No More Wasting Money on Cigarettes

If you're like me, you've spent way too much time thinking about quitting, planning to quit, trying to quit, feeling bad about lighting up after the "quit date," and so forth. It's awful, isn't it? I went through a whole lot of grief while I was trying to quit, and you know what? Yeah, you probably do know -- it didn't do a bit of good!

It finally hit me... I would never quit if quitting was so difficult. And when I heard that an older relative of mine, who hasn't smoked in decades, still feels an occasional craving for a cigarette, I knew there was "no hope" -- I would never, ever really quit. I had to admit that I was a smoker for life. Once a smoker, always a smoker... (Maybe you've said the same thing to yourself at times!)

I didn't "plan" anything at that point, but I made a decision that turned out to be incredibly important: I quit quitting. I stopped taking on all the pressure of quitting, all the bad feelings about not being able to quit, the guilt, all that nonsense. I was done. No more!

Refusing what I now call "the Q label" (the big Quit) lifted such a burden off my shoulders that it opened a critical door. It let me start to manage my smoking, without the emotional burden.

That's exactly what I did, and I'm confident that you can too, when you're not tied up with emotions about "quitting."

It was at that point that I started saving money by smoking less. Oh, it didn't happen overnight. For me, there was a very slow tapering-off, and it took me awhile to get below the pack-a-day level. But I knew I was making progress, and even when I didn't I knew I didn't have to feel guilty about smoking, because I'm a smoker. Yet giving myself the freedom to smoke without guilt also gave me the freedom to say to myself, "Nah, I'll skip this one."

It was no longer the big "cold turkey," no longer the fervent claim of "no more cigarettes." Man, I can't even remember how many times I said that, and all for nothing! Once I quit quitting, once I stopped trying to achieve a goal that I now realize is impossible, my focus could be on any single cigarette. Was I going to enjoy it now (and enjoy it without guilt!), or put it off until later? I knew that if I delayed enough, I'd smoke less -- and that meant I could save a few bucks to spend on something else I wanted.

It's easy to focus too much on the health benefits of quitting. I won't argue those benefits are important, but how much can you really measure them? When you're craving a smoke, do you really "feel better" at that point? Not a chance! That's why it's better to pay attention to something you can measure, something with a "reward" you can see. That's why I keep talking about the money you'll save by reducing your smoking.

So, if you're getting all tied up by trying to "quit," then just quit quitting! Accept that you'll always be a smoker, but you don't have to be an active smoker. You don't have to smoke as much as you smoke right now.

I haven't had a cigarette in years. I can't remember the last time I spent money on tobacco. You could be saying the same thing soon!

(Photo credit: wax115 (Carlos Paes) / morgueFile.com)