To not sponsor Dry January?

[InMemoryOfSleep]

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?

[OllyBJolly]

Why don't people use the money they have not spent on the booze to donate to charity

I thought that was the point of it?! I did Sober October for Macmillan and donated the huge amount I didn't spend on wine to them. I thought DryAnuary was the same idea?

[moochypooch]

I'm doing dry Jan - I've done it for years, no one need to know about it, unless I am out with them but some people like everyone to know their business, how else can you explain all the shit people put on facebook!

[JayoftheRed]

I'm doing Dry January. I do it most years, usually for myself, I don't fundraise, I just do it to detox a little.

However, this year I am doing it to raise money for our local children's hospital as one of my best friends' daughter is fighting cancer in there.

I spent December raising money to have my head shaved, did that, and am now raising money via Dry January. Not a problem if people don't want to donate to that, it was just something I could do without much hassle, which would hopefully raise some funds for the hospital. I am also performing in a panto and asking for donations, and will be running some more fundraising things (coffee mornings etc) in Feb/March. No one has to donate, but if me doing something like this can raise even just a few quid, it's worth it.

I make a joke about how hard it is, it isn't at all. Everyone who knows me knows that I like a drink at the football. So I've been making tongue in cheek comments about missing drinking at the games (and there have been some high profile games this month, with lots on Sky) so I've had more chance than usual.

So if it was me who asked (and I've asked no one directly, just groups and Facebook etc), then I'm sorry. Please feel free to ignore. I'm doing it for no other reason than making sure that the hospital that is helping my friends so much can continue to do so.

[Chienrouge]

I mean, how much are people drinking to find it a big deal to give it up?

If you read the Dry January thread on here, you’ll see that most people doing Dry January are doing so because they know they drink too much, and it provokes a lot of feelings around extending past January/potentially giving up for good.
People say things like ‘stop banging on about it’ and ‘you must have a problem if you find it hard to give up’ in a very negative way. If it helps people to realise they may have a problem/need to cut down or stop, then surely it’s a good thing?
Doesn’t mean you have to sponsor them though.

[moochypooch]

Actually the real impressive sacrifice would be a dry December!

[Littlepond]

I don't like sponsorship for anything really. It's always people doing something for themselves, how is that related to me choosing to donate to charity?

[whiskyowl]

I don't sponsor people because I think their activities are worthwhile. I sponsor them to give to charity and to make a friend feel good in the process. It doesn't really matter if they want sponsorship for something utterly ridiculous, if the money goes to help people really in need.

[moochypooch]

I don't sponsor people because I think their activities are worthwhile. I sponsor them to give to charity and to make a friend feel good in the process. It doesn't really matter if they want sponsorship for something utterly ridiculous, if the money goes to help people really in need. This!

[lolaflores]

The attention Dry JanuaryT gets is helping to highlight substance misuse at a low level. It brings people's attention to their drinking habits and how, even despite their best intentions, they might well be abusing alcohol. THis is a great way to deliver a really important public health message.
Don't deserve a round of applause for taking care of your own mental and physical health and the well being of those around you.
Do it for the sake of doing it and nothing else and if you learn something then that is even better.
Give to a charity if you feel like it not cos someone is doing something as basic as taking care of their well being.

[EggsonHeads]

It's no different to donating money direct to the charity. The dry January thing is just a way of raising money, you aren't actually incentivising them not to drink.

[DiseasesOfTheSheep]

I also think people should be donating the money they didn't spend on alcohol that month, rather than asking for sponsorship.

I only sponsor people for things I think are genuinely impressive, or if I was planning to donate to that charity anyway. Or, occasionally, to support a good friend, if I think they're doing something hard for them.

[frieda909]

YANBU, I have a big problem with this as well. I love a glass of wine and I might feel a bit fed up about not drinking for a whole month but I would definitely not see it as praiseworthy if I did!

I had an acquaintance (not even a friend) who did Sober September or something one year, and she sent out three or four round-robin emails asking for sponsorship. The emails were really over the top and went on and on about what a hardship it was going to be and how she didn’t know how she’d cope and how she needed us all to sponsor her to spur her on. It was not even tongue in cheek, it was deadly serious. I was not impressed.

[lolaflores]

Here is an original idea...sponsor women to get their smear tests done! Yea.
Same thing in my book.

[Adelino]

Pick a charity you do support whether alcohol related or not. Then if/when they ask say "Ive donated to ..... For this month. By the way giving up alcohol is going to be great for your health, good on you."

[Chienrouge]

frieda909 maybe your friend has/had a difficult relationship with alcohol and it genuinely was quite tough for her?
People with alcohol issues aren’t just people living on the streets drinking vodka out of a paper bag, or people who drink from morning to night. There’s a huge spectrum of alcohol issues.
Surely if Dry January (or whatever month) helps people to realise that it might be becoming an issue for them, it’s a good thing? Rather than just saying ‘it’s not a hardship for me so I’m not impressed with anyone else for doing it’.

[Moomintroll85]

Yanbu. I have friends that ask for dry January sponsorship. They are saving lots of money themselves by doing it that they should be donating.

I'm also already doing dry Sept - June at least as I'm pregnant so I'm not exactly marvelling at the achievement

Of course there are the benefits of raising awareness and people improving their health but I find it a bit cheeky when people (repeatedly) badger me to pay them for it. Can't they instead tell me how much they have saved and will be donating themselves?

[MirandaWest]

I would assume someone giving up alcohol for January would give the money they aren't spending on alcohol to charity, if they want to support charity.

[JuliannaBixby]

Bugger that!

We had a new guy at work who asked us all to sponsor him for giving up chocolate for a month.

I actually laughed.

[Whywonttheyletmeusemyusername]

I'm OK with sponsoring people to a point...running the marathon, skydive, whatever. But dry January is ridiculous...how do I know you're not having a drink in the evening when you've left the office, where I see you all day?

[whippetwoman]

Ah, dry January. To all those doing Dry January, is your birthday in January? Mine is. So I refuse to do it because it’s another way to make a miserable month more miserable. Someone I know is doing Veganuary! January, the fun month with no alcohol and no meat/dairy. The irony is I rarely drink as even one small glass of anything is an instant headache for me.

[MissMisery]

I'm currently doing dry January and finding it really easy.
So far today I've had a bottle of dry sherry, 3 pints of dry cider and a delicious dry martini.

Don't know what all the fuss is about... it's a piece of cake. Certainly wouldn't bloody sponsor someone for it! Hic

[Maursh]

It's right up there with "Movember" in terms of not something worth sponsoring: you pay the money (to charity) and they benefit (health and saving money)

I would turn it down on principle alone, although plead poverty if you are more comfortable with that. If you are feeling brave suggest that they donate what they have saved through not drinking rather than begging sponsorship!!!!

[Maursh]

"Indeed, the way in which fundraising has become so bound up with either self-improvement – running a half-marathon or a triathlon – or, indeed, self-defacement – shaving off your hair, or, in Movember’s case, growing some more – has made it an increasingly attention-seeking, grandstanding activity. It’s become in this sense a mere means of advertising one’s own thoughtfulness, social consciousness and all-round goodness, either through a valiant display of one’s physical commitment or more superficial, outward symbols. Movember is perhaps the most blatant example of this narcissistic trend – encouraging its participants to take selfies and upload them to their websites to record their soup-strainer’s progress."
www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/movember_say_no_to_the_mo/14230#.Wl9wAqiWaUk

[metalmum15]

MissMisery 😅

[pointythings]

I do Dry January as a treat for myself, I wouldn't dream of asking anyone to sponsor me! I do sponsor friends who run marathons for charity though.