Quit smoking

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Today is the 13th anniversary since my last cigarette coffin nail. So let's do the math. Cigs were $3 a pack when I quit and they are $5 a pack now. So let's use $4 as an average price to keep it simple. I used to smoke one and a half packs a day so let's say 500 packs a year. That's $2000 a year. Times 13 years that is $26,000. And that doesn't count lighters, ashtrays, breath mints and replacing clothes I burned holes in.
 
Both Tom and I stopped smoking in 1989, 23 years ago.  We each smoked 1.5 packs per day on average.  Using your $4 per pack average cost, we have saved $100,740 between us.  (Probably a little less in reality as cigarettes were not so expensive when we quit.)  This doesn't include the burn holes, etc. which Tom mentioned.

Margi

 
Those expenses also don't include the higher cost of health and life insurance for smokers and the extra medical bills. Or the extra cleaning expenses for curtains, rugs, clothes, etc. You could buy a house for what you save by not smoking.

Wendy
 
Something I've been meaning to mention:  Put the amount of money you would have spent on cigarettes daily into a separate account -- or into a piggy bank.  BIG piggy bank.  Then reward yourself by using it to buy something you really, really would enjoy.

Margi
 
I'm thinking along the same lines as you, Margi.  Planned on saving that extra money for another cruise for the wife and I.  Something for the both of us. 

BTW...
Been 4 hours now.  Not craving yet.  The tough part will come Wednesday nite when I go back to work.  Talked to my nurse coach yesterday about it and she gave me some good ideas also to help smooth things out.

Here we go!
 
Good Morning everyone, I like the numbers Tom ran. Quit on July 17th 2000, it's close to the same $26,000 but can I also add in the cost of replacing both lungs? The hospital has sent in bills so far for 1.4M and still waiting on the doctors bills. Good thing there's insurance.
 
We are all happy for you Mark. I am amazed. I really had not thought about the fact that it has been 13 years since I last smoked a cigarette. It feels like I have never smoked in my life before. The really nice thing about quitting is that within a matter of 2 or 3 days you will start noticing the positive effects of quitting. Your sense of taste and smell should return immediately. You will be able to breathe easier. You will feel better. And the sense of pride becomes monumental.
 
denmarc said:
I'm thinking along the same lines as you, Margi.  Planned on saving that extra money for another cruise for the wife and I.  Something for the both of us. 

BTW...
Been 4 hours now.  Not craving yet.  The tough part will come Wednesday nite when I go back to work.  Talked to my nurse coach yesterday about it and she gave me some good ideas also to help smooth things out.

Here we go!
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Go for it Mark.  We're all behind you (and any others going for it!).  If you need any support (albeit online), let us know.  We can give you a virtual smack upside the head if you begin to fall!  Seriously though, good luck and hang in there!
 
You can do it. Make a list of all the benefits folks have listed here and keep it handy. Print a picture of the place you want to go cruising and keep it handy. Make 2013 a wonderful, healthy, non-smoking year.

Wendy
 
Hang in there, Mark.  Another future milestone will be the day (not too far off, either) when the smell of cigarette smoke, instead of triggering a craving, absolutely disgusts you.  We're all here rooting you on!

Margi
 
Super day for you Mark!  Just think positively about all the good things that will happen as a result of your quitting and you'll do just fine.

I just cannot picture Ardra with a cigarette in her mouth.
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Believe it, Tom.  I started when I was 14 and quit when I was 21.  Of course I told my mother I wasn't smoking.  Too stupid to realize she could smell it on me!  We used to sit in a car with the windows closed (phewy!) and then eat celery before going home.  We had heard the chlorophyl in celery would "cut" the smell.  Yeah, sure.  After sitting in that car!?!  We must have reeked....  My quitting might be considered easy.  I got German measles at age 21 and was in a coma for five days.  The first thing I wanted when I came out of it was a cigarette.  Then I said, maybe not because my withdrawal should be over so they got thrown in the wastebasket instead.  Now I can't stand the way they smell, not to mention I'm allergic to the smoke coming off the end of a cigarette - makes me itch like crazy!

