I Got Paid to Quit Smoking!

It's been exactly one month and a day since I quit smoking! Okay, sure, there was a brief indiscretion back around Day 12, but we have moved past that. I survived my Sister's Wedding without a puff and was complimented by all my parent's friends and many of my relatives (except my cousins who were hoping I would hook them up!). And if you knew me, you'd know that's a big deal because I tend to be a ball of nerves at family events and sneaking a smoke was my favorite way to get away.

I even survived an almost half an hour wait at the busstop yesterday - smoking used to be the only way I didn't feel insecure standing around on a street corner by myself waiting for a bus, a ride, etc. I'm learning you just have to relearn doing those things - dealing with stress, impatience, etc., without a cigarette. What did I do yesterday, for example? Well I called the toll free number of the bus company to find out what the delay was! Hey, I bet you thought I'd say you have to start doing yoga or anything, right? Nah, just do anything else except smoking!

And why was I waiting for the bus when I usually just walk to/from work? Well, I had an appointment at the local university's pyschology lab. An appointment wherein I got paid $25 for 20 minutes of work!

A while back, a co-worker told me the university was having a Stop Smoking research study and they were looking for participants. I signed up and for a whlie was receiving $2 a day for answering a daily telephone interview and $20 a week for showing up in person for a brief computer survey. All told I probably made $200 participating in this survey! And though, it wasn't the ultimate factor in my decision to quit (quite honestly I was just in it for the cash) it definitely got me thinking about it.

Yesterday was my six month follow up appointment, for which I got paid $25! And I was happy to report to the researcher that I have, in fact, quit smoking. In another six months, I am confident that a full seven months will have gone by since my last cigarette.

And are you curious how much money I am saving as a result? So am I! That's why I found this nifty little tracker which I have added to my blog to track how much money I would have spent on smokes!




Over $100 bucks, nice! And in case you are on the fence about quitting and don't think you can use another $100 a month, here's some other facts I found on the web about the costs of smoking:

Life Insurance: Smokers have a greater risk of dieing at a younger age than non smokers and this risk is reflected in higher life insurance premium payments.

Health Insurance: Smokers have a greater risk of medical problems than non smokers and this risk is reflected in their medical insurance premium payments.

Health Care: Since smokers frequently have more medical problems than non smokers, they must pay more to take care of these problems.

Medications: More medical problems for smokers usually results more prescription medicine taken by smokers than non smokers.

Home Owner's Insurance: Smokers have a greater risk of burning down their house than non smokers and this risk is reflected in higher home owner's insurance premium payments.

Value of the House: Smoking leaves a bad smell in a house thus decreasing the value to potential buyers.

Value of Your Possessions: Just as with the house, smoking leaves a bad smell to many of the items in your house thus decreasing their value.

Car Insurance: Smokers have a greater risk of getting into a car accident than non smokers and this risk is reflected in their car insurance premium payments.

Car Resale Value: Smoking leaves a bad smell in a car thus decreasing the value to potential buyers or when traded-in for another car.

Earn Less Money: Studies have found that smokers earn between 4% to 11% less money than their non smoking counterparts.

Less Social Security / Pension Benefits: Since smokers earn less than non smokers, they receive less overall social security and pensions benefits than non smokers.

Cost of Cleaning: Whether its the inside of their home, the inside of their car or their clothes, smokers have to spend more to keep things clean.

Dental Care: Smokers spend more on dental care and special dental products than non smokers.

Lost Interest: All the extra money that smokers must spend means that money can't be saved resulting in lost interest.


So I hope some of the readers out there I've communicated with (and those I haven't) will take this information in mind in their own struggles to quit. Heck, if I can do it, you can do it!

Fell Off The Frugal Wagon - A Map of My Saturday

Everyone makes mistakes and although I consider myself a smart and succesful woman, I admit I am prone to bouts of sheer stupidity at times. It happens and the only thing you can do about it is learn from your mistakes so that they don't happen again. Take this Saturday for example.

Boyfriend and I have been extremely frugal as late, to the point of only selecting free weekend activities and limiting ourselves to two grocery runs a month of less than $100 each. We have been staying in for dinner pretty much every night, switching to less expensive brand named products and generally cutting back wherever possible so that he could buy a condo soon.

