Somewhere between Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday, every Catholic faces the annual question: what am I giving up this year? And most of us reach for the same answers we reached for last year — chocolate, soda, maybe social media — keep them for eleven days, and quietly file the whole thing under "tried."
This list is built to break that cycle: 75 concrete ideas organized by what they actually target — your comforts, your screens, your tongue, your wallet, and the hidden habits nobody sees — plus the older and arguably more powerful move of adding something. But the list is second. The principle comes first, because a fast chosen badly is just a diet with incense.
One assumption up front: you know what Lent is for. The forty days (February 10 – March 27, 2027) are training for Easter, not a self-improvement sprint — and whatever you choose sits on top of the Church's actual required fasting, which is modest and non-negotiable. The voluntary part is where you get to be generous.
The principle first: the fast serves love
God, through Isaiah, once reviewed Israel's fasting and rejected it — they fasted and quarreled, went hungry and ground down their workers. Then He said what He actually wanted: "Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? loose the bands of wickedness... Deal thy bread to the hungry" (Isaiah 58:6–7). The fast that pleases God ends in love — freedom from what binds you, and bread in someone else's hands.
That is the test for everything on this list. A good Lenten sacrifice does three things: it costs you something you'll actually feel; it loosens a real attachment — aim at the thing that owns you, not the thing that's easy; and it points beyond itself, toward prayer and toward the poor. Give up the snooze button and the freed minutes become prayer; give up the takeout and the freed money becomes alms. The fast is a lever — make sure it's attached to something.
So before scrolling the categories, ask one honest question: what do I reach for instead of God? The right answer is usually the thing you just felt a flicker of defensiveness about. Start there.
One is enough
Choose ONE thing to give up and ONE thing to add. The person who gives up five things keeps none of them by the third week. Lent rewards depth, not breadth — a single sacrifice kept for forty days will change you more than an ambitious program abandoned in February.
Comfort: fasting with your body (15 ideas)
The classic territory — food, drink, ease. Ancient, humble, and effective precisely because the body keeps score:
- ◆1. All sweets and desserts — the classic, kept strictly for once
- ◆2. Alcohol — forty dry days; notice what occasions suddenly feel incomplete
- ◆3. Coffee — or downgrade to plain drip; the daily ritual makes a daily reminder
- ◆4. All drinks except water — simple, constant, free — and give the savings away
- ◆5. Snacking between meals — the fast-day discipline, extended across the season
- ◆6. Meat beyond the required Fridays — Wednesdays too, the Church's other ancient fast day
- ◆7. Eating out and takeout entirely — cook, and give what you save to a food pantry
- ◆8. The snooze button — feet on the floor at the first alarm, and the first minutes to prayer
- ◆9. The hot shower — end cold, thirty seconds; a small daily death nobody sees
- ◆10. Sleeping in on Saturdays — rise at the weekday hour and use the margin for Mass or prayer
- ◆11. The most comfortable chair in your house — sit somewhere ordinary; the body notices
- ◆12. Seconds at meals — one plate, gratefully
- ◆13. Sauces, dressings, and condiments — eat food plainer than you prefer, the monastic classic
- ◆14. The elevator — take the stairs and offer the climb for someone you're praying for
- ◆15. Driving when you could walk — and use the walking time for a Rosary
Screens: fasting with your attention (15 ideas)
For most of us the deepest attachment isn't food — it's the glowing rectangle. Attention is the modern currency, and Lent wants it back. (We've written a whole guide to digital fasting if this is your battleground.)
