With new baby prompting new expenses and crucial savings, I’m looking at a big decrease in wine spending. I’m wondering how folks out there have managed budgeting. Any and all advice appreciated… 
Cold turkey.
I don’t follow a “budget” method. I follow a “regret” method
I live in a 55F humidity controlled cage, alongside my preciousssssss
No kids here, but I imagine your decrease in drinking will more than make up for your decrease in buying.
buy what you like, drink what you like.
price is relevant only to your ability to purchase.
LOL @ “Decrease in drinking because of kids”
Noah…Went through this a few years ago with our second, but needed to slow down purchasing anyway (still do!). I took a hard look at my inventory and the reality that I had several cases of a couple producers that I could find at retail…those were the first to go. Second, I looked at my mailing lists that I know I will purchase to the grave (e.g., SQN, Saxum, etc.). Last, for other mailers that I knew I would want to remain active on down the road, I simply emailed the winery and told them I needed skip a year given the new family addition…all were happy to oblige.
Mazel tov on the new addition,
Adam
Yes clearly you have no kids.
Seriously though I’d plan to drink at home more and go out less. Wine consumption could increase unless you’re religiously a food with wine type. Find a lot if well priced wines that you like and stock up is my advice.
How do I do it? Not very effectively.
I’ve found the best way to limit purchases is to limit your storage space.
Easy.
Set a budget.
Then, exceed it.
Adjust budget.
Exceed adjusted budget.
Rinse and repeat.
Best way to limit purchases is limit exposure to deals!
That too. Unsubscribe from retailer emails.
Hi Noah -
Most of us with kids have gone through this period. I had the triple wammy: a new baby, wife stopped working and a huge capital call to a new partnership all in the same year. At the time I had a small, but nice collection of wines. What I did was stop buying the premium wines, many of which take 10+ years to mature anyway, and just focus on the simple, daily drinkers that keep me happy. So during the 3 years that it took me to consolidate the child, wife not working, paying off the capital call etc. (the “dark period”), I drank through about half of my collection but did fairly well sticking to my plan to purchase only daily drinkers (amazing what you can buy these days for sub-$25!). After the “dark period” I started buying everything and anything. Now I find myself with a large collection but only about 20% is truly ready to drink! In hindsight, I wish I had started backfilling rather than chasing all the new releases, which post-2000, seem to come with tons of hype.
Good luck!
Robert
I will buy when I feel moved, then run low my budget. So, I occasionally “go dark” and buy nothing until the budget is back in place.
Feast and then famine.
I’m eaglerly reading this thread. My plan is to buy only sub-$25 wine and when I find a cheap gem (like the $4 RGMV), I go deep. This plan has been in effect for 2 months and so far, I’m holding strong.
BD day vs Kyle will be a battle of epic proportion, though. 
It’s only 1 day.
How much damage can you do?
No kids here, but the system is as follows:
All bills (including credit cards) fully paid within the month
Retirement funds and general savings fully funded
Vacations paid for
Then buy wine.