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A (non) smoker's tale

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  • milliejon
    milliejon Posts: 1,052 Forumite
    I'd just like to take a minute to thank everyone who has posted with words of encouragement or their experiences of smoking and stopping smoking.

    It's really helpful to me especially this time in the morning. I've been up for over an hour and would have had 3 cigs by now with my coffee.

    So while I take a few minutes to re-read the posts and drink my tea (I really can't have coffee without a cig!), I can get loads of encouragement. My hubby is so proud of me. Yesterday, my little girl said "What's happened Mum? Why are you sad?" I couldn't speak to her (in case I broke into tears) so I just shrugged and said nothing, and gave her a hug. She gave me a hug back and we had a cuddle for ages. She's not a cuddly girl, so she must have been really unsettled by my sadness. Sad and close to tears just because I couldn't have a cig. I decided then that cigs weren't going to make me happy, but hugs and cuddles from my kids will!

    It's the start of another day now, and I feel so much more able to fight the battle today.

    I hope everyone has a lovely day today.

    Bye for now.
    DMP mutual support number 174
    Total debt now (April 10) £0! - total paid off £30,221 or 100%
    I'm now debt free after 6 years!!:j
    Non smoker since June 2006 :j
  • Skint1
    Skint1 Posts: 1,362 Forumite
    Hi I smoked for over 20 odd years. I gave up once before for 2 years but went back on them. I am now an ex smoker--gave up 18 months ago and because I have given up before I know the dangers. I will not smoke again. My kids used emotional blackmail that didnt work . I stopped smoking because of Big Brother I was watching grown people being put through hoops and bad tempers when they had run out of fags. I thought as a grown man I will never put myself in a position where someone can do that to me. I haven't smoked since About a year later my kids came home with a letter from school there I.T teacher had died from lung cancer. And the kids said they were happy I no longer smoke.
    You can always get more with a kind word and a 2-by-4 than with just a kind word.
  • Thefunkygibbons
    Thefunkygibbons Posts: 1,381 Forumite
    Luckily I was never a smoker but I do worry about the children

    I cannot make their choices for them but hopefully, the tide is turning and smoking will decline

    Roll on the smoking ban as I believe that will make a huge difference
  • Ember999
    Ember999 Posts: 1,022 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    milliejon wrote:
    Well. I'm nearly at the end of the second day. It's been a bit rough and I don't have any finger nails left but at least I haven't given in. I usually say I'm quitting and then after about 6 hours I give in.

    I haven't left the house yet though either. Perhaps I'll try tomorrow. I just hope I can trust myself to walk straight past the cigs in the shops and also don't find myself walking in some poor smoker's personal space!!!!

    By the way, I still have £8.44 in my bank account that would have been gone by now.

    One of the great things that happen when you have given up for even a *short* while is that you will start to *smell* smokers. I didn't realise they smelt so bad. I used to douse myself in Chanel no5 (my signature perfume, worn it for years :p ) and assumed, I smelt gorgeous! Little did I know all 'non-smokers' could only smell the cigarettes. Trust me, it smells foul and I mean...FOUL.

    Was just walking through Tesco car park last night, passed a car with a woman standing outside the drivers side smoking a cigarette....i wrinkled my nose in disgust as I passed....and I was quite a long way away from her...yet I could smell it. The stink came to me in the breeze as I passed. I still cringe when I think I used to smell like that!

    I now save £70 a week and smell lovely. That is what you have to look forward to. Please don't give up. I did it, you can do it.

    Ember xx
    ~What you send out comes back to thee thricefold!~
    ~
  • milliejon
    milliejon Posts: 1,052 Forumite
    If the smoking ban had been in 9 or 10 years ago I would never have started smoking. I only started smoking when I was in a pub or club getting too drunk and ending up slumped in a corner smoking! Very attractive - not!

    I agree about the smell Ember. I can still smell the detergent in our clothes at the end of the day. It's so nice to cuddle the kids and know that they don't have to put up with my ciggy smell.

