Every single time I have gone to the doctor I have heard the same thing, “When are you going to quit smoking?” Nag, nag, nag, nag, nag…
Now understand that I am not a committed smoker, from my perspective! I didn’t start smoking until I was 21 years old and only because I had listened to my former husband say every single day that we were married that he would never have a wife that smoked! Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face!
Yes, my sister Theresa was patient teaching me how to smoke. I prayed to the one-eyed porcelain god (read toilet) for six weeks turning green and throwing up. But by God I learned to smoke! Just to spite my husband! Oh, stupid woman!
Well, I quit the first time when they went up to 50 cents a pack! That’s back when I was working for $1.75 an hour. Hmmm, if only I would have stayed quit. Eight years, it wasn’t a bad run given that my husband smoked every day in front of me. And then I started again. Quit, again. Started, again. Quit, again. You get the picture :-)
Well, this last stretch was almost 10 years long. Overtime to quit! And I did, almost a year ago now. And I am sure hoping it is my LAST QUIT! Yes, the husband is still smoking (different husband), but out in the garage; where I started my QUIT!
I had just repainted the living room and several other rooms in the house and decided not to stink things up with cigarettes. Hoping to quit, my first step was to smoke in the attached garage; ohhhhhh so cold in Minnesota, but out of the biting wind at least.
Then I started doing the math. $7.00 a pack, even $5.00 a pack generic, times 2, sometimes more on a stressful day, and that works up to a MINIMUM of $3,650 A YEAR!!! What could I do with $3,650 a year, and not make myself sicker (or lead to almost certain respiratory issues down the road)?
Worse yet, I would wake myself up, yes snoring :-), but more importantly wheezing. When you can hear yourself breathing and your lungs are audibly squeaking, etc. It is past time to quit!
“Cold Turkey” NOT! I patched, I bought the little fake cigarette, I have tried those portable vaporizers too which I find really good on taking baby steps on quitting smoking. I bought those generic equate Nicotine Lozenges from Walmart, had lists of things to do when the craving hit, walked on my treadmill and tried to stay away from the hubby when he was smoking; no place to go in the car.
Two months of the patch and I ran out. About the same for the steam cigarette which was oh so frustrating as it didn’t draw half the time! Dr. Oz’s Sharecare gives me a quit tip everyday, even now. And at the beginning I bought myself some “I quit smoking” gifts with the money I had saved. But I have stayed on the lozenges. Now, mind you, I bite them into 4ths and 8ths, but it has now been what, 11 months and I am still biting lozenges into pieces. Very, very handy when I am with smokers—my husband, my mother, my sisters. $30 a month compared to $400, I can live with it! AND I am NOT smoking!
So WHATEVER WORKS!
The bottom line is that I am saving a minimum of $3,650, probably over $4,000 realistically (How could I afford that!) A YEAR by NOT SMOKING!
Wow! Imagine how much more I can spend on prepping and whatever! Think about this. Almost $4,000 a year! Car payment? Mortgage payment? FUN! All for quitting SMOKING!
I can live with this. $30 a month for lozenges; compared to $400 a month for smoking! And no more nagging from the Doctor!
And no, I have not become a crusader for quitting smoking in my family. I mention it occasionally to my husband. My Mom and sisters, I don’t even mention it. When and if they are ready, they too will make the decision and just do it. No amount of nagging affected me until I DECIDED to QUIT!