One woman has bought her dream vintage campervan with money that she saved after ditching booze.
Stefanie Smith, from Chorley, started to cut back on her drinking in 2021 during lockdown – she noticed an increase in her alcohol consumption, and that her weekends consisted of binge drinking.
It began to affect not only physical health, but her mental health too, causing anxiety and stress.
So Stefanie, a business analyst, made the decision to break a break from booze, and promised herself she would save the money instead.
But that short break has become long-term and she soon saved up to buy an £8,000 campervan.
Now, she’s swapped the pub for road trips in her van – which she named Ruby, after her late nan – and adventures with her nan’s dog Bertie.
Stefanie, 39 says: ‘Swapping my binge drinking weekends for adventures in my campervan is inspiring for some people. You don’t have to reach rock bottom to want to quit booze.’
Stefanie initially planned to take a short break from booze.
She says: ‘I decided I was going to take a month off, so I told everyone I was having a month off and wouldn’t be out.
‘That month turned into three because I felt so good from it. It was around three months when I started to notice significant changes, starting in my body shape, and this has now escalated into a year.
‘I’ve lost a lot of weight. I went from a 14 to a 10 and completely toned my body. It’s something I’ve never been able to do before and I was always a gym goer, but no matter what I did I just couldn’t tone up. I’m also sleeping so much better.
Stefanie says she set goals when going sober.
She continued: ‘Having a short-term and a long-term goal is something I really advocate for.
‘My short-term things were things like a daily to-do routine, and my long-term was saving for my van.
‘I used to be really embarrassed about saying I wasn’t drinking as thought it was a sign of weakness, but now I feel the total opposite, it’s empowering and powerful to do these things sober and confident.’
‘When you put down the booze, you realise you were the vibe all along.’
And Stefanie has made amazing memories on her campervan adventures. After one particular trip in her van, Stefanie and her pals decided to take her huge flamingo out on the local canal for some sober fun.
‘We had the whole village out cheering us and ended up in the papers for a great feel-good sobriety write-up,’ she recalled. ‘So now we use the flamingo as a sign of sobriety and sober fun.
Her new sober lifestyle has helped Stefanie notice many positive changes in her life, but she found that there wasn’t much to do in terms of fun sober events in the northwest.
Whilst sharing her journey of being an ex-binge drinker on TikTok, Stef made a new friend, Lily Quek, 30, from Ormskirk, who was also blogging her own sobriety journey. The pair eventually decided to join forces setting up an inclusive alcohol-free fun events brand called Flamingo AF.
‘We host sober events such as parties, raves, mindful events and workshops. We have made brand deals and collaborated with leading alcohol-free drinks companies and one of the UK’s largest sober raves.
‘We also had a social media marketing campaign to invite Russell Brand every day for 30 days to one of their parties, and he actually replied on his Tiktok and invited the girls to host a sober party at his Community Festival.’
And what does the ‘AF’ stand for in Flamingo AF? Stefanie said: ‘The AF is whatever you want it to mean alcohol-free, or ‘as f**k’.
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