Booze edition

Booze money. Slush fund. Liquor cache.

There are lots of different names for it, but many college students have one: a portion of their weekly budget squirreled away for alcohol.

During this period of economic trouble, spending money boozing every once­ – or twice, or three times – in a while is becoming a challenge for some.

“I haven’t had a hard time finding money, but I know I’ve had to save my money for more important things,” said senior Andrea Knapp, who will graduate in May. “It’s going to be really hard to find a job.”

But don’t despair. An economic downturn doesn’t necessarily mean the piece of your budget saved for booze has to dry up completely. It just calls for smarter spending.
Yes, you can pay your rent and get liquored up all in the same week.

Of course there are always ways to find the funds without pinching pennies.

Bloomington resident Matt Rice said he would purchase double the amount of what he needed for textbooks so that when his parents reimbursed him for the semester, he would have several hundred dollars of extra spending cash for his “slush fund.”

“I would have solid funds for two to three weeks that way,” he said.

But if finding ways to get money out of the ’rents isn’t an option, we’ve done the research to help get the most out of those precious dollars reserved for that dear old friend, alcohol.

For the barflies...
Whether you like it or not, going out to the bars is going to cost a little more than sitting at home nursing a bottle of Kamchatka – which, by the way, we do not recommend.

But with strategy and knowledge of what each watering hole has on tap, and for how much, a night on the town won’t be as much of a pain to your wallet as it could be.

To get the most for your money, going out during the week is the best option, as long as you don’t have any 8 a.m. classes.

Several bars offer low prices Monday through Thursday, but by far the best deal would be the Bluebird’s $0.15 Miller Lite drafts on Wednesday night. And for the ladies, there is no cover if you get there before 11 p.m.

But if going out on the weekends is your only option, there are a few things to keep in mind to keep a few extra pennies for yourself. Avoid bars with a cover charge, like Sports, the Bluebird, Uncle Fester’s, Jake’s and the Jungle Room. You can save that $3 to $5 for a whole beer, or potentially more, at other bars.

And yes, sometimes sacrifices have to be made. But we’re not saying trade down from all top-shelf liquors to anything that comes in a plastic bottle.

“People may not buy Patron, but buy Cuervo instead and save 75 cents here and there,” said veteran bartender Leo Cook of The Bluebird.

For the homebodies...
The best way to save cash is staying at home and buying your own booze in larger quantities than you could ever get going out.

If you’re used to the glitz and glamour of the bar scene, this might sound lame – because there’s nothing more glamorous than overflowing toilets in the women’s restrooms and having drinks spilled on your favorite shirt multiple times – but here are some drinks that can get you more bang for your buck.

This one is especially good for nights when the temperature gets down into the single digits. Buy a bottle of Rumple Minze peppermint schnapps (it’s 100 proof and costs about $20 a bottle) and some Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix. Add a couple shots to your mug of hot cocoa, top with some whipped cream, and you’ve got a peppermint hot chocolate that’s probably about 100 times better than one you’d ever get at a Starbucks.

The line of 99 Fruits schnapps is another good buy (they run around $17 at the Big Red Outlet on College Avenue, and are 99 proof – hence the name). With all the different flavors, there are all kinds of combinations for fruity cocktails. Try 99 Peaches with orange juice and pineapple juice for a Sex on the Beach with a little extra punch.

And if you have time to be picky about where you shop, remember the liquor store is definitely not the cheapest place to buy booze. After averaging prices of four different types of alcohol at four different area retailers, Marsh on the east side had the lowest cost.