Try Dry® Anytime Cut Back Challenge

Get cutting back advice straight to your inbox

As with all our Try Dry® Anytime products, the Cut Back Challenge is your ideal companion for changing your relationship with alcohol today. With our four-week challenge, you can learn the skills you need right away for cutting back on your drinking.

Do you want to:

Achieve your goal of drinking less?
Build a toolkit of strategies that work for you?
Learn how to plan and execute your goals?
Understand the science behind your drinking habits?
Feel confident and in control of your abilities to change your drinking?
Experience all the benefits of drinking less alcohol, such as feeling healthier, improving mental health, saving money and more?

If you like the sound of that, it might be time to give our free, four-week challenge a try today. Simply enter your email address into the form below to join the Cut Back Challenge today and take your first step towards making a positive change to your drinking.

Sign up to the Try Dry® Anytime Cut Back Challenge

Fill in our quick form to get started. Remember to double-check the email address you’ve entered is correct to ensure you receive your emails. Look out for your welcome email for some top tips to get ready for your challenge, as well as info on when you can expect to hear from us next.
Remember, you can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link at the bottom of any email from us. Read our privacy policy here.

How does it work?

If you’ve decided you want to take on the Cut Back Challenge then you can expect to get regular email touchpoints from us guiding you through how to cut down your drinking by 50% compared to your typical drinking week.

The Cut Back Challenge is organised into four weekly blocks, starting on a Monday. Your first email will arrive on the next available Monday after signing up. Don’t worry – upon signing up, you’ll get lots of info and tips to help you prepare for your challenge, as well as the chance to follow the ‘Tips for Cutting Down on Alcohol’ WhatsApp Channel to tide you over.

What to expect in week one:

You’ll hear from us every day at the beginning of your challenge as we show you the ropes and upskill you on things like strategies for forming new habits, methods to curb cravings and lots of the science behind how our brains work.

What to expect in weeks two to four:

As you progress through your challenge, you’ll receive emails from us on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Each week we’ll be encouraging you to set a weekly target using the resources we’ll share with you and regular check points to monitor your progress. And, of course, we’ll provide you with lots of great advice, motivation and coaching every step of the way, so you’ll never have to feel like you’re going it alone.

Eventually, after the full four weeks have passed, you’ll have built up a personalised reduction toolkit and have gained practical experience in applying the skills for getting your drinking levels to where you want them to be.

Fill in the quick form below to kickstart your challenge. This is what you can expect:

Motivational emails full of tips, techniques, strategies and personal stories to keep you inspired and on track.
A focused look at the behaviour change theory underpinning your challenge, such as the habit cycle.
How to use the free Try Dry® app to support your challenge.
Crafted video content from trained specialists in the field to help you reach your goals.
Access to wider cutting back resources, such as WhatsApp Channels and our online community groups to support your journey.

Withdrawal symptoms information

Warning

This challenge may not be suitable for everyone, even if they feel motivated to change at the moment. This challenge is not a substitute for alcohol treatment or a medically supervised tapering programme. People who are clinically alcohol dependent can die if they suddenly, completely stop drinking. If you experience fits, shaking hands, sweating, seeing things that are not real, depression, anxiety, or difficulty sleeping after a period of drinking and while sobering up, then you may be clinically alcohol dependent and should NOT suddenly, completely stop drinking. But you can still take control of your drinking. Talk to a GP or your local community alcohol service who will be able to get help for you to reduce your drinking safely. Find out more.

Frequently asked questions

Yes! The Try Dry® Anytime Cut Back Challenge can be started at any point during the month. On the day you sign up, you’ll receive a confirmation email explaining everything you’ll need to know to get prepared for your challenge. Please note: the Cut Back Challenge works in weekly blocks running Monday to Sunday. Your first email will arrive on the next available Monday after your sign-up date.

The Cut Back challenge can be done at any time of year, including January. If you sign up for both challenges you will receive both sets of emails at the same time. If you want to cut back during the month of January, you are welcome to sign up to the Cut Back Challenge for the month and continue to use the Try Dry® app. Alternatively, if you are aiming to take 31 dry days in January then we suggest you sign up to the Dry January® challenge instead. The choice is yours!

The Try Dry® Anytime Cut Back Challenge has been designed to support people drinking at increasing and higher risk levels to drink less alcohol. It is not suitable for people who are alcohol dependent and is not a substitute for alcohol treatment or a medically supervised tapering programme.

If you think you may be drinking too much or are unsure if you are dependent or you have been assessed as clinically alcohol dependent by a health professional we’d recommend talking to your GP to get advice around your drinking and best support options. If you’d like check your drinking levels, why not take our ‘Check you drinking quiz’? If you’re concerned about your drinking, take a look at our resources page to see what support is out there.

We have chosen the 50% less than your average weekly intake to align with our Reducer badges in the app and to simplify the content for a wider audience. Some people will aim for more than 50% and others may choose to set smaller change increments each week. You can still take part and set a smaller target in the initial weeks and work towards reaching a 50% reduction by the end of the challenge. If you are looking to take a break from alcohol, then you may find our Try Dry® Anytime 31 Days dry challenge more suitable. If this is the case, we’d recommend using the ‘Progress’ section of the free Try Dry® app to set a custom goal that suits your needs better at this time. Any reduction in the amount of alcohol we drink is a win for our physical and mental wellbeing – so you do what’s right for you!

By taking part we will send you a total of 21 for the 28-day challenge, starting from the next available Monday after your original sign-up date. When you register your email address, you will receive a welcome email from us and at the end of the programme you will be invited to join our monthly mailing list.

Check your spam or junk folder in the first instance and be sure to save us to your safe sender list. You can do this within your mailbox settings. If you are still not receiving the emails get in touch with our team at [email protected] and we will sort it for you.

You don't need to download the Try Dry® app to take part in the Cut Back Challenge, however you might find having it serves you as a handy tool as you work your way through. The free Try Dry® app will support your challenge by helping you figure out your current drinking levels and also means you can easily record your drinks and let the app do the hard work for you as it accurately record your rolling units total. Also, within the 'Progress' section of the app you can set yourself the Reducer goal which complements the Cut Back Challenge, helping you aim for 50% less than your average weekly intake. Setting and completing the Reducer goal in Try Dry® will also mean you will also be awarded with the Reducer badge.

There is no cost to take part. The challenge and all the associated tools like the Try Dry® app and online community are free and brought to you by Alcohol Change UK, the charity behind the Dry January® challenge. If you have found the free tools and resources helpful and want to make a donation to Alcohol Change UK then we would be grateful for your support to help us continue to work on our mission to end alcohol harm.

We are continually refining this new challenge over the coming months, be part of shaping how it looks by sending in your feedback and comments to the following email address: [email protected].