On a mission to moderate or absolutely abstain (judgement-free zone). New thread - Autumn 2025.

[ForeverTipsy]

Hello, here's a shiny new thread for us all - took the liberty after gaining permission from The Original OP @nowstrong! Please tag anyone from the last thread I may have missed...hopefully you can all find us here...

@horrorfan81 @BezMills @hohofortherobbers @addictforanex @alertcat @harriethoyle @StrongLikeMamma @LillyPJ @ohthejoysoftoddler

Merry Christmas everyone! Been meaning to post allll day. How's it all going? Hope you've all had lovely days?

I've been enjoying a few glasses of fizz today and yesterday, but still pleased with my moderation efforts for this month so far. Tomorrow I'll probably have a few more and a couple of Bailey's. Sat we have friends over so will probably polish off another bottle of allll the prosecco I've been bought ! Then aim to be on the wagon for a few days to rest the liver (haha my phone was trying to get me to leave that autocorrect error as lover...I definitely don't have a lover, let alone one that I need to rest !).

Still conflicted about what to do on 1st Jan. Dry Jan? Dry Jan + keep going? 100 days again? Delay sober period as hosting alcoholic family on 3rd? Decisions decisions. What is everyone else thinking?

Good morning everyone. Happy Boxing Day! I haven’t been on for a while as life’s taken over. It’s been 3 months now since I drank and this was my first Christmas without alcohol. Up until now I’ve found it pretty easy. Yesterday there were definitely hard moments. I could’ve easily broke my streak and had a wine but I didn’t. Today I’m so glad that I stuck at it and didn’t cave. What difference would have it really made anyway? So I’m sat feeling pretty fresh having a cuppa. Today we have a houseful. Lots a booze and food, but I think today will be easier as I’m hosting and I like to feel in control if I’m hosting. I just can’t believe the milestones I’ve gone through and not drank. Christmas is such a big one because usually I love to have a drink but things change. I felt far more present for the kids yesterday morning and really took it all in yesterday and enjoyed the food. I hope you’ve all had a lovely Christmas and well done to all of you whether you’re moderating or abstaining completely. It’s not an easy time at Christmas. 🎄❤️

Well done, really great making good choices!

I had a cheeky Bailey's coffee and some buck's fizz first thing. Then shared a bottle of red while cooking and eating, and a beer on the couch after dinner. Wasn't drunk, didn't feel rough this morning, but my garmin watch as ever noticed the difference in my biomarkers.

I'm going sober today and running towards the year end.

Well done and all the best everyone. I've definitely benefited a lot from your company this year. For various reasons I haven't made any big pronouncements especially early on. For a lot of the time, you lot heard it first.

I'm here for the post Christmas reset. I did dry January this year and didn't bother to drink again for 6 months. It felt easy but someone pointed out that I had never been an alcoholic so can't I just not drink much. I was fine with that so had occasional drinks without any drama. Obviously Christmas escalates that a bit. To be clear, our supermarket shop was delivered on 17th with 8 bottles of wine for 3 of us and that wine is almost finished now. That's hardly hammering it but I'm still craving a reset. In my 60s now and 'just a few' makes me feel woolly these days. I figured if I join a friendly thread it makes me feel accountable. We begin a few days of elderly relative visits now with no particular pressure to drink so the health kick starts today. NYE is usually just a telly fest and I'm cool with a bottle of Nosecco for the midnight toast. Happy boxing day mumsnetters.

@WorriedMutha thats amazing that you did 6 months. I do wish I could moderate but past experience has shown me I can’t. I wasn’t an alcoholic I’m more of an all or nothing person. I dont crave alcohol but I do miss having a drink with family and friends and just feeling a bit carefree for a while. The problem was when I started I didn’t know when to stop and it ended with me being very drunk but the worse bit was the hangover. It took me so long to shift it that it just wasn’t worth it anymore.
NYE sounds lovely! I have my best friends 40th but she’s been such a massive support for me to quit alcohol that it will be quite easy to stay on the AF drinks.
good for you to start a reset. Have a lovely rest of the festive period 🎄❤️

I’m at MiL’s and doing the cooking but not sufficiently at home to help myself, so have probably had the most sober Christmas since I was pregnant 😆

have had a bottle of Prosecco, probably a bottle of white by bedtime tonight, and a double shot of whisky, over the three nights from Christmas Eve to now. No roughness or even feeling tipsy as it’s all been well spread out (started on the fizz around midday yesterday, but interspersed with tea and water, so only the half bottle of fizz and one small glass of white wine all day, extremely restrained by my standards!).

Home tomorrow and I have my 3 bottles of nice Chardonnay (Bread and Butter, a Christmas treat bought on Sainsbury’s 25% off 6 offer) to have over the holidays, and another fizz for New Year’s Eve, but I expect to have a night or two dry. In honesty that may depend on my husband, if he has a drink I may feel I’m missing out.

