No Alcohol 2024 February

[NoAlcohol2024February]

Checking in for February 2024 now Dry January is over. Feeling positive for an AF February and the year ahead AF 🤩

@Atacamadesert he is fine thanks for asking. I’m like you left to my own devices my mind wanders to drinking wine. I did tell him. He did question whether my insistence on the phone to him after the operation that he must heed the Consultant’s advice and stay in if he thinks he needed to was only about me be genuinely caring! I must admit it may have been the wine witch playing with my mind and speaking those words. Of course I wanted him home we all know patients recover better at home 🧙

It was funny the other day too when DH commented that I even have to drain the dregs out of a NA wine bottle 🤣 It made me realise I’m not ready and I think it will take a year to reset.

How long is your partner away for? Is it getting easier? This month the 0% alternatives have been my go to. I didn’t need them in January.

After following another post I am interested in finding this out from people like me who feel they have a dysfunctional relationship with alcohol.

How much do you think you honestly spent a week on alcohol before you went AF?

Mine and DH’s quota was easily

4 bottles each a week so at the cheaper end 8 x 15 is £120.00 a week.

Drinks going out twice a month so total £200 so another £50 a week.

That is minimum £170 a week. Probably more because sometimes the wine might be £20 or £25 a bottle.

I know it’s shocking now looking back. Just wondered if I was the only one.

@NoAlcohol2024February Gosh, I hate to think how much I spent. In recent years, not so much as I've spent long periods completely alcohol free and have exhausted myself trying to moderate..... however, pre 2019 I would easily drink 5 nights a week, maybe 6. A bottle most nights, and a bottle plus gin or extra prosecco on the weekend.

5 bottles of wine approx £35
Extra at weekend another £10

So probably about £200 a month just for me and that doesn't include money spent when going out. Absolutely bonkers.

Happy to report I hit 2 months today and happy to be checking in for another week 😄

@NoAlcohol2024February I think I have cheaper taste in wine to you also 😄

Morning - checking in.

A few appearances from the wine witch this week - it is getting easier to pass through these moments.

rose tinted thinking especially whilst in a lovely country pub with the fire burning and people laughing. It’s usually social settings that bring her out.

where we speak of playing it forwards with the alcohol I have started to play it forward with the setting.. what does that pub look and smell like the night after? Sticky tables, stale beer smell and cold? Stale ashtray smells outside.. appealing? No, not at all.

regarding the spending I’d say at least £200 per month on the actual booze. Add to that the food deliveries because I can’t be bothered to cook and they also deliver wine, the online shopping and it’s a lot lot more.

have a great week everyone x

Check in for me Day 57 of 2024 and still AF. Really happy.

I have had a tough week with cravings non stop. We went shopping yesterday and my DH asked me what do you want for dinner and I said wine! I could not get this out if my mind all day. I went home and hammered the 0% Tanquerry Gin, 0% Corona and 0% Guinness. A real struggle. Thankfully, I didn’t cave and I feel better for it. Monday is always easier.

@TeeNoG I do have set wines I like sometimes they come in Aldi or Lidl cheaper but generally they are £15 to £25 a bottle! 25% off use to help but maybe not because I would just drink more. I did wander down the wine isle yesterday chanting to myself ‘I’m an adult. I can do what I want. I have £100 in my money pot for alcohol in 2025 spending that is allowed. I have control now.’ Then I saw my usual tipples and the wine and champagne I like is so expensive now more than I remember it being. It is the money saving aspect that keeps me going through the real cravings. I bought some nice tonic and hammered the 0% Tanquerry Gin when I got home at 11 am 🤣 I’m even a lush when it comes to 0% morning drinking. I never drank alcohol before noon before and that was only when I was out with my friends.

A new month beckons and I am going to have to really try hard to abstain as I have a big celebration this month. For me, the cravings are getting worse. I hope this does not continue. I’ve downloaded the Alan Carr book ‘Stop Drinking Alcohol Now’ so I will listen to that.

Off to swim now.

Will make a new thread on the 1st March 2024 for those of us continuing on the AF 2024 path.

Have a good AF week everyone.

That's the book I read - I found it really helpful. Other podcasts I've listened to says that it's around the 100 day mark that it gets harder, not easier, for a bit. I expect because the novelty has worn off. The Allan Carr theory is that you don't want to drink anymore once you have read the book - rather than looking at it as something hard to do. Has it worked for me? I would say yes - right now the little voice inside doesn't want to drink again. But the big voice is still catching up a little as I can't quite believe it.

According to my app I've saved around £400 on booze this year...

