My Surprise Savings Account

I just realized that there was one more budget cut that I had completely forgotten about. I quit the disgusting, unhealthy habit of smoking…5 months and 5 days ago to be exact.

I have heard of people that took the money they would’ve spent on cigarettes and saved it and then rewarded themselves at the end of the year with a special treat or trip. I guess since I quit with the lozenges and have since whittled down to a couple pieces of stop smoking gum a day, I didn’t think I was actually saving any money. Here is just a very basic breakdown comparison of smoking vs. nicotine replacement therapy.

Smoking Costs

I guess cigarettes are $6 a pack. I think I saw some for around $6.50 but I’ll go with $6. A pack a day (usually less, but for ease of calculation) costs about $180.00 per month. Yikes! This isn’t counting lighters bought here or there, breath mints, gums and sprays (I was an in the closet smoker) or whatever having healthy lungs are worth. None of my medical issues are linked to my smoking days so I would need to calculate what won’t happen now that I don’t smoke.

Lozenges and Nicotine Gum

I always buy the store brand instead of Nicorette or Commit brands because it’s at least $10 cheaper. When I was using the lozenges they cost up to $30 and lasted a couple weeks, so I was spending at the very least $60 a month on lozenges. Unfortunately, I found myself becoming addicted to the lozenges so last week I switched to a cheap box of the nicotine gum which costs $18 and lasts a couple weeks as well since I’m using a couple pieces of gum a day.

Bottom Line

For 5 months, cigarettes would’ve cost me at the least, $900. Lozenges and gum have cost me $288; that’s 4 months and 2 weeks of lozenges at $60 per month and 2 weeks of gum (roughly). I subtract the cost of the help aids from the cost of what the cancer sticks would’ve cost me and I’ve saved $612 in 5 months! That seems even crazier now that I look at it.

Even better, I’m almost completely weaned from the gum as well so I won’t have to buy the gum anymore. I can honestly figure the full $180 a month that I’m saving as there won’t be any other nicotine related expense.

As if there weren’t already a million reasons to quit a bad habit. It looks like saving $2160 a year is one of the best reasons yet and that’s just counting the cost of cigarettes. It’s certainly enough to keep me away from them for the rest of my life.