The Financial Rewards of Quitting Smoking

Roger Chaumont

How much does one single cigarette cost you? Not a lot. But guess what—it adds up. Think about how many cigarettes are in a pack. Think about how much a pack costs. Now think about how many packs you smoke in a day, or week. Now multiply that by the number of weeks in a year. Now multiply that by the number of years you have been a smoker.

Scary, right? If you’re like many smokers, you’ve thrown hundreds, thousands, and even hundreds of thousands of dollars away on cigarettes over the years.

Think of all the things you could have bought for yourself if you hadn’t picked up this nasty habit: an expensive purse, box seats to your favorite sporting events, a 7-day ocean cruise, a fancy sports car, or even a vacation house. That’s right, you could have used that money to give yourself things you have only ever fantasized about, thinking that you couldn’t afford it. Well, it turns out you COULD have afforded it after all.

And you also could have used that money to give your family the things they needed most: college tuition, braces, driving lessons, a new piano—the list goes on and on.

But rather than berate yourself for the money you have thrown away, why not turn it around and think about all the things you can do with the money are you going to save? Quitting is almost like a windfall of money. It’s like winning a little lottery, putting thousands of dollars back into your bank account.

Visualize something that you want for yourself, your home, and/or your family. Perhaps it’s a trip to Paris. Maybe it’s a new plasma screen TV. Whatever you want, picture it in your mind’s eye and look at it long and hard. Now make a promise to yourself: you are going to purchase this item. Go one step farther and tell your family, too!

This is going to be terrific incentive for you to stay away from cigarettes in the future. Every time you think about smoking or are tempted to buy a pack, try to see your habit in terms of dollars and cents. Remember that if you buy that pack, you aren’t going to be able to afford that new TV or go to Europe on vacation as you promised yourself. And because you made that promise to your family as well, you aren’t going to want to let them down.

Don’t be afraid to give yourself a reward for quitting. It’s a major step in your life, and you should do something good for yourself in return. Plus, now that you’ve quit, you can afford it!

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