Even though alcohol is often considered recession proof, the current economic situation has led to a change in how many people including myself consume it. The change is actually a regression to an earlier stage of life; one where money was tighter and friends pooled their resources to achieve a common goal of inebriation. While the cost of booze at my local joints may be a bargain compared to those in bigger cities,I still find it disturbing that I can only get two beers for the cost of a six-pack; and don't even get me started on the hard stuff!

It's for these very reasons that pre-gaming is poised to make a comeback amongst the very crowd who had recently left the practice in their dorm rooms next to tattered Maxim magazines and their crumpled Animal House poster. Pre-gaming, for the un-initiated, is the practice of beginning your drinking in the comfort and the cost effectiveness of your own home. Once you've worked up a good buzz then you can head out for a night on the town and sustain your inebriation for a fraction of the cost. While many associate it with underage consumption many pre-gamers are simply trying to avoid the high cost of drinking in public.

Americans are cutting back on purchases of liquor in bars and restaurants, according to top executives at Pernod Ricard SA. They are also purchasing cheaper brands when buying alcohol at stores, although sales at grocery stores and retail outlets continue to grow.

Makes sense to me. Why drop the extra bucks at a bar or restaurant when you can get a bottle of wine, rent a movie, and stay home for a whole lot less money. I have always thought that expensive restaurants were a waste of money and you pay a premium for a drink. Often, a glass of wine will cost you as much as buying the whole bottle at a retail center. And watch out for designer drinks such as Cosmos and fancy martinis -- they can cost you $20 or more.

When we do go out, we like to find local restaurants that serve good food at a cheap price. We never go to chains, they tend to be overpriced and too homogenized for my taste. No, give me the $5.99 fish fry, served in a plastic basket with coleslaw and fries and I'm a happy South Sider.

Remember, there are two ways to be rich. Have lots of money or have simple tastes. We like to keep our expense chassis low so we have money when we want it.

Barbara Bartlein is the People Pro. For her free e-mail newsletter, visit: The People Pro.

When I was in academia, my department's Christmas parties were an annual festival of drinking, dancing and fun. There was the feminist theorist whose flailing elbows and knees made her a force to be reckoned with on the dance floor, the conservative lit professor who would hit the grad students up for weed, the Irish poetry guy who would pour alcohol down everybody's throat, and the linguistics specialist who hit on anything with a double X chromosome. All in all, the yearly debauch was a time to let the hair down, embarrass oneself, and store up ammo for a year's worth of gossip. In short, it was a blast.

On the other hand, all the people that I just mentioned were tenured, so was damn near impossible to fire them. The rest of us had to content ourselves with moderate drunkenness and, even in the deepest pits of our alcoholic haze, had to keep one eye on the department pecking order, being sure not to insult the wrong person or let the barbs show too much in our jokes. It was an intricate dancing game: if you didn't drink enough, you were branded boring and condescending. If you drank too much, well, let's just say that there's such a thing as being too fun.

In light of the department Bacchanalias of years past, I was very interested when I came across CareerBuilder's latest drinking survey. It sounds like my department isn't the only working group that gets down. On the other hand, it also sounds like they aren't the only ones who live to regret it.

As the dollar declines against the Euro, the price of champagne is expected to increase this year. In a USA Today article, the President of Zachy's predicted an increase in prices from 10% to 30%. Despite the increase, there is bubbly at various price points that can compliment not just a wedding but a summer picnic at the park, evening out with friends or a graduation.

Often times, champagne or sparkling wine is reserved as a wine for a special occasion, but why can't every day be a special day? For some, the reservation about buying everyday bubble comes mainly because wine designated as champagne is from the champagne region of France, and tends to be more expensive than, say, sparkling wine. But there are ways to minimize your costs and find the wine that suits you.

For instance, champagne is not the only bubbly. There are numerous labels: Champagne, Cava, Prosecco, Sparkling. Once you determine the type of wine you would like, the search for the perfect bottle within your price bracket can begin. You can find a sparkling wine for less than $20 or a cava for less than $10. While "Cava is not as complex as champagne, it's terrific if you're on a budget," says Ray Isle, deputy editor at Food & Wine Magazine. (There is even affordable champagne.)

So why not then make this libation a part of your life. Where to begin? Segura Viudas, Pol Roger, and Roederer are just a few suggested labels.

Lyneka Little previously worked as an assistant to Tastings columnist John Brecher and Dorothy Gaiter.

If you are anything like me figuring out how much water you should drink per day is a rather confusing exercise. There's the long subscribed to eight glasses a day model but then there are calculators which weigh several factors in order to determine your daily H20 intake. It gets really complicated for me when I begin to factor in the effect of the pot of coffee I drink each morning. Coffee is essentially water but also a diuretic which leads to additional water loss. So now I have to down more water to replace the water I just lost because of the water I drank! Are you getting dizzy yet? Well it turns out the amount of water you need to drink to stay lead a healthy life is actually much simpler than I thought once you remove the many myths about drinking water.

NPR reports on and dispels 5 myths surrounding drinking water and its effects on the average person. The information most useful to me in the article relates to weight loss and exercise and the need for water to accomplish either task. The article states that water is an aid to dieters for being a no calorie input yet still providing substance to dieters. In my case I imbibe too much diet soda, which despite its numerous downsides the article points out as also providing a similar benefit. The best advice I gleaned from the article is to "Just drink when you're thirsty".

Adding tap water to your daily routine is an excellent way to save some extra cash too. Think of all the money you'll save by not buying sodas and other sugary drinks. Since water is also filling you should also be able to cut back on your snack budget by filling up with more water in between meals. Just remember to avoid high priced bottled water and high calorie Vitamin Water if you want to enjoy the waist slimming and pocket fattening benefits of drinking water.

Bankrate reports that "According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 130 passenger vehicle occupants were killed in drunk driving related traffic accidents during Super Bowl weekend in 2006. Young men ages 21 to 34 are the core audience for major sporting events and are also the most likely to drive while impaired, according to the NHTSA."

Bankrate adds that the total costs associated with a drunk driving arrest can easily top a whopping $20 thousand. So even if you are selfish and don't care about endangering the lives of innocent people, drunk driving is a pretty bad deal.

So have fun at your Super Bowl party. But please drink responsibly and if you can't do that, then at least don't drive.

It's a bad deal for eveybody.