Saving tips for ex-smokers (just!)

ticky05

Yep another statistic I gave up new year 2005
Don't feel so smug now
Desperately need some financial tips to keep me motivated and to stay off the cigarettes

SnowyOwl_2

Congratulations for giving up!!

When I gave up about four years ago (and still off them, it is hard but it is also possible!) I simultaenously joined an expensive gym, ie I committed the money I used to spend on cigs to something else, thereby I could no longer afford to smoke. This worked well as I definitely did not have he money for both. I even went to the gym about five times a week.

Or you could work out how much you used to spend on cigs and then set up a direct debit into your savings account to coincide with when you get paid.

Or you could put the actual cash into a piggy bank every day then when it is full (won't take long I promise!) go treat yourself to some expensive perfume or jewellery or something else you may have felt was an over-indulgence.

This isn't a money tip, but when I gave up and had overwhelming craviing for a cig, I had a little mental/ breathing exercise which really helped. I would think of the air that I breathed being rich with oxygen and clean and pure. Then I would take a long slow deep breath and imagine the clean air going deep into my lungs filling every pore inside my lungs and the clean oxygen transferring into my blood and this clean and sustaining oxygen going around my body, into every molecule of my being. I'd keep doing this until the craving passed. It was worth also comparing the clean breaths of oxygen with the grey cigarette smoke laden with nicotine, dust and chemicals and then imagine the nicotine and chemicals in your blood depleting the oxygen and making your blood go bad. Sorry, that went on a bit but I did find that these images really helped...just the difference between clean air and dirty air going into my body kept my willpower up. And sorry if you've got all the will power you need, you may not have wanted this tip at all...

Jay-Jay_4

ok,

my other half is going through the same thing at the moment so we know what you're going through ::)

if you smoked 20 per day, average of £5 per pack.........

£35 per week saved

£151.67 per month (average)

£1820 per year


So this time next year you could be lying on a beach somewhere instead of freezing cold and you wouldn't miss the money

SnowyOwl_2

At the time I gave up I used to whinge about the Council Tax and how expensive it was - I lived in a borough which was one of the most costly in the country. Then I realised I was spending nearly double that sum on cigs, and nearly choked to death at my differing attitude to paying for different things.

It is a bit of a three-pronged attack...commit the money on something I could not otherwise have been able to afford. The health benefits took a while to come about - I had a disgusting hacking cough and that took a couple of months to disappear. And the smell...I didn't know how bad it smelt until a few weeks after I'd given up and then I started noticing stale smoke from other people and in peoples houses or cars. My house really did honk and I didn't know! No way would I want it to be as smelly again.

Oh and my !!!!!! cat's wheezy chest cleared up almost instantly...

So go on, get your partner to book that wonderful holiday....it IS within reach...

ade007

ticky05,

There's really good advice in those replies.
My suggestion is :

Regular exercising - if your functioning well physically and mentally, you're better able to resist. You'll also regain a respect for the work done by your good friends, miss heart and miss lungs.

Also, it's really important to trick your brain with a habit substitute. I found that having one of those nicorette inhalators constantly handy substituted for the 'inhale-habit' at those critical moments.

Good luck!

Glad

Congrats on giving up smoking ;D
why not post a weekly update on here, showing how much you've saved and how it's going, that should be an incentive to keep going,

Mrs_Thrift

Congratulations of giving up! ;D

When Mr Thrift gave up I carried a pocket diary around in my handbag, and every day I'd write how many days it was since giving up, and how much money had been saved. It meant that at a glance, he could see that he'd gone for say 8 days without a cigarette and saved £33.60 in that time, which encouraged him (and encouraged me to keep putting up with his mood swings!)

As the savings added up, Mr T would then treat himself to something like a new PC game, and the cost was deducted from the cigarettes savings total, and it was also recorded in the diary and it served as another encouragement.

Hope that helps, and good luck.

Jay-Jay_4

(.........and encouraged me to keep putting up with his mood swings!)...........

BOY!!!! I could really do with some help in that direction too >:(

I sympathise with him and support him and I'm really proud of him but IT IS NOT AN EXCUSE TO TAKE EVERYTHING OUT ON ME!!!!!!! @*%$@*!

>:( >:( >:(


humph!


::)

ticky05

I'll keep you posted, thanks for the advice
cheers :-*

Mrs_Thrift

Aw Jay-Jay, you have my sympathy! It will pass, though, honestly, and it's worth it - think of the money saved, think of the years added to your life together, think of the lack of stinky hands, hair, clothes, house, etc. I just focussed on all these things and did my best to not take it personally and to not react (very hard, I know, but it can be done!)

Good luck - to those giving up and to those whose nearest and dearest are giving up!

Jay-Jay_4

Thanks Miss Thrift... thank god he's back at work today  ::)



How you doing today ticky05?