A Wealthier Life

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A Wealthier Life

A Healthy Bank Account, Too

Improving your health is the most important reason to stop smoking, but it's not the only reason.

Smoking is expensive. By giving it up, you'll not only be saving your health, you'll be saving your cash.

How much cash? Cigarettes cost anywhere from $1.50 to $7.50 a pack depending on where you live and what brand you smoke. A pack-a-day smoker can dole out more than $1,000 a year. When you stop smoking, this spending turns into savings. (And because the price of cigarettes continues to skyrocket, your financial reward will continue to increase the longer you stay smoke-free.)

Plan a Shopping Spree

Make a list of what you'll buy this year with your cigarette money. First, calculate exactly how much you'll save. Multiply the number of packs you smoke in a year times the cost per pack.

Now that you know the windfall that quitting brings you, what do you want to buy with your reward money?

You can spend it as one lump sum on a "grand prize" or as small incremental rewards to honor the milestones along your quitting journey — your first day, your first week, your first month smoke-free. These are great accomplishments that deserve notice.

If you spend $500 each year on smoking, quitting will gain you:

Fifty trips to the movies (at $10 a pop)
Fifty pizzas
Forty more CDs than you bought last year
Five trips to see your favorite sports team, orchestra or theater show

Begin Saving Now

Every time you think about a cigarette and say no, take the money you saved and stick it in a jar. As you continue to succeed at quitting, your contributions to the jar will become more frequent. And you can watch your money grow.

Last updated September 15, 2011

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