Alcohol-free days in January 2027: a simple personal record

Before changing your drinking

The NHS warns that stopping suddenly can be very dangerous if you're dependent on alcohol. If you get withdrawal symptoms, get medical help before trying to stop or cut down. If you're worried about your drinking or want help to stop, speak to a GP or an alcohol support service.¹

Small Counts is a personal notebook, not medical support. It can't tell you whether changing your drinking is safe, and a check-in isn't a substitute for professional advice.

Looking for the official January programme?

Dry January® is Alcohol Change UK's programme and registered trade mark.² The charity's programme page links to its own app, emails and support information.³ You can use the link at the end of this guide to visit it directly.

Small Counts isn't affiliated with or endorsed by Alcohol Change UK. Keeping a record here doesn't register you for its programme. If you're taking part, use the charity's own guidance and support.

Choose what you want the record to mean

If you've decided what you're doing, you could write a short description of what you're recording. A label such as Alcohol-free day can be enough. If you're following an organised programme, you could check its rules rather than inventing another set here.

You don't need a daily number, a run of ticks or a public promise. A personal record can simply show the days you've chosen to mark. You can also decide that keeping a record isn't useful to you.

A small January tracker you can copy

You could use paper, a spreadsheet or a notebook app. Here's a simple format, with no need to record every drink or describe personal circumstances.

• Date: the day you're recording.
• Alcohol-free day: a tick for a day you've chosen to mark, using the meaning of your record or the programme you're following.
• Optional note: something you'd like to remember about the day. You can leave this out, especially if you'd rather not keep extra personal detail.

A blank day doesn't tell the whole story

Small Counts's yes-or-no control keeps a tick or a blank, not a separate no entry. A blank could mean you didn't mark an alcohol-free day or you didn't check in. It doesn't tell you which.

As an example, three ticks and two blank dates give you three recorded alcohol-free days. The blank dates don't tell you what happened. These are invented entries to explain the record, not a target or a suggested drinking pattern.

If you'd like to distinguish a no from a missed check-in, you could use a separate short note or mark them differently on paper. If you don't remember, you can leave the date blank rather than guess.

You could look at the days you've recorded without turning them into a percentage or a score. There's no need to reconstruct a perfect January.

What if I miss a check-in?

A missing check-in doesn't erase your earlier entries. You can add the next record when you want to, without filling in dates you can't remember.

Your record doesn't need a judgement attached to it. You don't need to compensate for a blank or change your drinking to make a tracker look tidy.

If you're finding changes difficult or you're worried about your drinking, speak to a GP or an alcohol support service.¹ You don't need to finish a month or meet a target before asking for help.

Using a general notebook such as Small Counts

Small Counts has an Alcohol-free day yes-or-no entry in its Drink less starter. You can also add your own yes-or-no record without a target and switch runs off. A suggested starter target is an editable default, not advice about how often anyone should drink.

Entries are manual. The notebook records what you enter; it doesn't assess alcohol dependence, give advice about stopping, or calculate whether a drinking pattern is safe.

Tracking is free, with no limit on themes. You don't need to buy anything to keep a record. You could read how privacy works before deciding what personal details, if any, you'd like to keep.