But Saturday we were supposed to meet out of town friends for brunch. We went to a restaurant and waited. And waited. At the bar. Eventually we decided we may as well have a drink as we waited. Wouldn't you know that Bloody Mary's were 2-for-1 on Saturday? Well I am not a liquor drinker by any means. In my younger days I could throw them back but now...2 Bloody Marys and a beer later and I was pretty far gone - only it didn't seem like that since it was 1:30 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon!

After we ate I decided I was going through with my plan to go into the office for a couple of hours to get additional work done. No big deal - no one is ever around on a Saturday - and the office is only a couple of blocks away. But here's where it all went wrong - on the way to the office with the taste of vodka and horse radish in my mouth, I decided I absolutely NEEDED a cigarette right then and there. On my way down the street I KNEW it was wrong but I didn't care.

Sure enough I get to the neighborhood bodega and the following events take place:

1) I ask for a pack of cigarettes and the man behind the counter says "But you quit!" [Opportunity one to back out of this bad decision.]

2) I insist of buying the pack anyway and then realize they will not accept my debit card unless my purchase exceeds $10. [Opportunity two to back out of this bad decision.]

3) Undeterred I go to the corner of the bodega and use the shady ATM when my own back ATM is just around the corner!! [Just really really dumb.]

I made this map so you can follow my train of thought (or lack thereof) throughout my fall from grace.

I then walk to work and furiously smoke a cigarette for the first time in almost two weeks. It didn't even taste good (did it ever?) but I had missed it so much. I get to the office and am now disgusted by the taste of Bloody Mary and cigarettes and decide to purchase a vending machine soda ($1.25) - something I swore off of months ago - to help get myself back together.

I proceed to work for a couple of hours, walk to Boyfriend's apartment where I quicky brushed my teeth and changed my clothes. Too late! He smells the smoke immediately and makes me throw away the offending pack.

And how much money did I waste? Well here are the numbers:

$6.75 - pack of cigarettes

$2.00 - Shady ATM fee

$2.00 - fee my bank will charge me for using Shady ATM

$1.25 - Soda to get rid of gross cigarette aftertaste

_______

$12.00 = total Stupidity

I really have officially quit smoking though. Saturday just reinforced that for me as I got absolutely no pleasure out of my cheating and am still ashamed to think (write) about it now. It was an expensive lesson to learn.

The non-network ATM issue is one I've been grappling with for a while and I'm also mad at myself for being so lazy/impulsive/drunk to use another ATM when a free one was available nearby. I guess I just didn't want to feel stupid at the store but I sure feel stupid now.

Here's hoping something like this doesn't happen again!

Where it Went 07/23 - 08/05

Two weeks ago I laid out a budget that actually included spending projections for the first time, not just bill payments. I was excited to see how close to my projections I could be. Then it all got blown out the window when I needed to make a $260 payment to Evil Collection Company for my defaulted student loans.

Needless to say, everything needed to be revamped. And, in fact, I did not have $260 to spare so Boyfriend stepped in and helped me out to the tune of $120. He was afraid that I would have taken another Payday loan to remedy the situation. Luckily that didn't happen and I can now start paying him back the total of $345 owed to him.

Anyhow, here's where my money went over the past two weeks compared to the budget I made:

Budgeted/Actual

Rent - 725/725

Capital One - 50/50

Bridesmaid Dress Accessories - 60/20 (yay!)

Gym - 46/0 (this hasn't posted and I'm not sure it will since I cancelled my membership)

Weekend Money aka Spending Cash - 60/28

Cigarettes - 56/12 (I quit!!!)

Lunch Supplies - 40/40

Mailing Stuff - 5/0 (didn't mail yet)

Not Budgeted But Paid

Doctor's Bill - $85.05 (a couple of unpaid visits finally caught up with me)

Defaulted Student Loan - $260

By quitting smoking, I had less opportunity to have cash on me so I only ended up spending $28 in micellaneous unaccounted for cash. Sweet. In reality, this is partly due to the fact that I was waiting for my checks to clear and was afaid to spend anything.

Not included above are a couple of things I used other funds for:

I put an $11 bottle of wine on my credit card last night so I'll need to account for that by the end of the month.

I also bought Thai food ($9) with my other bank account's card the other night with some of the money that was budgeted for my last gym membership payment.

Still have not purchased Sister's Wedding Gift but hopefully will do that today (payday!).

All in all, quitting smoking was quite possibly the best thing I could have done for myself financially. Little things like thai takeout seem more affordable now that I am not wasting and average of $40 a week on cancer sticks.