@NoAlcohol2024February mine only goes away for a weekend every now and then so not too bad! I’m afraid I’m heading down the moderation path. After
my clubbing incident I’ve had some drinks at the weekend and then a few drinks at a friends do. Nothing wild but still. I think I with where I’ve got to I might have to let moderation fail miserably ( which I’m sure it will) before I head back here with my tail between my legs!

Hi all, day 82 for me today. I am fine with it but am worried I am missing out when I am with friends and they are drinking. I miss that 'first drink feeling'. I am remembering to 'play the tape forward' and the blackouts aren't too far from my memory either.

Re the Alan Carr book - I read the Jason vale one and apparently they are very similar. It's all NLP and it has been helpful with reframing the 'I'm missing out' to 'why would I even want that?!'

Saying that, I think it's impossible (at least for me) to not be even a little bit misty eyed when it comes to socializing and alcohol. I just wish I could moderate.

Main challenges for me are a holiday coming up and some work functions (I work in a sales environment and my team is really boozy. If you're not drinking then you're not one of them and I am worried about all that. Old fashioned I know!)

Hope everyone has a good week, we are doing great x

Well done @wannabedry 82 days is such an achievement.

It is odd that we feel like we are missing out. I feel so much better, my skin, my puffy face, my weight, my BP, my sleep and my anxiety all greatly improved. And yet, I still have to battle with myself not to drink alcohol! I’m just struggling so much with this at the moment. I’ve ordered some fancy 0% Gin from an independent distillery hoping this gives me a lift in spirits😂

I just keep asking myself what will drinking alcohol now achieve? I can’t think of one thing so I keep battling the alcohol demons.

@Atacamadesert we all have our own lives to live and alcohol has been such a big part of all of our lives don’t berate yourself for having a drink. Come back with a zest for AF living when you get the feeling to.

I have some new challenges to put in place for March. Less TV and screen time more meditation, exercise and reading. I am going to try and take the focus away from staying AF and make it more about what being AF allows me to achieve.

2 days til March! Hang in there 😥

@Thelittlestranger the Alan Carr book is waiting to be listened to. I just have to finish a box set by March when I’m banning box sets for a few months.

Well done everyone, I’ve been reading your February journey and I’m with you all the way. Day 28 . Looking forward to March

Day 28 @Housebythesea1 well done to you too.

I am still in a daily battle and I have a tough week ahead so for me it is just sheer stubbornness that is stopping me drinking alcohol. I really want a drink. But, I don’t know why or what it will add to my life at the moment. I’m hanging by a thread🧵

Just checking in late this week, sorry to hear you've been struggling @NoAlcohol2024February - agree February has been tough! Glad it's over. I'm still going and up for March.

I'm doing okay, March could pose more challenges though as I tend to have more on socially.

I'm hoping to be a bit less sugary this month too - not none, but feeling a bit more ready to tackle that. One of many reasons I personally need far more than a month to reset in any meaningful way.

60 Days alcohol free!

I feel great physically. Lost over a stone in weight. Skin 100% improved even though the first 6 weeks AF made my skin break out. I no longer constantly look dehydrated.

It is a battle everyday. So far, I am winning. I am taking it day to day.

Good luck and well done everyone who is still on this AF journey.

I will start a new March thread.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/alcohol_support/5019081-no-alcohol-march-2024

I’m starting a late dry January today having not had a booze free day since maybe 1 in early November. I’ll spend today reading up on anything that will inspire me so any recommendations welcome. I’m considering OYNB but suspect it will likely be yet another subscription I pay and then don’t use. I expect there will be enough info and support online without it. My biggest driver being health and dropping at least 10kg of wine weight I’ve picked up over the ast 6 months. Reading some of the messages on here about liver damage is pretty scary. I’m not sure for how long I am planning, but just need to get through a day first. Then another, then hopefully a week…. Cheers to day 1!

@Winkycheddar , there is an active DJ thread here if you are interested in joining:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/alcohol_support/5253719-dry-january-and-beyond-thread-2?page=5

Some posters are talking about continuing into February, or longer.

Thank you. New here and realised after I was a year out 😂

Hi

Has anyone tried hypnotism (online or f2f) for alcohol?
My issue is I have 1 glass I drink the whole bottle. Only a wine drinker, not every night but know I need to stop for various reasons.
Have tried unsuccessfully. Can usually manage 6-8 weeks then slip back into it.

Oh I’d like to join!
I last had a drink 26th December and realised it just makes me ill and couldn’t really understand why I drink at all?
I had thought I would do a month but I’m now thinking a year is a good aim.

I’m finding social pressure tricky. A lot of my
socialising involved a drink… and now it doesn’t. I think people feel judged by my not drinking?