Drunk Shopping in America Hits $30 Billion a Year in Sales

If you've ever woken up the morning after a night of drinking and realized you made some poorly thought-out purchases, don't freak out! Apparently half of the adults in the U.S. like to spend money while drunk, and last year that half spent $30 billion on shopping while intoxicated. Forget baseball or apple pie, people: America's pastime is clearly drunk shopping. In a report that comes via MarketWatch, shopping research and assistance site, Finder, says that "Nearly half of American adults (46%) who drink alcohol regularly admit to making a purchase while under the influence..." and that "Americans have spent an estimated $30.43 billion [in 2017] on these spontaneous drunk purchases, or about $447.57 per person."

What is the most expensive thing you've bought while drunk shopping? One time I bought a big screen tv. Best drunk decision I've ever made! ~@Brandyonradio pic.twitter.com/6ZP2SndKHH
— Q101 Hit Music (@Q101hitmusic) March 8, 2018

What's especially worrisome — or perhaps awesome depending on if you're a half-full or half-empty cocktail glass kind of person — is the fact that these drunken purchases doubled the previous year's amount.

me when i get some money and go drunk shopping pic.twitter.com/2nM8HK1Zu4
— 🥀𝔅𝔩𝔬𝔬𝔡𝔯𝔬𝔰𝔢🕷 (@TheGlamGoth) March 7, 2018

In Finder's report, the company breaks down the data (collected from a sample group of 2,000 Americans) in all kinds of interesting ways, noting that men spend about twice as much as women while drunk ($564.51/year vs. $282.65/year), married folks spend about twice as much as their divorced counterparts ($327.62/year vs. $147.71/year), and that Gen Xers (the generation born from mid '60s to early '80s) spend triple the amount millennials do ($738.87/year vs. $206.11/year). The avocado toast-spending is a myth, people!!! Although, to be fair, Finder also notes that millennials spend — wait for it — $1,163.24 more than Gen Xers on booze every year. So... yeah... either way, the spending problem is not due to the avocado toast. (Or the rosé vodka for that matter.) In terms of what people are actually spending their money on, Finder says that 60.83% of drunk shoppers spend their money on food (super-duper duh), 25.09% spend their money on shoes and clothing (tipsy in heels and in the head), and 24.91% on gambling (although they could really be winning money, couldn't they?!).