📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

The Stoptober 2014 Challenge - How much will you save?

Options
1151618202131

Comments

  • merzal
    merzal Posts: 290 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker Stoptober Survivor
    Thanks for all the motivation!! The gum is really working at taking away the cravings so I can't understand why I still want to smoke?! Is it just a habit thing? I might give the patches a go, what are people's experience with them? Reading this thread has helped me not to smoke my usual after dinner cig!
    [STRIKE]CC1: £354.35 / £354.35[/STRIKE]
    CC2: £390 / £1475.98
    Boiler: £1500 / £2500
    [STRIKE]Overdraft: £1000 / £1000[/STRIKE]
    Emergency Fund : £20
  • youth_leader
    youth_leader Posts: 2,923 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    I'm on the 16 hour day time patch and sleep OK, twenty years ago I had the 24 hour one and had sleepless nights with that. I'm also using an e cig and can't understand why I'm still feeling depressed about not smoking as I"m getting the nicotine.

    Won't ever smoke again though - I've spent all our savings on cigarettes since losing my job, £9 a packet for Marlboro at a packet a day, just bonkers. Keep going everyone I'm off to watch Robson Green in the new drama, Day 7 tomorrow!
    £216 saved 24 October 2014
  • Woodster76
    Woodster76 Posts: 178 Forumite
    Stoptober Survivor
    Glad everyone's doing great. It's perked me up reading everyone's posts. Motivates me to keep going and I'm not alone in the sleepless nights, eating too much food. - we've nearly done our first week, improved our health and saved ourselves some money x
    16/10/2016 £9176.11 paid off 13/01/2017

    £1.50/300

    2017 - £25 PayPal - SB 2016 - £75 Paypal - SB
  • jayjay21
    jayjay21 Posts: 92 Forumite
    Stoptober Survivor
    I feel for you all! I started two days early to give myself a little 'taster', so today is going to be my 8th day without tobacco.

    I was determined to go cold turkey but resorted to the ecig over the weekend as I knew being around smokers would be a lot to resist at such an early stage.

    I haven't touched the ecig today and don't plan on doing so, I'll also try and resist next weekend as it has thrown me slightly off track from where I want to be.

    So far I've saved about £10(smoked roll ups), which isn't huge but better in my pocket than rolled up and set on fire eh.

    I had an extremely vivid dream of smoking two B&H silver cigarettes a few nights ago, and woke up extremely disappointed in myself before realising what was going on.

    Keep up the hard work, seems everyone is doing very well. Let's do this!!
  • faerielight
    faerielight Posts: 1,955 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker I've been Money Tipped!
    hi guys, just popping into this thread to give you all some encouragement.. you're doing well and it will be so worth it! I can't believe it's been 2 whole years since I stopped smoking during stoptober 2012 :) I was a 50 rollies a day girl and I stopped along with my 2 best friends and I've not relapsed at all.. keep it up guys ... you can do it :)
    Many thanks to all who contribute on MSE :)
  • Kiwisaver_2
    Kiwisaver_2 Posts: 1,169 Forumite
    Well done everyone that's managed to stay off the smokes this week - it's a major milestone and you've come such a long way from where you were a week ago. At first an hour seems like a lifetime but gradually the hours mount up to days and days turn into weeks. Every hour and every day is step further away from being a smoker.:T
    jayjay21 wrote: »
    I had an extremely vivid dream of smoking two B&H silver cigarettes a few nights ago, and woke up extremely disappointed in myself before realising what was going on.

    Keep up the hard work, seems everyone is doing very well. Let's do this!!

    I think the smoking dreams are quite a common side effect - I have had them myself and many others have mentioned it in previous threads. It all seems very real at the time and I remember waking up really angry with myself one day for being such an idiot - NRT can contribute to more vivid dreams and interfere with sleep patterns.
    Mortgage
    Start January 2017: $268,012
    Latest balance $266,734
    Reduction: $1,278.45
  • Morning!

    I am using the patches and find them brilliant! I still get the cravings now and again but the patch takes the edge off them! I can honestly say I had two thoughts about smoking yesterday! Such a dramatic change from a week ago! I can go hours now without thinking of a ciggy! I am on the strongest patches! 21mg!

    Also having the weird dreams but no nightmares thankfully!

    Updated sig to reflect savings! Mounting up pretty quickly!

    Here's to another smoke free day for us all!
  • After 6 days have decided to join in this thread!

    Day 7 and it's getting easier. Using the patches (have just changed brands and not having weird dreams with these ones)

    I have tried before but never that seriously and never gone this long without a cigarette in over 40 years.

    I still have 2 cigarettes from September and can't bring myself to throw them away but I think knowing they are there is actually helping (in a weird way)

    Made husband go for 'Sober October' as well (He gave up smoking 25 years ago - just woke up one morning and stopped!!! No intention of doing that he just sort of did!!!)

    Good Luck everybody

    xxxx
  • :j Congratulations everyone! You've made it through the first week! :j

    You're all doing incredibly well and we've loved reading about your experiences so far :) So, how good does it feel that you've been smoke free for a week now? (If you've had a slip up, don't beat yourself up about it. You're only human!) This has got to be the hardest week, as your body is going through serious withdrawal. However, by now you will have no nicotine in your body and you should start to feel your circulation improving.

    It seems a lot of you are having interrupted sleep or nightmares as a side effect of withdrawal, and hopefully these subside soon! Anyone found any good ways to combat this?

    Well done guys, you're a 1/4 of the way there. Keep going! :T

    Follow the Forum on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest
    Join the MSE Forum
    Get the Free Martin's Money Tips E-mail
    Report inappropriate posts: click the report button
    Point out a rate/product change
    Flag up a news story: news@moneysavingexpert.com
  • "My dad has always been a smoker and I’ve always encouraged him to stop. So when Stoptober came up in a forum brainstorm session, I jumped on the chance to help run the campaign..."

    Read MSE Megan's full blog:
    Protect your health and pocket by joining the Stoptober challenge


    Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply. If you aren’t sure how it all works, read our New to Forum? Intro Guide.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 351.2K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.7K Spending & Discounts
  • 244.2K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 599.3K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 177K Life & Family
  • 257.6K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.