you wrote back with a bit more of a detailed answer. Even if you (or anyone) disagrees with an opinion or lifestyle, I prefer at least some insight before hearing thoughtless disregard. Sure, I could stop drinking when hanging out with friends, but it’s the medium through which I have developed a relationship with those friends. In the same way, I have another group of friends with whom I play computer games, and that has always been our medium of bonding. It sounds like you prefer traveling as your medium. As long as I’m safe and responsible in my choices, which I think I am, how is my situation any different than yours? By the way, I love traveling as well.

Totally off-topic, but an interesting conversation in my opinion nonetheless.

@NoCatharsis I want to say I harbor no judgement about your “lifestyle.” I LOVE going out to dance clubs even now in my old age (I’m 41), but especially when I was young. I think even if I loved to drink I would find a way to still be able to go out. I just wanted to be sure you didn’t think I was saying stay home and have no fun.

are you a female? This is going to sound sort of ridiculous.. but I haven’t paid for a single drink in the past six months of going out atleast once a week. And I don’t dress like a floosy or anything like that. Make friends with strangers at the bar and you won’t have to pay for any drinks. I am wincing at myself as I type this, but it’s true. *edit: this can also apply to males too. Just in my experience females have an easier time getting drinks bought for them.

The quickest way to limit your spending on the weekend is to only go out one night, and spend only cash. Either use Friday nights to get your life in order so you can sleep in on Saturdays, or initiate a night of cooking in for a friend or two. When you go out, do not take a credit card with you. What you spend is what you spend. Make your drinks last. You’re drinking to be sociable, not to get drunk. When you order a drink, get a glass of water as well, and alternate between the two.

If you’re like most people in their 20’s with a first job, you are probably spending $1000 a month or more on eating out and being social. This is ridiculous. If you curb the spending, you could pay of student loans, buy a car, take a great trip. Just because you are earning decent money, it doesn’t mean that you should reward yourself with entertaining yourself to the poorhouse.