@ForeverTipsy I am planning a damp January. Did the whole month dry last year, but I am still on holidays until the 5th Jan and rules make me feel constrained, so I want the freedom to choose until normal rules come back into play. And also it’s my birthday month, so I might want to allow myself a small celebration. Yes, it could be a dry day, but honestly January is so miserable and such an awful month for a birthday that I want to keep my options open 😂

Merry Christmas fellow moderators. May your festivities be happily moderate and you have zero fear of missing out ☺️

I started stopping on 6th January and was very resistant to the idea that I was "doing dry January". In a funny way it was less than that because I started late, but also more. I ended up staying dry, one day at a time, until 29th June.

The new year can be a powerful time to change habits but it doesn't have to start on the first day!

I am so in awe of everyone doing 3 months, 6 months, or more.

Thanks for your ideas and thoughts re: Dry Jan @BezMills and @DoubtfulCat - I agree with everything you say! Numbers and start dates are arbitrary. Oh, and both of my children have their birthdays in Jan ! 🙈 (I agree it's an awful month for one, so they sometimes get half birthday parties in July !).

As it stands today, I will be starting on 1st Jan. I enjoyed that fizz on Christmas Day, however, yesterday (boxing day) I sneezed allll day. Felt so rough. 99% sure it was the sulphites in the wine as it's happened many times before. Bit of a lottery but I lost this time. Still feel exhausted, low, leaden and sore (sinuses) today. My body is literally telling me its allergic to alcohol. It either causes an IBS flare up or sneezing all day the next day. Perhaps my mantra for 2026 is "I am allergic to alcohol".

Hosting friends any minute so best get off Mumsnet and get organised!! They will all but one be drinking beer and wine, but I will definitely be sticking to soft drinks.

Happy New Year everyone 🥳

I hope 2026 is kind to us all. Those starting on a new sober journey, those who've been on it a while, those tee-totallers and all the curious folk just thinking about reducing or stopping the booze. Judging by this thread I believe most have done pretty well this year!

Happy 2026 everyone! Hope everyone has had a good end to the year. I’ve done.. ok over the holidays, had a couple of days dry and not drank as much as I normally would on the days I did drink, but I’m looking forward to a more moderate Jan. Rang in 2026 with two martinis but honestly felt rubbish halfway through the second, could’ve stopped at one. But at least I won’t be hungover in the morning! (And for those that are - it’s just one day, as PPs have said, you don’t have to start 1st Jan!)

@DoubtfulCat I absolutely love ‘damp January’. That’s what I’ll be doing too. Mostly sober but I am also a January baby, and seeing a very close friend who I haven’t caught up with in ages so I don’t see a completely dry January in my future. Having people over tomorrow too and got plenty of softs and 0%s in but some will be drinking and I usually do a signature cocktail when people come over (I used to be a bartender!) and I might have one because there’s no such thing as 0 proof tequila (that I’ve found!) and I planned to do margaritas. Then a quiet weekend!

Hello everyone, I hope you are well, and Happy Birthday to those on here who have birthdays this month! It would have been my late mum's birthday today, so I shall be lighting a candle later and have bought myself a little bunch of flowers (and will enjoy some mega cheap stollen bites and Christmas cake that I bought in Aldi this morning !).

How are we all doing? I looked back on my DrinkAware app stats for December 2024 Vs December 2025 and was really happy.

Decdember 2024 = 17 DFD (drink free days), 50 (!) drinks and 87.12 units.
December 2025 = 24 DFD, 26 drinks and a mere 39.45 units.

I only binge drank (over 6 units) on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve...I'd say that is a massive improvement! I'm not going to lie, those stats don't show that I was actually ill with a really bad stomach and eye inflammation (so headache/blurred vision in one eye) for a couple of weeks in December, which has helped my alcohol consumption massively. Next year might be different, but we've got to take these wins were we can.

Good luck to all doing Dry January, and Damp January - we've got this! (I'm aiming to do the whole 31 days completely dry...but won't put too much pressure on myself as may buckle).

Has anyone had issues signing in with drinkaware? It made me register and then wouldn't accept my log in... really frustrating. I've downloaded an alternative app but it's not as good!

Oh no! I've not had that issue luckily. Out of all the apps I've trued; the NHS Drink Free Days, Try Dry and I am Sober, the Drink Aware one is my favourite. Hope you can get it sorted.

Happy new year team! We lost DFiL just before Christmas but it was a bit of a relief in the end. I finished work on the 20th and almost immediately came down with lurgae (the last months have been a bit relentless and I've been feeling run down for tiiime).

We had a decent family Christmas then up to Scotland on the 27th, back on the 1st, back to work on the 5th. So not exactly restful or relaxing but yanno, it do be like that sometimes. I had a few drinks over the break but nothing excessive, and unlike in September, I didn't turn it into a stretch of daily drinking or feel wretched about backsliding.

The first week back has been a slog, ngl, and I did give my whisky bottles a good browse a minute ago, but pulled an AF lager from the fridge instead.