ArdraF
 
I'm failing.  I did ok until the beginning of this past week.  Come Wednesday night (back to work after the holidays), it has been a horrible week!  The job has been a real b***ch as my dealers are getting back into the normal mode.  Not because they smoke, but because the orders are all screwed up and late coming from Chicago.  Big time stress!  I stumbled quite a few times.  I didn't go out and buy a pack, but anyone within earshot that even smells like a cigarette I will ask to bum one!

Not sure I can do this right now!
 
How many days is it now?  Remember that your body goes through a period of physical withdrawal from the noxious substances and it needs time to do this.  I think it's about five or six days, so if you're close to that please do persevere.  It WILL be worth it!  Have you tried sugar-free chewing gum or mints or some of the other ideas previously mentioned?  Keep you hands busy doing other things.  Keep your mind on solving those work-related issues.  Don't bum cigarettes from coworkers or family.  Go for a walk when the desire gets too strong.  This is a new year and a new you which is what's really important!

ArdraF
 
Try not to be discouraged, Mark.  Just regroup and try again.  Nobody expects you to be perfect.  As the saying goes, "If Plan A fails, there are 25 other letters in the alphabet, so make another plan".  Sappy and simplistic ... but true.

Margi
 
Hello everyone...just found this thread.  I quit smoking 36 years ago when I was 26.  It's been so long, I can't believe I ever did it.  Cigs were $.55 a pack then.  I marvel at how anyone affords them now.  Mark, what helped me when I almost gave in was knowing that once I smoked, I was back to square one and had to do "the first week" all over again.  The little bit I had accomplished would've gone up in smoke (pun intended). I promise you it is worth it, and some day you'll have not smoked longer than you smoked.  Hang tough.
 
How about some tough love Mark.  Sounds like you want someone here to give you permission to start up again.  Well, it isn't going to come from me, and I doubt the other 99.9% would be very happy about doing it either.  So, you're under stress.  So what!  So are the rest of us for one reason or another and were when we quit.  No excuse.  Tough it out.  You start up again now, you will then have learned how easy it was to find an excuse to "get your fix."  Stay away from those guys who you can sponge off of.  Think of them as your toxic enemy to be avoided at all costs.  You really can do it, just get you brain under control and get through the urge.  DO NOT SUCCUMB to TEMPTATION! 

You'll do o.k. Mark, just a few of the first hurdles to get over.

Daisy
 
Mark...you already have time and effort invested...don't waste it. You'll just have to start over again from zero. You think quitting is tough, try living at the end of a plastic hose for a year, you still have to quit and then you die anyway, maybe get lucky (?) and get a xplant...it's beyond description ...hang in there Mark...pulling for ya
 
denmarc said:
I'm failing.  I did ok until the beginning of this past week.  Come Wednesday night (back to work after the holidays), it has been a horrible week!  The job has been a real b***ch as my dealers are getting back into the normal mode.  Not because they smoke, but because the orders are all screwed up and late coming from Chicago.  Big time stress!  I stumbled quite a few times.  I didn't go out and buy a pack, but anyone within earshot that even smells like a cigarette I will ask to bum one!

Not sure I can do this right now!
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Dammit!  If not now, when? 

This is the crisis, the time when the nicotine is coaxing you back.  I have seen people on oxygen trying to cage just one last smoke. 

Look, you have invested a lot of grief on this.  Make that effort pay off.  Hang  in.
 
:p Mark: It's time to get the monkey off your back!! Say no!! No More!! Seriously you can quit!! Put a picture in your head of what it will look like with a hole in your throat with all that yucky phlegm draining from it. Or that person who is hacking their lungs lungs out when they are trying to get the much needed sleep. I have been through it and it doesn't get easier to start over! Remember I told you this is my 4-5th quit. I came so close to death this last time; remember laying there watching the doctor insert tubes up my artery to my heart, getting needles put in me, and then having it done all over again 2 days later; the drawing of my blood every 4 hours for 6 of the 7 days I was in the ICU. I was lucky as I made it to the hospital in time; many don't and die. Here I am 9 months later, can't go back to work yet as I still don't have the stamina I once had; have to take blood thinners and blood cell anti- clotting agents which being a labor worker, if I cut myself, have to seek immediate medical attention. I am freezing when it drops below 45 degrees and boiling if it get in the 80's. Don't wait until you have to have surgical treatments and be forced to quit, you can do it now voluntarily.

    Were rooting for you Man!!!!
 
 
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