An apple a day might keep the doctor away, but a few beers a year (or some booze) will keep you sane.
You’re a teacher. No one deserves quality booze cheap more than you–except maybe Mall Santa.
I love good wine and beer. I don’t enjoy as many adult beverages as I probably should these days, but that doesn’t mean I’ll drink swill. I won’t.
How can you afford to fill your flask on a teacher budget?
Turns out, there are a ton of discount avenues to source your adult beverages.
- ReverseWineSnob.com. Marianne from Connecticut submitted this find. Good wine can be really expensive, but how many of us can really tell a hundred-dollar bottle from an affordable one? Tell the truth. You can’t. I just want a nice Merlot, Cabernet, or Malbec to tide me over. ReverseWineSnobs rates wines, finds bulk buys, and scopes out the best wines with the tagline, “thumbing your nose at bottles over $20.” That’s just brilliant.
- Two Buck Chuck. You may thumb your nose at this if you’re a complete and irrecoverable wine snob, but the Charles Shaw vineyard supplies the Trader Joe’s chain with wine the people can afford. If you’re in California, Two-Buck Chuck will run you $1.99 and other states it goes all the way up to $2.99, which is still a drinking-out-of-a-paper-bag deal. While some have criticized Two-Buck Chuck, it’s a nice common-man’s wine. According to Business Insider, it’s manufacturer Bronco Wines is able to make the wine affordable by producing on a massive scale. They bottle over 90m bottles per year. They also save by automating the process, minimizing packaging, and reducing the weight on the bottles for lower-cost shipping.
- Learn to Mix Drinks. Sites like Liquor.com and Allrecipes.com have tons of creative cocktails recipes. You’re sure to find your favorite. You can cut the price of your cocktail in half or more by learning to mix drinks at home. Make a few snacks and tapas, and have a gathering with your friends.
- Go to your friend’s party and freeload. You can drink for free when you let other people host. Sure, the decent thing is to bring a bottle or side-dish, but there’s still room for hosting and freeloading in the teachersphere. It’s good to have places to go to share in camaraderie–and have a drink or two on your friends.
- Make friends with your beer guy and try a new beer. There are beers that should never leave the warehouse, but there are value microbrews popping up all the time–make friends with your beer guy and ask for recommendations. Tech Insider ran five popular light beers through a blind taste test and Boston.com’s BDC wire did the same with fairly consistent results, much to the shock of the hipster guinea pigs. I couldn’t personally get on board with the results, so here’s where I’d say quality, not quantity–save up, drink less, and ask your beer guy to help you find something good–of value.
- The New Hampshire State Liquor Store. New Hampshire wasn’t kidding when they adopted “Live free or die” as the state motto. There is no liquor tax in New Hampshire. That guarantees a visit to the store on the way in or out of the state to go mountain climbing. I stocked my whole bar after college when climbing Mount Washington. I still have some of those bottles today. You don’t live close to New Hampshire? No problem. Wyoming, Missouri, Colorado, and Vermont have low taxes on alcohol, too.
So grab a bottle of wine for your picnic or a six-pack to watch the game! You’ve earned it. And now, you can afford it, too!
Note: BrokeTeacher.com does not endorse excessive drinking or packing of flasks in lunch boxes to help improve your school day. Though tempting–we, too, wish wine came in juice boxes–these things are wrong. We encourage you to try our flavored waters while you’re waiting for your nice dinner and adult beverages later on.