- ◆16. Social media, all of it — delete the apps, not just the icons; the browser loophole is still a loophole
- ◆17. One specific app — the one whose screen-time number you don't want to see
- ◆18. The phone for the first hour of the day — let God get there before the feed does
- ◆19. The phone after 9 p.m. — charge it outside the bedroom; buy an alarm clock
- ◆20. Streaming and TV — forty days; read in the evenings instead
- ◆21. Video games — or all but a scheduled weekly window
- ◆22. YouTube autoplay and shorts — watch only what you deliberately chose to watch
- ◆23. Podcasts and music in the car — drive in silence; it becomes a chapel faster than you'd think (why silence matters)
- ◆24. The news cycle — one headline check a day; the world will keep turning without your monitoring
- ◆25. Your phone at every meal — screens off, faces on, every table, every time
- ◆26. Online shopping and browsing-as-entertainment — unsubscribe from the marketing emails while you're at it
- ◆27. Checking your phone in line, in elevators, at red lights — practice being where you are
- ◆28. All notifications except calls and texts — go silent and reclaim your startle reflex
- ◆29. Background noise — no TV-for-company, no autoplaying anything; let the house be quiet
- ◆30. The group-chat scroll — reply to real messages, skip the infinite thread
The tongue: fasting with your words (15 ideas)
The hardest category on this page, and the one most likely to sanctify the people who live with you. Anyone can skip chocolate; forty days without complaining is a purification:
- ◆31. Complaining — the big one; every grievance either spoken to God or dropped
- ◆32. Gossip — if the person isn't present, say only what you'd say if they were
- ◆33. Sarcasm — the household's default wit, retired for a season; say the plain kind thing
- ◆34. Interrupting — let every person finish every sentence, all Lent
- ◆35. Having the last word — in arguments, in group chats, everywhere; let it go unanswered
- ◆36. Criticizing anyone aloud — spouse, kids, coworkers, drivers, referees
- ◆37. Talking about yourself first — ask two questions before offering your own story
- ◆38. Swearing and crude speech — and its cousin, the cutting joke at someone's expense
- ◆39. Arguing online — every comment-section battle conceded for forty days, offered up
- ◆40. Excuses — when corrected, say "you're right, I'm sorry," and stop there
- ◆41. Humblebragging and self-promotion — do good work in secret and let it stay secret (Matthew 6:3–4)
- ◆42. Venting — the recreational rehearsal of grievances, as distinct from honest counsel
- ◆43. Speaking first in meetings and conversations — practice being the listener
- ◆44. The harsh tone with your kids or spouse — the sacrifice nobody else will ever see and everyone will feel
- ◆45. Lying, including the small social kind — forty days of exact truthfulness
The wallet: fasting with your money (15 ideas)
Almsgiving is the forgotten pillar, and these ideas fuse it with the fast — every sacrifice here has a beneficiary. Deal thy bread to the hungry:
- ◆46. All non-essential purchases — a forty-day spending freeze; needs only
- ◆47. Your daily bought coffee or lunch — tally the savings and give the total away at Easter
- ◆48. Subscriptions you forgot you had — cancel three; redirect the money to your parish or a food bank
- ◆49. Delivery fees — pick it up yourself or go without; the convenience tax becomes alms
- ◆50. New clothes — buy nothing wearable all Lent, and take a carload to a shelter
- ◆51. The upgrade — whatever device, gadget, or vehicle you're eyeing, defer it past Easter and give a tithe of its price now
- ◆52. Impulse buys under $20 — the small leaks; log every one you decline and give the sum
- ◆53. Give a set amount daily — a dollar or five, every single day, forty times; consistency over grandeur
- ◆54. Tip extravagantly — give up the standard 20% in favor of generosity that costs you
- ◆55. One possession per day — forty days, forty things out the door to someone who needs them
- ◆56. Your free time's market rate — volunteer hours at a pantry, parish, or shelter as the alms
- ◆57. The premium version — of everything: seats, brands, cuts, plans; buy plain and give the difference
- ◆58. Eating out for others' sake — host instead; feed people at your own table
- ◆59. Anonymous giving only — every gift this Lent unattributable, per Matthew 6
- ◆60. The vacation fund's increment — one month's contribution redirected to a crisis pregnancy center or refugee agency
Hidden habits: fasting in secret (15 ideas)
Christ's instruction for Lent's practices is secrecy — "thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee" (Matthew 6:6). These are the sacrifices no one can see, which makes them the purest on the page:
- ◆61. Checking how your last post performed — post if you must, never look at the numbers
- ◆62. The mental replay of old grievances — every time the highlight reel starts, a Hail Mary instead
- ◆63. Comparing yourself — to colleagues, siblings, strangers' kitchens; notice and stop
- ◆64. Procrastinating prayer — the "I'll pray after this one thing" reflex; God goes first
- ◆65. Rehearsing arguments in the shower — the imaginary courtroom, adjourned for Lent
- ◆66. The doomscroll before sleep — replace it with an examination of conscience
- ◆67. Cynicism — assume good faith once per day, on purpose, about someone who annoys you
- ◆68. Keeping score in your marriage or friendships — serve without tallying, forty days
- ◆69. The fantasy of a different life — the escapist daydream where you're elsewhere; return to your actual post
- ◆70. Self-pity — when the poor-me monologue starts, name three concrete gifts instead
- ◆71. Curated envy — unfollow every account that exists to make you want a different house, body, or life
- ◆72. Reading only what confirms you — take up one serious book that will actually stretch your faith (start here)
- ◆73. Anxiety-refreshing — email, bank balance, news; check at set times and trust God between them (praying through anxiety)
- ◆74. The secret vice you already thought of — you knew it before you opened this page; that flinch is the call
- ◆75. Nothing — give up nothing, and instead take on the hardest ADD from the list below, kept perfectly
Or add something: the other half of Lent
Subtraction is only half the tradition — the pillars are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving (CCC 1434), and for many people the better Lent is built by addition. Add one of these, or pair one with your sacrifice:
- ◆Daily Mass once or twice a week beyond Sunday — the single most powerful addition available (how the Mass works)
- ◆The daily [Rosary](/resources/rosary) — or one decade, if the full five are a bridge too far (beginner's walkthrough)
- ◆A nightly examen — ten minutes reviewing the day with God (the full method)
- ◆[Confession](/resources/confession) — once during Lent at minimum; monthly if you're ready to grow
- ◆A [Morning Offering](/resources/prayers/morning-offering) — the whole day handed over before it starts
- ◆Fifteen minutes of Scripture daily — start with the Gospel of Mark, straight through
- ◆The Stations of the Cross on Fridays — most parishes pray them publicly every Lenten Friday
- ◆One act of secret service daily — done without being seen, credited to no one
When you break it — and you probably will
Here is the paragraph most Lent listicles omit. Sometime around the third week, you will very likely fail — eat the thing, open the app, say the sarcastic sentence. At that moment the value of your Lent hangs not on the failure but on what you do in the next ten minutes.
