Cut down on alcohol.

What a plan looks like

One plan, from 2 drinks a day to zero at the steady pace, week by week.

What it costs

At those numbers and a typical price:

2 drinks a day · $0.37 each

a month

$22

a year

$270

Try your own numbers in the cost calculator. What it costs a year, at every level.

What tends to help

1. Count standard drinks, not glasses. A generous pour at home is often two.
2. Decide your number before you leave the house. Deciding mid-evening is a different, much worse decision.
3. Alternate every drink with a water. It halves the pace without shortening the night.
4. Put whole drink-free days in the week rather than shaving one off every day.
5. If you drink heavily every day, stopping abruptly can be genuinely dangerous. Talk to a doctor before you take it to zero.

Instead of it

• Alcohol-free beer. Same glass, same round, same hands.
• Soda water and lime. Looks like a drink, which is half of why people keep ordering.
• Something warm at home. Replaces the wind-down that the first drink usually signals.
• Leave the round. Stepping outside for five minutes resets the pace.

Free support

• Rethinking Drinking: Standard-drink calculator and tools, from US NIAAA

Worth knowing about

• Alcohol-free beer and spirits. The category has changed beyond recognition in the last few years. Same glass, same round, same hands, which is most of what a drink is doing.
• A standard-drink calculator. A home pour is routinely two units. Counting glasses undercounts by about a third.
• Drink-free days, put in the calendar. Decided on Sunday, not at 6pm on Wednesday. Whole days are easier to keep than smaller amounts.
• Every other round is water. Halves the pace without shortening the evening, and nobody at the table notices.

Curb takes no money for anything listed here, and none of these are affiliate links. General guidance, not medical advice. A doctor or pharmacist can tell you what fits your situation.