In the last year the cost of living has gone up tremendously. In our area electricity, water and food all cost more than one year ago. And if gas prices rise to where they were last summer, it will hurt our budget even more.

So if you, like our family, are trying to find ways to reduce spending, here is one way you could save thousands of dollars each year: stop smoking.

If you are trying to quit smoking it is often necessary to really look at your overall budget to get a real reason to quit. Simply trying to stop smoking for your health sometimes is just not enough.

You need to really open your eyes at times to see how much smoking really is costing you each year that you smoke. Additionally, this can also be impacted if you require a great amount of health care due to smoking related complications. However, at a minimum the costs that you can count on for certain will include the costs of the cigarettes themselves.

If you have ever stopped to think about how much you are spending a week on cigarettes you have surely noticed that it is a rather significant amount. Prices are climbing higher than ever before, and this is largely due to the fact that many states as well as the federal government are imposing extremely costly taxes on cigarettes to help offset many of the increased health problems that are created.

On average, all around the country cigarettes can cost as much as $5 per pack. If you have a habit of smoking that consists of only a single pack per day, you are smoking seven packs in a single week.

This might not seem like much, but if you consider that each week, you are spending $35 on cigarettes, it can add up quickly. In a single week if each pack costs $5 you will have spent as much as $35 on your cigarettes! For many people this is a tank of gas, a trip to a movie theater, or even a new outfit if you know how to shop right. You could even put the money in a savings account and start to find how your money could actually grow, rather than be burned.

As much as the idea of $35 might seem like a lot of money, to many people it is just a minor price to pay for something that they thoroughly enjoy.

If we consider that the average month has 30 days, and each day you are smoking a $5 pack of cigarettes the monthly price will jump up to approximately $150. This is a rather substantial amount and could easily cover most people’s gas bills, power bills, water bill, phone bill or even a great night out on the town occasionally.

If you really want to see the overall impact of smoking each year, consider that each year you are smoking 365 packs of cigarettes. This multiplied by 20 comes up to 7,300 cigarettes each year, which comes up to an astonishing $1,825 dollars each year! Talk about a huge amount of money spent on smoking.

Remember, though, this is just the price of a single pack a day habit, and it is assuming that you are paying only $5 per pack. Many states have higher prices, while others are a bit cheaper. If you actually smoke more than a single pack a day, you would be looking at $3,650 a year for a two pack a day smoking habit as well as 14,600 cigarettes each year that you smoke!

The sheer price of cigarettes when added up in a single year is horrific. If you consider that you would probably be smoking for a period of 5 years you are looking at a total cost of $9,125 for a single pack a day habit and a striking $18,250 for a two pack a day habit. The amount of money that can be saved by not purchasing cigarettes is absolutely enormous.

If the idea of just improving your health is not enough to get you to quit smoking, you may have a sudden desire to quit after you see exactly what it is costing you each year to smoke. The prices of cigarettes are continuing to rise, and this combined with increased living expenses makes it extremely hard for families to make ends meet.

Saving money any way possible is a huge help, and even the expense of pricey stop smoking aids is significantly cheaper than the cost of actually continuing to smoke.

Taking the steps to decide that you want to stop smoking is a huge commitment. The dedication that is needed is absolutely essential to your success and can often be one of the only factors that will determine how successful you are.

If you find that you are struggling to quit smoking you are certainly not alone, seeking out appropriate help is always key to finding success in your quest to quit smoking.

Looking around at all of the excuses, reasons, purposes and methods that pertain to quitting smoking there are generally two very large factors that will determine your overall success. Without these two factors you will almost always fail, with them you will typically walk away a successful non-smoker.

#1 Success Factor

Your first critical success factor will be being determined to quit for your own reasons. This means you need to decide for yourself that you want to quit. Having the idea to quit smoking forced upon you will generally not work out well for yourself.

You have to decide all on your own that you are ready to quit smoking. This dedication to stop smoking will often be a huge driving force in your battle against cigarettes and you will probably need to pull strength from your decision. Additionally, as everyone around you is asking why you want to quit, a good answer that you believe in will help you to resolve your determination each time you answer.

Read more

The time in your life where you decide it is time to quit smoking for good is a very important step. It represents the time in your life when you have decided that it is time to regain complete control over your body, and actually take charge of your decisions.

Of course, you made the decision to start smoking, but ultimately this choice is much harder to break, than it ever was to start. Knowing how to break the habit is very important to being successful and this means you really need to take some time to review all of your options.

In general, while it may seem like a great idea to start trying to quit tomorrow you need to take a bit of time to set out a plan of attack. If you are working towards a plan which includes several well laid out goals you are going to be much more likely to succeed.

However, simply taking a chance and hoping for the best may be your best option. Typically, the hope and wait method is not effective though, so having a plan will ensure that you have something to fall back on.

You should review all of the options for stop smoking aids that are on the market. There are literally dozens of products that all claim to help stop smoking. Some really do not work at all, but in general most do really work, but only for certain people.

This means if you are not well suited to the product, it will not be very effective for your venture. Finding something that is well suited to your needs is critical to ensure your own personal success. Just because the product has helped 1,000’s of other former smokers does not mean that you will find success with it.

You need to then look at a calendar and pick out a date to quit. This is very important because having a date picked out gives you something to look forward to.

You should also look at it as an exciting adventure, rather than the day you decided to drive yourself insane and attempt to quit smoking. Looking forward to the specific date that you pick with excitement and joy will make the overall experience much better.

As you are picking out dates on the calendar, pick out additional dates for smaller goals as well. For instance, if you decide to quit smoking on August 1st you would want to select August 2nd as your 24-hour victory and then August 7th as your first no smoking week.

Avoiding negative people is very important. If you are surrounding yourself by people who all think that you are just acting like a baby in your struggles to quit smoking your self-esteem is going to take a huge hit.

Additionally, your self-confidence in yourself to actually succeed in your quest to quit smoking will start to wane. This is a huge disaster since you need to believe in yourself in order to actually quit smoking for good.

Surrounding yourself with positive people who support your efforts to quit will make it much easier for you. After all, the friend who encourages you is the friend you should want to be around more anyways. Someone who is doing nothing but cutting down your efforts probably is not the greatest friend anyways.