I staying in the new going out & are you happy to do it

Rabidlamb · 25-01-2013 09:58AM #1

The game has been up for me for years, I've 3 kids under 5.
The day has come where it's financial madness to go out:
Babysitter €20
Taxis €20
3 hours = 6 drinks each = 12 x €5?? = €60
So there's €100 spent for 6 pints where I can get 6 cans of Carlsberg & a bottle of wine for herself for less than €20.
The publicans really have nothing to combat this & the reality is that they loose good customers for a decade or more once kids come along.

After a while you actually begin to prefer your new arrangement.
Downloading, Netflix, Sky+, Youtube all mean that you can have the finest entertainment on hand, it's not like years ago if the Late Late was crap you were stuck with it.
The thoughts of having to get dressed up, organise a lift, push & shove at a bar for over priced drink while having to shout over load music starts to sound like madness.
Instead you can Skype a mate in Norway & have a bottle of red together while catching up.

It's not a rant against the pub trade it's just a realisation that not only am I gone temporarily, there's an increasing chance that outside big occasions I may never be back & that sits fine with me.

reganreggie · 25-01-2013 10:03AM

Im with you on this one, but every now and then you can get cabin fever and say F**k it no bills getting paid this week and go on the lash. I would rather go out once every couple of months and go mental than go to the local every week.

ahnowbrowncow · 25-01-2013 10:03AM

Error in thread title, oh the shame

Death and Taxes · 25-01-2013 10:03AM

Rabidlamb wrote: »

The game has been up for me for years, I've 3 kids under 5.
The day has come where it's financial madness to go out:
Babysitter €20
Taxis €20
3 hours = 6 drinks each = 12 x €5?? = €60
So there's €100 spent for 6 pints where I can get 6 cans of Carlsberg & a bottle of wine for herself for less than €20.
The publicans really have nothing to combat this & the reality is that they loose good customers for a decade or more once kids come along.

After a while you actually begin to prefer your new arrangement.
Downloading, Netflix, Sky+, Youtube all mean that you can have the finest entertainment on hand, it's not like years ago if the Late Late was crap you were stuck with it.
The thoughts of having to get dressed up, organise a lift, push & shove at a bar for over priced drink while having to shout over load music starts to sound like madness.
Instead you can Skype a mate in Norway & have a bottle of red together while catching up.

It's not a rant against the pub trade it's just a realisation that not only am I gone temporarily, there's an increasing chance that outside big occasions I may never be back & that sits fine with me.

You pay your babysitter €20 to mind thre kids under the age of 5!
And they said slave labour and exploitation was dead!
Shame on you OP, shame on you!

omahaid · 25-01-2013 10:05AM

Getting away from your kids for a few hours has to be worth a few bob

25-01-2013 10:05AM

No - you're just getting old.

.jacksparrow. · 25-01-2013 10:06AM

6 cans?you're doing it all wrong.

25-01-2013 10:08AM

I want to break free

Rabidlamb · 25-01-2013 10:09AM

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

6 cans?you're doing it all wrong.

It's actually more likely to be 2 cans & a bottle of red but I wanted to look big in front of the lads.

.jacksparrow. · 25-01-2013 10:13AM

Rabidlamb wrote: »

It's actually more likely to be 2 cans & a bottle of red but I wanted to look big in front of the lads.

Yes that comes with old age too,as does 2 day hangovers,but it does beat mixing with all those peasants in the local.

Where To · 25-01-2013 10:16AM

I'm not happy when other people do it.

johnolocher · 25-01-2013 10:20AM

I'm with the OP it costs too much to go out regularly when you can get a few drinks, take the warmth of a fire & watch a great movie. Especially in the winter it beats freezing my hole off and spending my weekly wages on booze.

It is nice to go out on the town every now and then but I find now and then is becoming rarer as things have been getting tighter and I've been getting older and enjoy the confort of my own home

1ZRed · 25-01-2013 10:23AM

Right. Well that was the final nail in the "no kids" coffin for definite!

Jaxxy · 25-01-2013 10:33AM

I find it's my more "settled" friends (myself included) that have this attitude. The single ones are still all about their weekender benders and spending their wages in pubs/clubs.

Because of financial restrictions (and getting auld factors too :pac: ) I usually limit any mad nights out to birthdays and the like. These days I much prefer to sit in and have beers or a bottle of wine and chat or watch a movie or six consecutive episodes of whatever program I'm into at that time.

Rabidlamb · 25-01-2013 10:34AM

ballboy101 wrote: »

jaysus...i say your some craic

Life & soul of the house party.

Rabidlamb · 25-01-2013 12:02PM

WileyCoyote (Accelleratii Incredibus!) wrote: »

You pay your babysitter €20 to mind thre kids under the age of 5!
And they said slave labour and exploitation was dead!
Shame on you OP, shame on you!

20 quid for 3 hours work, I used get a fiver when I was her age.

Frank Black · 25-01-2013 12:09PM

Been there and done that, with the whole going out thing.

