TRY DRY: The Dry January app

Cheers from the US! This is the app I have been looking for to cut back drinking. I have tried a few others and they fell short in some way or the other. Many felt slapped together so they can charge a subscription fee and make some money off of you trying to be healthier. Others felt judgmental like I was being chastised if I slipped or had a drink at all. I like that this app is just very matter of fact. It gives the facts and details of how much doctors say is unhealthy. If you do have a drink, it’s not a big deal. You are treated no differently. You share your mood, how you feel, cravings, notes, and you move on. Tomorrow is another day. It helps me feel hopeful. That a slip up id just that, and I don’t have to dwell on it. I also quite appreciate that it differentiates between having a planned vs unplanned drink, because sometimes I do plan to have a beer with a friend and that is very different from drinking when I have no intention to. If all that weren’t enough, it celebrates your success with badges and missions! I feel good having not had a drink. It doesn’t feel like a slog. Thank you for creating this. It helps me be more cognizant of my drinking and I still feel like I’m a human being.

I’ve been drinking heavily for 56 years because I like to drink. Since retiring 20 years ago, my consumption increased to at least 10 drinks per evening. Mind you I’m large at 235# and only drank after 6 p.m. and when no business or volunteer functions, but I became worried about the health consequences. So my wife and I heard about this App, and gave it a try. I’d never tried to quit before, and we both found it relatively easy. No drinks for the first few months and afterwards, only on social occasion with a limit of two. I thought I’d feel better and all that, but feel no different. Oh well. However I do feel better about my health prospects as I get older (approaching 80), and I’ve kept recording just to be in touch with my sleep cycles, moods, etc. Therefore, I obviously believe it’s a very good app and do recommend it for those who wonder whether or not they are true alcoholics.

As the titles states, this app is one of the few I’ve found where I can ACTUALLY set my goal. There are so many goals and it’s so flexible. I like that. Unfortunately, as someone looking to limit my drinks per night (binge) because I don’t drink every day it’s not catered to me all that well, but I’ve found the “units per week” to be helpful. The units just aren’t measuring up though. I had two 5 oz pours last night (pretty standard in the US) and I just couldn’t get the tracker to render right. I looked at my units today (which I’ve set to 10 for the weekends) and it already said I was at 5. That doesn’t seem to add up. But then again, it’s a good visual. I’d really love the ability to know WHATS REMAINING of my goals. It would be helpful during the week to see where I’m at and not have a drink/save it for Friday because I knew I “only had 4 remaining.) Again, I love the calendar featuring my dry days. I also love it featuring the days I drank as planned! (I use this as a “didn’t binge/blackout” feature for now.) The other thing is it gives you your total dry days from when you opened the app as the main screen. I kind of wish that were for the year instead (though you certainly can tap on that to see). It’s be nice to be able to tap for “dry days ever” but have the current year be on top. I started for DryJan and was backtracking in Dec to get an idea of where I was at prior, so it has the days I didn’t track bc I wasn’t “sure”. I do love how it shows the streak though! And it’s really insightful and motivating to see the progress charts, the total calories (yikes) and even to be able to set a baseline. Thank you for a helpful free app!