Smoking - I QUIT

[Decider]

Over 2 weeks in and still going strong, very impressed with the lot of you.

I've just passed the 6 week mark without a single puff and have decided that with the money saved from not smoking I may as well put it to good use. So instead of leaving it in my savings account where it's tempting me to buy things I probably don't need, I've punted it into my mortgage account. It's actually the first time I've overpaid my mortgage even though I made sure I got a mortgage that allowed overpayments. It feels damn good to do it with burnt money. I stuck an extra £50 in for good measure and made it a round £300. I could have got some nice things with that, but when you look at the amount of interest saved over 20 years I know I'm doing the right thing. Aiming at sticking £300 extra a month into the mortage to reduce the term by almost 1/2. Most of the overpayment money will come from quitting smoking. If my partner (Ann) quits too, then the whole £300 a month will come from us quitting smoking. Makes me even more aware of what a waste of money it is! How I could afford to smoke in the first place has been a mystery to me. Perhaps that's why I was running up credit card bills too often

Anyone else putting the money aside? I move it daily using internet banking.

[sofa----king]

Over 2 weeks in and still going strong, very impressed with the lot of you.

I've just passed the 6 week mark without a single puff and have decided that with the money saved from not smoking I may as well put it to good use. So instead of leaving it in my savings account where it's tempting me to buy things I probably don't need, I've punted it into my mortgage account. It's actually the first time I've overpaid my mortgage even though I made sure I got a mortgage that allowed overpayments. It feels damn good to do it with burnt money. I stuck an extra £50 in for good measure and made it a round £300. I could have got some nice things with that, but when you look at the amount of interest saved over 20 years I know I'm doing the right thing. Aiming at sticking £300 extra a month into the mortage to reduce the term by almost 1/2. Most of the overpayment money will come from quitting smoking. If my partner (Ann) quits too, then the whole £300 a month will come from us quitting smoking. Makes me even more aware of what a waste of money it is! How I could afford to smoke in the first place has been a mystery to me. Perhaps that's why I was running up credit card bills too often

Anyone else putting the money aside? I move it daily using internet banking.

well done m8 very good,,,,i have not started saving it but i am going to bu a x5 bmw on the strenght of it ,im sorry that i never have credit so im gonna pull up for it and say to myself i woulda spent the money on smoking but instead i bought a car lol well done m8......

[Decider]

Over 2 weeks in and still going strong, very impressed with the lot of you.

I've just passed the 6 week mark without a single puff and have decided that with the money saved from not smoking I may as well put it to good use. So instead of leaving it in my savings account where it's tempting me to buy things I probably don't need, I've punted it into my mortgage account. It's actually the first time I've overpaid my mortgage even though I made sure I got a mortgage that allowed overpayments. It feels damn good to do it with burnt money. I stuck an extra £50 in for good measure and made it a round £300. I could have got some nice things with that, but when you look at the amount of interest saved over 20 years I know I'm doing the right thing. Aiming at sticking £300 extra a month into the mortage to reduce the term by almost 1/2. Most of the overpayment money will come from quitting smoking. If my partner (Ann) quits too, then the whole £300 a month will come from us quitting smoking. Makes me even more aware of what a waste of money it is! How I could afford to smoke in the first place has been a mystery to me. Perhaps that's why I was running up credit card bills too often

Anyone else putting the money aside? I move it daily using internet banking.

well done m8 very good,,,,i have not started saving it but i am going to bu a x5 bmw on the strenght of it ,im sorry that i never have credit so im gonna pull up for it and say to myself i woulda spent the money on smoking but instead i bought a car lol well done m8......

Good idea! I enjoy putting the money aside each day, and it's pretty good when I forget for a few days and have to put a chunk aside. It really does mount up. Tikay smoking 60 a day, now that's a heft amount of cash.

[Susanna]

This is my first post here...so hello all. Seems like a great site.

I am on day 9 of not smoking so I felt it was appropriate to make this my first post :-)

Well done to all of you who have stopped (and me)!

Best regards,
Susanna

PS: I've just spent some of ex-ciggy money on a poker mentor to mix my game up a bit and take it to the next level...maybe not smoking can be seen as an investment.

[tikay]

Wel done Decider, & Susanna, too.