A evening at home in front of the fire, with a damn fine bottle of wine and some tolereable Hollywood release on the tv is much preferable.

Ihatecuddles-old · 25-01-2013 12:12PM

Rabidlamb wrote: »

20 quid for 3 hours work, I used get a fiver when I was her age.

Can never understand bsbysitters charging €60 when all they do is watch tv while the children sleep. Insanity.

Wine, good tv, good company and Chinese.

much prefer that to going out!

ArtyC · 25-01-2013 12:15PM

I wish I could go out more. I miss going to the pub for a few most evenings after work. But it's a bit tougher now so I guess I make the effort to enjoy my nights in. Make dinner with a new recipe, try different bottles of red or two every week and naked Mondays with the oh!

krudler · 25-01-2013 12:28PM

Last night out I had was Stephen's night, havent set foot in a pub since bar once for a few mins giving someone a lift, don't miss it at all but might head out tonight just because. Going out every weekend gets stupid expensive after a while, even cheap nights out cost at least 50 quid when there's taxis and food involved.

YFlyer · 25-01-2013 12:37PM

WileyCoyote (Accelleratii Incredibus!) wrote: »

You pay your babysitter €20 to mind thre kids under the age of 5!
And they said slave labour and exploitation was dead!
Shame on you OP, shame on you!

€20 to watch Tubs. Where can you better that?

jossnjuice · 25-01-2013 12:52PM

ArtyC wrote: »

I wish I could go out more. I miss going to the pub for a few most evenings after work. But it's a bit tougher now so I guess I make the effort to enjoy my nights in. Make dinner with a new recipe, try different bottles of red or two every week and naked Mondays with the oh!

pics of GTFO.

KungPao · 25-01-2013 12:55PM

Happy enough doing it. Some of the best evenings I've had recently have been with a few friends, a few drinks, an Xbox and some food. Great laughs had by all.

Was never a fan of night clubs, hate them actually. Never saw the attraction of listening to sh!t music while 'dancing' and spending a fortune on sh!te Diageo p|ss and then having bouncers shouting at everybody to go home even though you just bought a pint.

One particularly ridiculous occurrence was Bruxelles charging me around €13 for a pint and a glass of wine because of the time. Alcohol mysteriously gets incredibly more expensive after midnight apparently. They haven't got my custom since that debacle!

But once in a while, a night out can be great...as long as you're really in the mood and have a surplus of the green.

snowgal · 25-01-2013 12:56PM

I used to go out every night of the weekend but thinking about I dont think I ever really cared if I was out or in, it was wherever friends, ex, etc were heading. Now I love staying in, wine, takeawy good tv OH and kitty, perfect! Still go out once a week though so that Im not being a dry sh**e! :rolleyes:

25-01-2013 01:09PM

I rarely go out. I do throw a monthly house party though. This costs me in terms of effort because I cook for it and cooking stuff for 30+ can be hefty. But it ends up costing me nothing. I leave a box around for donations and I break pretty much even every month and any profit goes to the following month.

So everyone has a great night, great food, cheap drink, they pay much less than going out in the city and I come out paying nothing. Nice.

25-01-2013 01:12PM

Its an age thing I went to a pub in London at the weekend but only because I was away before that it was the work Christmas night out, I was never big in to nights out, unless it is a meal out. I don't really get going out to get drunk and chat in a pub that is jammed. I do like certain pub in town places like Grogans where you can have a chat but I would only have 2 or 3 drinks.

My youngest went to coppers on Wednesday night and it was so packed that them make them wait until a few people left before they let them in.( her purse was stolen while in there with her passport in it:mad: ).

jester77 · 25-01-2013 01:12PM

Didn't leave the pub until 2 last night and then ended up in the casino playing roulette for an hour or 2 afterwards. Staying in sounds like a great idea right now.

the_syco · 25-01-2013 01:13PM

Night out to me equals going to a live music venue to drink one set of pals, or to a smoking area of a pub for another set of lads. Can sink anywhere between 20 and a 50 on a night out on drink, etc, depending how good I've been at saving in the month up to then.

Probably spend 30-50 at a gaff party, but would drink until 6 or 8 in the morning, and still have a bottle or three left.

dollypet · 25-01-2013 01:18PM

in? out?....... SHAKE IT ALL ABOUT!
Seriously though I love a night in.. but also love a night out too. The expense makes out fewer than in. But still SHAKE IT ALL ABOUT!

BraziliaNZ · 25-01-2013 01:19PM

It depends really doesn't it. If you're settled with kids or a partner or both etc you're more likely to stay in. Every living day for me is an existential nightmare so as hard as I try and stay out of the boozer I end up there more often than not propping up the bar and talking bollocks to the regs. Perhaps if I had a family or a bird or something I might be more likely to stay at home.

Stheno · 25-01-2013 01:21PM

Can't stand the noise in a lot of pubs at the weekends anymore.

I staying in the new going out & are you happy to do it

Comments