    I've always smoked outside the house, and since quitting had forgotten to remove the ashtray from the bin shed. I put the bins out today and found the ashtray. It smelled absolutely disgusting! The smell was exactly the same as the taste I got from them when I started. It is really vile.

    My next door neighbours smoke, and last night when I took the kids to bed, I could smell the smoke coming through the windows. Funny thing is that, when I've quit in the past, the smell of smoke would have made me reach for a ciggy, but it's not this time. Must be the right time to quit!
    DMP mutual support number 174
    Total debt now (April 10) £0! - total paid off £30,221 or 100%
    I'm now debt free after 6 years!!:j
    Non smoker since June 2006 :j
  • milliejon
    milliejon Posts: 1,052 Forumite
    Well - tomorrow morning it will be a week since quitting, and I've already saved nearly £30 by not smoking! I can't believe it.

    The trouble is that I stopped smoking half way through the month so the money is not quite reflecting in my bank account yet. But it will soon and the extra will pay those debts off more quickly.

    I've had no withdrawal pangs for the past three days and I feel fine.

    My little girl had an accident on Thursday and ended up in hospital overnight (nothing too serious, but because of her age they had to give her a general anaesthetic to repair her finger). That was my test. I could have killed for a ciggy then, but I got through it without one.

    I'm starting back to work tomorrow after maternity leave. That's going to be really hard too, because my friends are all smokers and so I won't be able to speak to them much. They will very rarely give up a ciggy break for a non-ciggy break! I can't blame them though, they have to do what they have to do.

    One biggest thing I don't miss (after the expense) is that panicky feeling a smoker gets when the shops are shut in the evening, and you've only got two ciggies left to last until the shop opens in the morning. Mu hubby said yesterday, that in those circumstances I would go to bed early so that I'd forget about smoking! That's really horrible isn't it?

    Anyway, I'll report back soon.
    DMP mutual support number 174
    Total debt now (April 10) £0! - total paid off £30,221 or 100%
    I'm now debt free after 6 years!!:j
    Non smoker since June 2006 :j
  • ozzyfan_2
    ozzyfan_2 Posts: 599 Forumite
    congratulations milliejon for getting through your 1st week :T :j

    really pleased that you've had no withdrawals pangs for 3 days, I've stopped for 2 months today but am still on the nicotine lozenges & still find it hard though the last week or so has been slightly better!

    anyway just wanted to say a really well done to you & keep going! :)

    good luck with returning to work tomorrow & hope your little girls finger is getting better.

    xx
  • milliejon
    milliejon Posts: 1,052 Forumite
    Congratulations to you too! It's a huge achievement to stop smoking. I'm went cold turkey, perhaps that's why there's no craving.

    Best of luck with your quitting.

    My little girl's finger is getting better, but she's really brave and won't tell us that it's hurting unless we ask her. Bless. She's only 3 and somebody stepped on her finger in nursery. She'd didn't cry or tell anyone, her teacher saw her holding up her hand and looking at it.

    Anyway, got to go and get some sleep before work tomorrow. I'm only in half days this week (my boss is great!). He can't wait for me to return because he's missed me. I suspect he's missed the way that I understand the way his mind works, and not many other people do!
    DMP mutual support number 174
    Total debt now (April 10) £0! - total paid off £30,221 or 100%
    I'm now debt free after 6 years!!:j
    Non smoker since June 2006 :j
  • Skint1
    Skint1 Posts: 1,362 Forumite
    Well done keep it up. It will get easier. I gave up using patches 17 days later I'd only used 10 I kept forgeting about them. You can do this.
    You can always get more with a kind word and a 2-by-4 than with just a kind word.
  • milliejon
    milliejon Posts: 1,052 Forumite
    Congratulations to you too! They'll have to put the price of ciggies up soon, to compensate because of the number of us giving up!
    DMP mutual support number 174
    Total debt now (April 10) £0! - total paid off £30,221 or 100%
    I'm now debt free after 6 years!!:j
    Non smoker since June 2006 :j
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