How Do You Control What You Spend?

[Scott_Jameson]

Conversely, I buy almost everything direct from the winery. I don’t buy from in-state stores and out of state retailers can’t ship to me (yes, the 2 are related - I don’t want to support those who work to limit my choices). I will buy from retailers when I travel, but that’s a small percentage of my purchases. All this is to say that CT and the “Purchases over time” report works well for me. I can see what’s coming each month and what I’ve spent in the past. Looking forward, I can reduce or drop purchases entirely.

[Michael_Martin]

I buy everything and anything I want all year…and then I do a dry January.

[B_Jenny]

If it is a winery we aren’t buying from we take notes on each wine and rarely buy on site. When we get home we put together which wines we really liked from our notes. If the list gets too long we make adjustments. Buying at the winery can get dangerous and you can get home and think why did I buy that wine.

[Robert.A.Jr]

@Matt Latuchie

I don’t buy much wine directly from the producer, so one of my gateways to spending are the constant emails I get from businesses across the country. One thing I found that helped my situation was to unsubscribe from a lot of them - there were probably 35-50 wine shops that I was receiving mail from that I hadn’t purchased from in years. \

Simply reducing the velocity of emails was a big help to me.

This is key. I found this past year that I had inadvertently bought the same wine more than once. I’d get the email for the offer and simply reply back, my card was on file. It’s too mindless. Need to make it where you have to reflect or at least enter something into fields for an order.

[Dennis_Borczon]

@Peter Metzger

Stop reading Wine Berserkers and similar sites. Or find a less expensive hobby (like Bourbon).

There is truth there. I dropped the Wine Advocate this year and pretty much hang out on this site only for wine news (and the occasional Decanter magazine). Limit your wine reading, limit your desire to consume many different types of wine. Also stay away for Napa for awhile. Yes the wines are very good, but the prices have become insane over time. There are lots of divergent wine regions who somehow seem to produce interesting wines, at lower prices, with less intense needs to market. I have tried to pick a few favorite producers in Napa that I really can’t live without, and set an informal ceiling of X $$$. If they climb above that, I let it go unless there is resale upside in the future. It seems there is almost always the next up and coming cab producer who is making an interesting wine at a lower price. Larkmead became a typical poster child for this cycle here for many of us. The good PR and the potential to expand profit became too much for them and the prices escalated dramatically over the last 3 years. Many of us said “check please” and left the restaurant.

I would qualify the Bourbon comment. It seems they are going through the same insane cycle that California Cabernet went through in the '90s. Underappreciated domestic product that suddenly was recognized as a national treasure, fast run up in prices of hard to get bottles, and yes, they even have their own Screaming Eagle (Pappy Van Winkle) that is approaching the status of unobtanium. Still some great bottles exist at reasonable prices (Four Roses single batches for me) but who knows how long that will last?

Man it feels at times like we are living through 2008 all over again. Can almost EVERY house in San Francisco be worth a million dollars? Can every extracted Napa Cab be worth $300? I feel like there are strippers somewhere piling up cases of Harlan Estate waiting to sell them at the right peak of the market

[Peter_Simpson]

I do use a spreadsheet to keep track of what’s in the cellar, and I found the easiest method to control purchases is to do it by wine variety.

For example back in 2010 I realized we had 350 bottles of California Pinot in the cellar. We drank on average two bottles per week, or 100/year, and those bottles stayed in the cellar for an average of about two years. So it was easy to figure out we needed at most 200 bottles of Pinot. So essentially I stopped buying Pinot and dropped off all lists from Pinot wineries.

Six years later we’re down to 130 bottles of Pinot in the cellar, but that’s because we now drink only one bottle per week so only need 100 bottles.

I do the same for Cab/Bordeaux, Chard, etc etc. I just started for Mourvedre and found we have 54 bottles and drink one a month at most. Looks like Champers only from D&R for the foreseeable future.

[Jim_Erwin]

My wife, who also loves wine, manages our charitable contributions. She sets her annual limit to match what I have spent on wine for the prior year. Win-Win

[Freelon_F_Hunter]

By thinking about where on earth this wine will fit into the cellar and keeping my Pending list current in CT to bring me back to reality!

[Victor_Hong]

How to deal with spending too much?
Just borrow. I recently opened a US Federal Student Aid loan account, and no longer need to worry about such mundane, trivial things.
https://fsaid.ed.gov/npas/index.htm

[Ed_Steinway]

We don’t control what we spend nearly as well as we could, but we have three factors that are contributing to spending considerably less:

1. Two college tuition payments
2. A full cellar
3. Drinking less

Thanks,
Ed

[Chris_Seiber]

@Dennis Borczon

I feel like there are strippers somewhere piling up cases of Harlan Estate waiting to sell them at the right peak of the market.

