My Cigarettes Were Free Today!

Smoking is one of the hardest bad habits to quit for anyone, perhaps even harder than illegal street drugs and alcohol. I know, I've been smoking for about 30 years. The longer I smoke the more I want to quit and now I've cut down to about 10 or less smokes a day from two packs a day since May of this year. I'm getting closer to quitting. One goal I accomplished was to always smoke outside and I got the habit out of my apartment and it smells so much better now. Next thing is when I get up early in the morning to wait for at least an hour or two before smoking and that's going to happen soon.

Spending money for tobacco isn't the real cost. It's the cost to your health that's the biggest concern to me. Everyone is going to die, no question about it. But I thought about it and decided that I don't want to die a painful death and that is one reason out of many that I am going to quit. I'm using this method I'm doing now so that I don't go nuts at the same time. Just easing myself out of it.

I found a way to be cheap about my habit. I got a rolling machine a few years ago, with some tubes and a bag of tobacco. Since you get the tubes, they have a filter on it and it's just like a pack cigarette.

I spend about $30 a month tops. Which doesn't hardly hurt my coin spending or anything else too much. Although, I could have $30 in coins or anything else. Where other people spend approximately $6 per pack (varies per state on price). That's where it gets really expensive.

Since I don't spend much I'm not really concerned too much about the money. It's my health that I'm starting to get really concerned about.

Remember, cigarettes are never free!

I smoked like an old Datsun truck for 30 years (1.5 packs a day, 2 packs if I went out to the bars) ...

I tried to quit 1000 times (every "Tuesday" was my strategy ... I usually lasted about 1/2 hour before I'd cave-in) ... but for some reason (my wife wanted me to quit) I decided that I should quit ...

So, I actually managed to quit "cold turkey" one Tuesday ... amazing ... I haven't had a drag in 2.5 years!

Sadly, at times I still miss it ... but as time goes-by, the benefits are starting to out-weigh the nic-fits!

Anyway, good luck trying to quit (never quit trying to quit) ...

Oh, but if you don't end-up quitting, that's cool too ...
=> you only go around once (spend your time doing what you want to do ... you know the pros and cons)

What about BadThad's suggestion of trying the electronic cigarettes (personal vaporizer)? That might help, yes? Sometimes you need to lean on tools... whatever it takes!

I quit many, many years ago, but was not a real heavy smoker, pack a day, I'd say. I found cold turkey to be best for me, but I still occasionally dream that I smoke; not sure what a psychologist would make of that! I find dieting to be MUCH more difficult, and my wife has suggested I quit drinking, but not going to happen!

*sigh* => yeah, no matter what you do, it seems that some other vice will pop-up somewhere else:

Down-side of quitting:
a) I quit smoking 2.5 years ago, but since then I've gained close to 30 pounds (when I smoked, the act of smoking kept my hands busy so I wasn't always looking for a treat to compensate) ... I intend on getting back to my ol' fighting weight, but as the years click-by, my metabolism isn't quite as perky as it once was!?

b) since I've quit, I've also started tilting-back a few more wines than I did when I smoked (again, I'm blaming a "small" bit of it on the fact that my hands need to be doing something now that I don't smoke) ... so sadly, a lot of the "theoretical cash" that I save from not smoking, gets spent on fast-food, booze, and the fact that every now and then I get a bit too drunk and I make coin-purchases that my nicotine-free wallet can't keep-up with! ............ hmmm, well I guess I can't really blame that one on not smoking, but I needed an excuse, so smoking seemed like an easy fall-guy!

Up-side of quitting:
a) my wife thinks that I rock because I no longer smoke (sexy-points).
b) I don't have to stand outside the office 20 times a day in the freezing-cold temperatures!
c) If I ever drag my fat arse off of the couch and perform an act of athleticism, I find that my lungs are noticably better.
d) I don't have a constant smokers hack anymore.
e) I can taste my food a lot better (a bit too much, actually!)
f) I do save myself $20/day from not buying cigs.
g) I don't have yellow fingers (I found that to be a raunchy side-effect).
h) my clothes don't stink of smoke.
i) I don't feel "trapped" when I'm in a long meeting and/or when I'm on a plane, or stuck in an airport for an extended period of time (anything more than about 30 minutes and I'd start getting that nervous nic-fit urge building-up inside of me).
j) Hopefully, my wife and family (dogs) won't die of lung cancer from my 2nd-hand smoke.
k) and finally => I am very proud of myself for quitting, for I know how bloody hard it is to quit (it's certainly the most relentless and difficult torture I've ever had to endure ... but if you give yourself credit for every smoke that you don't light, then soon you start to get some skin in the game and you don't want to slide-back and make it all a worthless effort, ya know)

good luck trying to quit, but "cheers" no matter what you end-up deciding!

NOTE => this would have been "at least" a two cigarette-post (plus, I would have lit-up a third smoke and proof-read this before I hit submit reply) ... so I can give myself a 3-smoke atta-boy! ... but the down-side is => I'm now having a nic-fit! *sigh*

I'm just sayin'


NOTE => however, I think the whole idea behind the origin of this thread was supposed to be a "positive" event => he found a coin that out-weighed the cost of his cigs (so congrats!)

File those things away in the back of your head, and when you're ready to quit, they'll be there to help.

Bottom line: we, your coin family are here for you. Think positive in everything you do, and you're sure to succeed!

I too quit a 2 pack a day habit about 6 years ago. found out I had high blood pressure and it scared me into quitting cold turkey. The first day was very hard, but I told myself the second day had to be easier, and it was. After about a week, I was sure I would never smoke again, and I havent. I even got into walking everyday to keep the weight off and my mind off of food, and actually started losing weight. So to anyone struggling with smoking, dont give up. I always thought my willpower was weak also but you will be surprised what you can do. Good luck to everyone trying to quit.