MArooned: $14,610...

Thursday, January 1, 2009

$14,610...

...is the amount of money I've saved in the past 8 years since I quit smoking...

When I quit, I was smoking a pack a day. At an average of $5 a pack (it was about $3.50 when I quit, but it's about $6.50 now), and 2922 days (8 years X 365 days/year + 2 days for leap years), it comes out to the amount in the title.

Fourteen large I saved. That, quite frankly, is amazing. Even if the real number is half that (smoking less, buying in bulk, etc.), that's over seven grand. Every single penny of which is now gone, with nothing to show for it except a shortened lifespan...

Cigarettes should be banned, period. Cigarette companies should be forcibly closed; executives hung at sunrise; factories burned to the ground and the earth where the evil plants were harvested should be salted so that nothing will ever grow there again.

Not that I have strong feelings about this or anything...

Anyways... It's been eight years since I last felt the cool but raspy flow of nicotine into my system. Even now, all this time later, I still get an occasional longing for a smoke. I still have "The Dream" (where you're smoking again and kicking yourself for starting it back up but DAMN does it feel good to smoke once more...). Eight years. Wow...

That is all.

15 comments:

zeeke42 said...: "Cigarettes should be banned, period. Cigarette companies should be forcibly closed; executives hung at sunrise; factories burned to the ground and the earth where the evil plants were harvested should be salted so that nothing will ever grow there again."

Turn the cigarette business over to organized crime, that'll improve things for sure.; January 1, 2009 at 5:05 PM
Old NFO said...: Congrats Jay!; January 1, 2009 at 5:40 PM
scotaku said...: Just past three years quit for me, and while I miss it, I'm not going back. The wife has a great theory, though: There is a Heaven, and in Heaven, you can smoke. Think about it - it's Heaven. You can probably get a good prime rib, too. And a perfect martini.; January 1, 2009 at 7:35 PM
danno said...: I recall going through a similar calculation with my 7th grade science teacher. IIRC, he'd been smoking for some 15-20 years. His total (in ~1975) worked out to some $35k. Thinking about what I could do with that kind of cash was enough to keep me from ever starting...

I cannot explain why the same logic does not apply to beer.; January 1, 2009 at 7:52 PM
Strings said...: Congrats Jay. However, I feel I must point out that you just made me step outside for a smoke, just because.; January 1, 2009 at 7:59 PM
NotClauswitz said...: That's enough for a yearly trip to the Bahamas, right? So why are you in the snow? ;-); January 1, 2009 at 8:06 PM
Mike W. said...: Congrats on quitting Jay!

I'm gonna have to disagree with you on banning em though. People should be free to smoke what they want, be it tobacco, weed, or opium.; January 2, 2009 at 12:55 AM
red said...: Congrats! It's been 6 weeks for my wife and I.; January 2, 2009 at 7:30 AM
Anonymous said...: I disagree with the ban, and I am a recovering smoker. I was in college at the time and realized how expensive it was, and quit cold turkey and never looked back.

I agree with the above poster about beer.; January 2, 2009 at 7:38 AM
RW said...: I cannot explain why the same logic does not apply to beer.

Unless you're an alkie, you probably don't drink THAT much beer. Let's assume a 12-pack per week, every week, which is a decent amount (albeit less than what I've done for the last two months, baby). Average price of about $13, depending on the brand...I'm cheap & get mine for around $10, is $676 per year. Not 'nothing', but if you replaced the beer with soft drinks - which are almost half the price of beer - you really didn't save all that much money.

Congrats, Jay. You've also cut out a lot of money on junk food, BP medication and saved at least five-figures on health care costs in the latter stages of your life while trying to take care of an aging but obese person; buddy, you'll end up saving well into the six-figure range over the long haul simply on your changes in lifestyle.

Not many people think about it that way, but it's true. The numbers don't lie. You've made almost every part of your life* better in the last decade. Pretty cool, huh?

----
* caveat: for all married men, we know one of the more important parts of our life is up to the female & once we said "I do" it's pretty much out of our hands. Well, on second thought....:) (think about it....think about it....you're getting closer....); January 2, 2009 at 8:54 AM
Jay G said...: Guys, guys, guys...

Y'all should know me better than THAT - I don't really want to ban cigarettes (nor execute tobacco execs, although the lawyers involved in the tobacco extortion come close).

It's a bit of hyperbole that comes from the agony of the quitter...

Sheesh!!!; January 2, 2009 at 8:55 AM
New Jovian Thunderbolt said...: LSMFT; January 2, 2009 at 9:12 AM
Unknown said...: Congratulations Jay! It's not an easy things (from what I've heard).; January 2, 2009 at 11:24 AM
Anonymous said...: i quit back in july... im still starting to feel better... but im so glad i did.; January 3, 2009 at 2:15 AM
Unknown said...: And you're not even counting the future medical costs.

;-); January 6, 2009 at 11:47 AM