Cutting Costs: Quitting Smoking

Image by Saquan Stimpson/monstershaq2000 via Flickr

One of the latest ways I am cutting costs is by quitting smoking. Yes there are other reasons, but besides energy, this is my second most important reason. Currently a carton of my cigarettes costs me $60. I buy one carton about every two weeks, sometimes more, sometimes less. That's $120 a MONTH! Assuming the price doesn't change in a 12 month period (and we all know it will), that's $1440 a year. No wonder I never had any money.

Not that quitting smoking in itself is cheap. If you go the patch route, you are looking at about $40 a box. That's some upfront cost. Of course there are cheaper versions, I've seen them at half that in stores such as Wal-Mart and Target. I personally had skin reactions to the cheaper versions, so I knew to avoid them. Why add to my distress?

But lets take a moment to do the math. Assuming you do the full program (2 weeks on each level, 3 levels) at $40 a box...that costs you (drumroll please) $120. That's 6 weeks of nicotine people! For the price it is currently costing me for 4 weeks of smoking. So lets cull the price of quitting from our yearly savings. That's still $1320 you will save in a year. What could you do with that money? Go on vacation? Put it towards your mortgage?

Personally I could never actually save that money. If I were still working, I definitely would. But freelance isn't a steady gig right now. But if I could, I'd probably save for a car, a nice shiny new one. And I'd pay cash. Granted at the current prices, it would take me quite awhile to do with only saving that amount. But it would be worth it in the end. :)

I did start a blog detailing my quitting smoking journey here on Blogger. Of course I had to have a new one. :)

~*If you know of any money saving tips or tricks that have worked for you, feel free to share them! You can always email me at raiscara.avalon@gmail.com. *~

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