Free calculator
Alcohol Footprint Calculator™
What is your drinking really costing you?
Enter a normal week of drinking, at home and out, and see the full cost over a year. Then set your own target and see what you would get back.
- MoneyThe drinks, plus the taxis, takeaways and mornings after
- SleepHow many nights a year alcohol disrupts your sleep
- CaloriesWhat your drinks add each week
- UnitsYour week against the UK guideline of 14
Private by design. Your answers stay on your device. We never see or store them, and they disappear when you close the page.
Your week
Add everything you drink in a normal week, at home and when you're out. The calculator can only show the real cost if both are in.
- Pick a day.
- Choose the drink, the size, and whether it's at home or out.
- Enter the price. Drinks out usually cost far more than at home, so price each one for where you drink it.
- Press Add, then repeat for every drink on every day you drink.
Add a drink
Around the drinks
The spending that goes with drinking but never shows on a drinks bill. We call these orbit costs. Only count what you wouldn't have spent otherwise, and leave anything that doesn't apply at zero.
Add time lost at work (optional)
Your own estimate. It's shown separately and not added to the total.
Add a gym or classes you pay for but miss (optional)
Shown separately and not added to the total.
The real cost
Add your drinks in step 1 to see your figures.
Your year of drinking
The drinks
Orbit costsThe spending around the drinks
Also
Your target
There's no right answer. Set a level that suits you.
£0a year saved
| Measure | Now | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Cost a year, all in | ||
| Units a week | ||
| Calories a week | ||
| Nights a year of disrupted sleep |
Your sleep
Alcohol affects the night you drink, from the first glass. Every alcohol-free night is a night your sleep isn't affected.
Now
0nights a year with disrupted sleep
At your target
0nights a year with disrupted sleep
Each square is a night: 52 weeks across, Monday to Sunday down.
What happens on a drinking night
Based on Pietilä et al. 2018 (4,098 adults wearing heart monitors at home), Arnedt et al. 2011 and Gardiner et al. 2025. Group averages, not a personal prediction.
Start later, finish earlier. Your body clears about one unit an hour, so the more of the evening's alcohol it has processed before you go to sleep, the less it disrupts your sleep. It helps, but it doesn't cancel the effect out, which is why alcohol-free nights matter most.
Want help cutting back to a level where you're in control? Learn how to enjoy more whilst drinking less with our courses and coaching programmes, built upon 30+ years experience in the wine trade.
Book a free 15-minute callHow the figures are worked out
- Units use the standard method: volume in millilitres times strength, divided by 1,000 (NHS). One unit is about 56 calories.
- At your target, taxis and takeaways are assumed to fall in line with the number of drinking nights, and morning-after spending in line with the units you drink. These are estimates: your own costs may change by more or less.
- Sleep figures come from Pietilä et al. (2018), a study of 4,098 working adults wearing heart monitors at home, comparing each person's drinking nights with their own alcohol-free nights. They are group averages for the first three hours of sleep, worked out for an 80kg adult, not a prediction for you. Alcohol also delays and shortens REM sleep and makes the second half of the night more broken (Gardiner et al., 2025, a review of 27 studies).
- The body clears about one unit an hour (NHS 111 Wales).
This calculator gives estimates from the figures you enter. It is not a medical assessment. Couch to Control™ and Alcohol Reduction Coach™ are designed for people who are not dependent on alcohol. If you're worried about your drinking, speak to your GP, or contact WithYou for free, confidential support. Not sure where you stand? Read Am I drinking too much?