Good luck everyone, thanks for the company in the last year, and I wish us all success for 2026

Sorry for your loss, @BezMills . I hope you’re feeling better from your lurgy, too.

Wishing everyone positive January! Solidarity to those with birthdays this month, may you have special days despite the time of year!

OH and I had a lovely evening yesterday and a bit too much whisky, but I’m trying not to berate myself. Actually I am debating deleting my drink aware app because I start to obsess in unhealthy ways, getting into a negative energy when I set myself rules. We already don’t drink Mon-Thurs except on holiday, so I am thinking of just limiting by my purchases or by actually going out some weekends to dance and see friends (and drive), which feels nicer to me than counting things.

So sorry for your loss @BezMills - I hope you're all coping ok after losing FIL. It's always a shock, even when it's expected. Sorry you were poorly over the holidays, too.

@DoubtfulCat I got to that stage last summer re: the apps. Just got sick of tracking and wanted to relax and just enjoy a drink here and there. For me though, it didn't work, as I would kid myself. When I started tracking again after three months off, I could see my drinking and crept up quite a bit. Good luck to you though, hope you've cracked it now, as would be brilliant not to have to track.

I was going to write "I've never tracked" but thanks to my ridiculous memory, it's all there if I care to look.

After the slight bravado on Friday having closed the booze cupboard, I was given a big whisky, unasked for. Helpful!

Two whiskies on Friday, then wine and a beer and a whisky on Saturday, two beers two whiskies on Sunday. Woke up this morning feeling the after effects and not best pleased about that.

OK here we are Monday is calling, a sober week for me!

Whisky is my undoing too @BezMills 💐

So I had a nice sober week, then went out out on Saturday. The alcohol free option was mocktails for £9 or 330ml of AF Peroni. I'm actually a lot too Scottish to pay NINE POOND for a fancy juice, so I had a Peroni. Turns out I'm also too Scottish to withstand paying pint prices for a poncy little 330ml bottle in place of a pint or 500ml bottle. It was a huge party and I was already clock watching with 2 hours to go. I caved and went on the pints. Had 3 full fat Grolsch and then it was up the hill for the babysitter. I had a large whisky before getting up the wooden hill.
Sunday was always going to be a danger zone after that. I wasn't hanging or anything but I had definitely woken the Booze Goblin! It was a 3 hour kids party. I ended up having a bottle of full fat ale, and then a couple more. Needed a nap afterwards!
Overall I'm not thrilled about my little diversion down to Booze Avenue but it's done. I'm off up to Edinburgh for a weekender tomorrow and I'm almost certainly going to have a drink with various social engagements, but there's no reason to go mad.

Morning all. Wide awake after a late night 🤦‍♀️
Feeling like my anxiety has actually improved a little recently, I feel a little anxious but nothing like I used too. Regretting having as many as I did but also pleased I went onto water at the end of the evening so feeling surprisingly alright this morning!
Would love to just moderate a bit more!

Morning all - back on the thread and back onto weekday abstinence from tomorrow having been away. DH not really drinking at the moment which will make it easier!

My watch can tell when I've had a drink! I had three biometrics out of range last night. I'm not surprised! Caught my flight by the actual skin of my teeth, after mistaking the flight time and being a little bit too relaxed about my timing. Too close for comfort, but managed not to have a mini panic.

@BezMillsglad you made your flight! Phew!

I had a lovely time on Saturday and switched to water yet I'm still berating myself 🤦‍♀️
Can someone slap some sense into me!? 😬🤦‍♀️
I'm definitely not as anxious as I've been before, but I'm still worrying! Ffs 🤷‍♀️

@BezMills haha to "I'm actually a lot too Scottish to pay NINE POOND for a fancy juice" and a trip down "Booze Avenue" 😂Sounds like you're still very much consciously choosing to drink alcohol sometimes, rather than mindlessly throwing it down your gullet. Ergo, still winning? Remember you're grieving FIL, too, so go easy on yourself.

@harriethoyle welcome back! Hope you had a good time away, and that weekday abstinence is easy-ish for you going forward.

<slaps @ERN79 around the face with a plastic kipper>. There! Better? why are you berating yourself? For drinking on the weekend then switching to water? Sounds pretty sensible to me (but I would have low mood/anxiety a few days after drinking regardless, so know where you're coming from).

Well, Dry January is almost over. I am feeling super proud of myself for choosing not to drink at the family party I hosted at the start, AND for not drinking on the weekend when I went for a hotel/spa night away with my sister and there was complementary wine in the room and the option of a complementary glass of prosecco, too! I kept visualising how happy I would be driving home the next day with the unopened bottle of wine in my suitcase, and it worked. Was Mrs Smug personified when I got home and gifted it to DH! I'm lucky my sister doesn't drink much at all these days, and we'd both brought plenty of different soft drinks (Trip and some flavoured tonic water for me) so didn't feel like we needed anything. Feel like something has really shifted in me over the past few months; like I've finally grown up/out of my alcohol-loving days...

Hope everyone is ok.