The temptation is to conclude the season is blown and quietly quit. But that logic assumes Lent was a streak to protect. It never was. Lent is training in conversion, and falling and returning is not the interruption of the training — it is the training. God is not standing over your Lent with a clipboard; He is a father watching a child learn to walk, and no father counts the falls.
So when it happens: pray one honest sentence — an Act of Contrition is made for the moment — take it to confession if it was grave, and resume your resolution that same day, not next Monday. A resolution broken six times and retaken six times will do more for your soul than one kept flawlessly and worn as a badge. The Pharisee fasted perfectly; the tax collector went home justified.
The honest answer
The person who fails at Lent and keeps returning is doing Lent. The only way to actually fail the season is to stop coming back — or to succeed so cleanly you end it more impressed with yourself than in need of God.
Common Questions
What should I give up for Lent?
Something you will actually feel the absence of, aimed at whatever you reach for instead of God — a comfort, a screen habit, a speech pattern, or a spending habit. Choose one sacrifice and one addition (like daily prayer or weekday Mass), decide before Ash Wednesday, and attach it to prayer or almsgiving so the fast serves love rather than self-improvement.
What are the most common things to give up for Lent?
Sweets, alcohol, social media, coffee, and snacking lead most surveys. There's nothing wrong with the classics — kept strictly for all forty days, any of them bites. The weakness isn't the choice but the pattern of choosing it out of habit and abandoning it by the third week.
Can I add something for Lent instead of giving something up?
Yes — addition is fully traditional. Lent stands on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving together (CCC 1434), so taking on daily Mass, the Rosary, Scripture reading, a nightly examen, or committed almsgiving is every bit as Lenten as a sacrifice. Many people do best pairing one small subtraction with one serious addition.
What happens if I break my Lenten promise?
Nothing that ends your Lent. A voluntary resolution isn't binding Church law, so breaking it is not a sin in itself — the failure is only a fall, and the season's real training is in getting back up. Say an Act of Contrition, resume the resolution the same day, and keep going. Falling and returning is the actual pattern of conversion.
Does giving something up for Lent replace the required fasting?
No. Voluntary sacrifices sit on top of the Church's law, which still binds: fasting and abstinence on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and abstinence from meat on the Fridays of Lent for everyone 14 and older. The required minimum is modest; your chosen sacrifice is the generosity beyond it.
Do Sundays count for what I gave up for Lent?
The Church leaves this to you. Sundays are not counted in the forty days and are never fast days, so pausing your sacrifice on Sundays is defensible; keeping it straight through is often more effective for breaking a habit. Pick your policy before Lent starts and hold it — the danger is renegotiating mid-season, not either option.
Sources & Church Teaching
- Isaiah 58:1–11 (Douay-Rheims) — the fast God chooses ends in justice and bread for the hungry
- Matthew 6:1–18 (Douay-Rheims) — prayer, fasting, and almsgiving done in secret
- Catechism of the Catholic Church 1434 (fasting, prayer, almsgiving as the chief expressions of interior penance), 1430–1433 (interior conversion)
- Catechism of the Catholic Church 2043 (the precept of fast and abstinence among the minimum duties of Catholics)
- Code of Canon Law, cc. 1249–1253 (the binding fast and abstinence beneath all voluntary practice)
- Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium 109–110 (Lenten penance as both inward and social)
- Dates verified for 2027: Ash Wednesday February 10; Lent through March 27; Easter March 28