Tips For Dry January 2024

1. Rid your home of alcohol

You might find it more difficult to avoid alcohol if the bottles are staring at you from the fridge or liquor cabinet. On January 1, remove all alcohol from your home, or at least your line of sight. 

You don’t necessarily have to pour that Christmas gift whiskey or special occasion bottle of champagne down the drain. Ask a friend who isn’t participating in Dry January to take custody of your unused bottles until the month is over or at least relocate them to your basement fridge.

Related: Types of alcohol

2. Plan sober activities

If your weekends revolve around happy hours and boozy parties, you should find your sober replacement activities to take up your time and look forward to. Do your friends normally convene over cocktails? Suggest you go for a wintry hike or take a cooking class together instead. Find yourself drifting toward the bar with your colleagues after work? Enroll in an evening class and learn pottery, Spanish, knitting, or anything that piques your interest so you'll have a compelling reason to skip those tempting drinking scenarios.

3. Be public with your sobriety

You can’t avoid all situations where alcohol will be served and nor should you—just try telling your sister you can’t attend her wedding or your boss that you can’t make dinner with that big client. So you have to equip yourself to resist temptation. You can start by being public about your dry period. 

Explain at the onset of the evening that you’re forgoing alcohol for the month so no one hands you a beer or expects you to split a bottle of wine. Dry January is popular enough now that most people will understand and some may even be participating themselves.

Related: Living with an alcoholic

4. Find a substitute beverage

You may find it easier to avoid temptation from alcohol if you’re sipping something else.

Do you use alcohol to unwind after work? Keep your fridge stocked with seltzer or kombucha instead or try an herbal tea. Feeling empty-handed at the bar with your friends? Order a soda or fruit juice. No one has to know if doesn’t have alcohol in it. Don’t feel ashamed about bringing your own supply of drinks to a party: you'll ensure you have a sober alternative.

You can also try some of the growing range of non-alcoholic beers, wines, and cocktails that have cropped up on bar menus and supermarket shelves in the last few years. That way you can get the taste of your favorite beverage, without the alcohol and many of the calories.

Related: Alcohol and health

5. Forgive yourself if you falter

Slipped up and had a couple of beers at a friend’s housewarming party? You don’t have to beat yourself up about it and you don’t have to abandon Dry January entirely. For some people, Dry January is less about remaining entirely sober than approaching alcohol differently. 

Your slip-ups can also teach you more about your relationship with alcohol. What made it so difficult for you to refuse a drink in that situation? What techniques could you employ next time—from bringing your own non-alcoholic beverage to reminding yourself of your motivations—to help you avoid drinking?

6. Reward yourself for your success

Make it to February without having a drink? That's something to celebrate, and not necessarily with a bottle of wine. Consider spending some of the money you saved over the month on a reward for your achievement: maybe classes to hone your skills in that hobby you started during the month or a weekend away.

Related: Binge drinking