Uh, where is this place with strippers and piles of Harlan? Asking for a friend.

[D.Callahan]

@Alan Rath

@Chris Seiber

One practical suggestion I’ve heard and sometimes tried is the “cooling off period.” When you see an offer or something at retail or auction you want, set it aside and come back to it in a few days.

I do this. I currently have 18 tabs open with “carts” ready for purchase

I’ve tried this method only to find the wines I wanted are sold out! But that circumstance means I spend even less than I budgeted and I get dropped off some lists. Many of the lists I am on don’t guarantee your allotment anymore.

[Sean_Malloy]

Lots of good thoughts above. One simple comment to add: when you are at the wineries, spit. If driving, of course, but even if you aren’t. You still taste the wine, you’ll still love it when you get home, and you’ll be less likely to make aggressive buying decisions on the fly.

[Chris_Seiber]

@D.Callahan

@Alan Rath

@Chris Seiber

One practical suggestion I’ve heard and sometimes tried is the “cooling off period.” When you see an offer or something at retail or auction you want, set it aside and come back to it in a few days.

I do this. I currently have 18 tabs open with “carts” ready for purchase

I’ve tried this method only to find the wines I wanted are sold out! But that circumstance means I spend even less than I budgeted and I get dropped off some lists. Many of the lists I am on don’t guarantee your allotment anymore.

This is your compulsive mind speaking, making excuses for you to buy it now. “But, maybe the wines will be gone tomorrow, plus then I’ll get kicked off the list for not buying, and then I’ll never get those wines again. I better just buy them now, and actually, add a few extras just to make sure I don’t get a smaller allocation next year.”

[GregT]

Myself, I buy almost nothing (particularly from California producers) over $100. It’s a rare purchase that exceeds that limit, and then not by much. Multiple bottles, multiple times, at $150+/bottle adds up very fast. And there is so much good wine out there from great people who don’t charge that.

This. And don’t be on lists. First of all, those are mostly for US wines. Not that I have anything against any domestic products, but seriously? Nothing from the rest of the world?

Second, I appreciate the fact that people use those to move their products but there’s just too much wine out there for me to buy when someone has to move product rather than when I feel like picking something up. It’s better for you to choose when to spend than for someone else to do it for you.

And then just limit your buying to something that’s an insane bargain or really intriguing, you buy it. Another really nice Cab? OK but how many of those do you want? Easier to pass and wait for something else to come along.

As in today, when I was tasting some wine from Italy and a producer told me he met a CA producer that morning who wanted some Nerello Mascalese cuttings. If I’m correct, that producer is on this forum. That’s just so much more interesting than another $100+ Cab.

[jmdavidson]

Determine your discretionary spending for wine, then stick to it, as in a “budget.” Make no excuses for going over, unless you are willing to reduce the next month’s amount. When all else fails SIWBM. Since you are in Chicago, as am I, I will help you drink down some of the 14 cases, so you can make up another excuse to buy more. Good luck. We all have the same problem.

[Jeremy_C]

@Chris Seiber

@Dennis Borczon

I feel like there are strippers somewhere piling up cases of Harlan Estate waiting to sell them at the right peak of the market.

Uh, where is this place with strippers and piles of Harlan? Asking for a friend.

[dsGriswold]

Here in the WV, we are blessed with an abundance of very good $20 wines, both red and white. I feel pretty good about supporting these producers. They need the money more than I do, at least that is what they tell me. Now if they start getting full of them selves and start charging $50 for the same wines, I’ll visit the Loire more often.

[Michael_Martin]

Keep pushing Zins over $40/bottle. All excesses take care of themselves.

[Alan_Rath]

@D.Callahan

@Alan Rath

@Chris Seiber

One practical suggestion I’ve heard and sometimes tried is the “cooling off period.” When you see an offer or something at retail or auction you want, set it aside and come back to it in a few days.

I do this. I currently have 18 tabs open with “carts” ready for purchase

I’ve tried this method only to find the wines I wanted are sold out!

Exactly. I was kidding about 18, though I do have one tab open with a wine I’ve been looking at for a few days. If it sells out, my problem is solved. More likely I’ll just close the tab and put it out of mind. Or there is a small chance I’ll pull the trigger