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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not sponsor Dry January?

61 replies

InMemoryOfSleep · 17/01/2018 13:34

A few of my friends have sent me links to sponsor them for doing Dry January, but I really don’t want to pay out cash I haven’t got for this. I just feel that if you need to be sponsored to give up alcohol for a single month, and you find it as difficult as they are purporting to, then you have a problem! Am just ignoring the emails for now, but am due to meet up with one of them next week; should I just plead poverty? Confused

OP posts:
milkmoustache · 17/01/2018 13:37

So who gets the sponsorship money? Your friend, or a charity? You are totally within your rights to say you are broke after Christmas, then change the conversation by asking well they are doing with the challenge. They will probably bore you rigid!

giddyupnow · 17/01/2018 13:39

God I am doing Dry January as I usually do, it literally would never occur to me to ask for money for it? But then I think so many fundraisers are for things people just want to do for themselves.

agbnb · 17/01/2018 13:40

i've never heard of anyone asking for sponsorship for Dry Jan!

surely most people will ignore because they're broke after Christmas?

i'd ignore it and plead poverty (but it depends on how honest you want to be)

BamburyFuriou3 · 17/01/2018 13:40

YANBU I hate sponsoring for any reason though. If you want to do something, go do it, don't pressure people out of money for you to do something you want to do! I give what money I want to the charities I want. I don't sponsor. *Unless it's my kids for a school thing of course, because I don't want them to feel bad.

Original poster
InMemoryOfSleep · 17/01/2018 13:41

@Milkmoustache it’s for charity, but I just feel really uncomfortable sponsoring someone to just not drink Confused

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Original poster
InMemoryOfSleep · 17/01/2018 13:43

Cancer Research have got a big ‘Dryathlon’ event they promote, which is what most of my friends are doing it for.

OP posts:
moochypooch · 17/01/2018 13:47

I don't sponsor people for doing anything.
If you want to raise money for charity put your hand in your own pocket! We give money to charity we don't have to send an email to all telling them!

milkmoustache · 17/01/2018 13:48

I know what you mean. Dry January is something lots of people might choose to do anyway, but then they get the added kudos of doing it for charity. If course it's for a good cause, but don't feel pressured, you can't be the only one who is broke after Christmas!

moochypooch · 17/01/2018 13:49

I just feel really uncomfortable sponsoring someone to just not drink who cares what they do for sponsorship - give money to the charity (or not) if you want - do people really have to do something horrendous before you feel they have suffered enough for you to give.

HesterShaw · 17/01/2018 13:51

Why don't people use the money they have not spent on the booze to donate to charity? Seems way more sensible than asking people for money in January.

FrancisCrawford · 17/01/2018 13:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

juliesaway · 17/01/2018 13:54

I don’t see why it’s such an achievement to not drink alcohol for a month unless you’ve got a major drink problem, in which case you should be going to a doctor rather than handing out sponsorship forms.

Jayfee · 17/01/2018 13:55

Can you sponsor me for a post xmas chocolate free January..?it wouldn't cost you a penny!!

Randomlywondering · 17/01/2018 13:57

I don't really like sponsorships. A friend of mine got into running marathons and was asking for sponsorship every 3 months or so. There was a minimum amount required for her to keep her place.and after a while I felt like i was just paying for her hobby.

metalmum15 · 17/01/2018 13:59

Tbh I never ever sponsor anybody, unless they're a very good friend. I must get 2/3 Facebook requests a week to sponsor someone for something. I donate to charities of my own choice. Just plead poverty, or say you've already done your charitable bit for this month.

Chienrouge · 17/01/2018 13:59

juliesaway yes, most people who struggle to give up alcohol for a month (myself included) probably do have issues with drinking. Surely if they’ve got a problem with alcohol, they should get more respect for making the effort to give it up, not less?
OP I agree though, I am doing dry January for my own reasons and wouldn’t dream of asking for sponsorship for it. According to the Dry January app I’ve saved £61 so far this month on alcohol, so at the end of the month I will donate the £120 I’ve saved to charity.

Bluelady · 17/01/2018 13:59

I wouldn't sponsor for dry January but I do for other things. I did a sky dive to celebrate a big birthday, my horror struck friends all asked to sponsor me - hadn't even thought of it - and Dementia UK ended up £1k better off as a result.

notsohippychick · 17/01/2018 14:00

Don’t sponsor it if you don’t want to! That’s your call.

BUT, you are unreasonable to assume someone has a drinking problem because they find it hard to give up booze for a month.

nobutreally · 17/01/2018 14:02

I've done dry Jan for years - I can't imagine ever asking anyone to sponsor me!

I'd keep quiet about sponsorship, and just them how they are getting on: if anyone asks, just say sorry, but you're broke after Christmas, and ask them whether they are donating the money they've saved on booze to CRUK (all innocent-like: iirc, that is how it was initially set up to work...although looking at the site now it's very focused on getting others to donate!)

Butteredparsn1ps · 17/01/2018 14:04

Why don't people use the money they have not spent on the booze to donate to charity? Seems way more sensible than asking people for money in January.

Exactly Hester. I thought that was how it was supposed to work.

melj1213 · 17/01/2018 14:08

NotSo if you have no problem with alcohol then you should not find "Dry January any kind of effort. If you "struggle" to go a month without drinking alcohol then you have a problem with alcohol.

I am not doing Dry January but I haven't drank any alcohol since New Year's day (and that was one glass of prosecco and a G&T at my parents NYD dinner party) and honestly until I wrote this post I hadn't even realised it. I have still gone out for dinner with friends and to parties and events, just without drinking, usually because I was driving but sometimes because I didn't fancy a drink or I had work early the next day ... whatever the reason it has not been a hardship at all.

Notevilstepmother · 17/01/2018 14:09

Im with Hester.

metalmum15 · 17/01/2018 14:09

Dry January seems an odd thing to sponsor anyway. How would anybody know she definitely hadn't had anything alcoholic all month? Seeing someone do a skydive or a marathon, yes, but trusting someone when they say they've not been anywhere near the booze....no. Maybe I just know too many people whose dry January has lasted about a fortnight.

expatinscotland · 17/01/2018 14:10

I don't sponsor for this, either. And tbh, it's tedious in the extreme to hear people banging on about it. Just shut up and do it then, don't bore the rest of us.

Original poster
InMemoryOfSleep · 17/01/2018 14:14

@moochypooch no not at all about expecting them to do something horrrndous to earn sponsorship - more that I think Dry Jan normalises a problem drinking culture. I mean, how much are people drinking to find it a big deal to give it up? We’re not talking a couple of glasses of wine a week are we...

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