Quitting Smoking - Day 4 - How I'm Doing

Here I am on Quit Day #4 and I have not even had a puff of a cigarette so the quitting is going quite well. Or is it?

It's a fascinating process my mind and body has been going through and it's making me realize just how addicted I was to smoking in the first place.
























My boss has been tremendously supportive - telling me I could come by his office and chat if I needed to take a break (after I accidentally revealed that the day seemed a lot longer without breaks). He even apologized for interrupting me as I frantically chewed on a gross piece of nicotine gum today. (I don't know why they call it gum as it tastes like dried vomit and there's nothing remotely chewy about it. I can only stand to have a piece in my mouth for about twenty seconds).

Boyfriend as well as my friends and family have been supportive as well. Mostly I've been holing up by myself this week as withdrawal has affected both my attention span and my irritability. It has also made for pretty much 3 back-to-back No Spend Days - except for one soda and one bus ride - this week.

Since some readers seemed curious about the method I have chosen to quit (cold turkey with occasional nicotine gum), I have decided to share a little more about my progress.

Today was a lot better in terms of focusing on work and not getting distracted. Still eating too much though have forced myself to drink water at work instead of soda. Perhaps my bringing a family sized snack variety pack to the office in order to save money has been counter-productive as it has given me carte blanch to eat multiple bags of Cheetos in one day.

I noticed my lungs feeling clearer today. Saw a girl smoking today and felt only a little jealous. Told myself that I have quit already and just wanted a cigarette "for old time's sake" only three times today but managed to talk myself out of it.

Not having any cigarettes on me has really clinched the success of this quitting process - money is tight right now so the thought of shelling out 7 bucks for something so bad for me just seems dumb. That being said, I can still taste them on my tongue and my mouth has yet to accept the fact that they're not coming back. I wish the feeling would go away so I would stop eating! According to this web site, my ability to taste and smell should already be improved by now. Does anyone know when the cotton mouth goes away?

I do think I will be successful in this endeavor because I'm a pretty optimistic person and also because I've changed A LOT of negative behavior in the past couple of months so why not this too?

I'm not gonna lie though, I want a cigarette right now and denying myself one, though all for the greater good, is probably the hardest thing I've had to do outside the bar exam.

Trying to Quit Smoking - Day 3

For all the obvious reasons, I need to quit smoking. Health problems, social stigma, clothes smelling, etc. But, for me, I have always told myself I would quit smoking before I got married. Or before I turned 30. I don't know, it varied. Now it looks like one of those two things may happen in the next two years!!!

Haha, I'm not getting married, just older.

But Boyfriend and I have talked about children - kind of in the "one day" frame of mind that every couple in love must do I imagine and it has been kind of a kick in the pants to quit smoking within a few years of deciding to start a family.

So, here I am, starting. I haven't had a cigarette since Saturday around 11 p.m.

Sunday was pretty easy. I slept late and when I woke up and saw that my last pack was empty, decided that now was a good a time as ever to quit. Stayed busy with Boyfriend all day and hardly had any cravings - Boyfriend was very encouraging. The worst part was after a nice big meal Sunday night I REALLY wanted to smoke but I didn't have any and was already proud of my progress.

Monday was hard. I had really vivid dreams and was very high strung at work. I also got bored REALLY easily as there was nothing to break up the day for me. Smoking was always the way I rewarded myself after accomplishing a project and without it, the day seemed really long. Physical cravings were bad on Monday and I snacked A LOT.

Today, Tuesday, has been the worst so far. Physical cravings aren't as bad but mental cravings are undeniable. I am in mourning for cigarettes if you can believe that. I've played a reel in my head of all the wonderful times I've had smoking and started picturing myself ostracized from friends that smoked, etc. I see myself sitting on a park bench somewhere looking out of place without a cigarette. I noticed people hundreds of yards away smoking today and envied them. I am so unbelievably anxious and bored without smoking but nothing can hold my attention for more than 10 minutes at a time.

Money is a big factor in why I am quitting smoking. Not just the $6.90 a pack of smokes costs in New York these days but the fact that I usually pay for them with cash and therefore have an extra three bucks just sitting in my pocket that easily gets spent as well. In my earlier days I've been known to spend money I did not have just for a pack of cigarettes. That is all, hopefully, going to change.

I just need to get through another couple of days before I can officially announce that I have quit. Wish me luck!