It's 17 days today, & it gets easier by the day, though it never was difficult, not even once. I get the odd "pang", but nothing too bad, & it's easily dealt with.

No (outward) sign of "health benefits" yet, though I never I quit for health reasons, daft as that sounds. But I'm sleeping much, much, better, so thats a plus, in fact I'm sleeping way too much right now. And I'm eating much more, & enjoying it more. Sadly, a crash diet beckons, I've put a heap of weight on, so I've scheduled that to begin on November 1st, & to end on Christmas Day.

I drove down to London today, 2 weeks ago I recall dreading my first long drive without ciggies, but it never even crossed my mind today. A coffee & a sausage roll half way south, yep, but ciggies, nope.

My next target is Sunday, which will be 3 weeks. Should be a cinch.

[Chili]

How are you getting on tank? 

[thetank]

Still not smoked.

Not sure this is relevant, but I'll post it anyway as it's given me a little more motivation to stay off the fags.

My Grandad just got diagnosed with lung cancer.
He hasn't been a smoker for over 25 years, and doesn't go to pubs or any other smoky enviroments. It's jsut "one of those things"

They found it when he was in hospital a few weeks back with a spat of pneumonia. The admin lady was bemused that a man of 80 had no record of ever being in a hospital. He had never had cause to be admitted before, a very healthy man all his life.

The man is an octogenarian, so he was never going to live forever, but nevertheless it is very sad news. By all accounts radiotherapy is very hard to deal with. It's horrible to think he'll have to put up with that for his last years on this planet, knowing he's going to die anyway. Enduring the side effects with little or no light at the end of the tunnel.


It's just this year that one of my siblings have had their first baby. My Grandad is the last of my grandparents still alive. Nature doesn't seem to want to allow room for four generations too long.

[Chili]

Very sad to hear Thomas.  Why do these things happen to those that dont push their luck?  I wish your Grandad all the best.

[sofa----king]

what a  nice brave post to write about a family member,i wish your gramps the best of luck and wishes that he has lots of fun with the new baby,i think this is one of the best things ive ever done ,,,,,my wife and SON are so,so,proud of me ,and i am too ,but my son dont stop telling people lol,mind you hes only 9 ,good luck tank and to your gramps, god bless him.

[sofa----king]

i just thought to myself,,,,,havent we all done well ?i cant belive none of us has gone of the rail,mind you tony im putting on weight i think after this im going to do a sponsored charity diet for some really good cause,,any ideas??maybee something like a wheelchair or something  nice for someone special like a holiday ,i think this would give me a lot of motivationat moment im about 22 stone,heres a target i bet i could get £1k for every stone ,,,im getting myself at it writing this lol,i rekon i could get about £5k-£7k easy in about 6 months

[Decider]

Sorry to hear that tank, I know how you feel.

I spent Saturday clearing out the basement of my grandads house as he's too old to use the stuff he's collected for last 65 years and my Gran wanted it cleared for possible future surveyors. He's 85 now and his health has deteriorated rapidly in the last couple of years. He was a chemist, physisist and "scrap yard" owner when he was younger, some of the stuff he's collected is pretty impressive. He kept a close eye on what we were throwing out but you could see it was breaking his heart. So, needless to say, we couldn't get rid of a lot of stuff and put it back for another day.

[tikay]

Sorry Guys, but we can't let this thread drop off the page yet awhile!

Sunday evening - 24 hours from now - sees the blonde "Quit Smoking" initiative reach 3 weeks.

How many of us have survived thius far? I know Maria has, me too, what about Tank & James (Sofa-King)? Decider had lasted even longer - he is into "months" now I think!

The cost saving so far must be adding up, too. I was on 3 packs a day, call it £15 per day, = £105 per week x 3 weeks = £315. How much have the others saved, & how much have we saved between us, I wonder?

I am still sleeping much better, &, one assumes, my clothes smelling a litlle less smokey. The cat says the house smells better - well, less worse - too.

The bad news is the weight gain - the Crash Diet starts next week, Wednesday I think. (The 1st of November?).

[sofa----king]

i sometimes feel sick when i see that one of the ex-smokers post on here i allways think it may be a confession lol,well done tony your right lets not let this thread die its a good one and it will help others to stop,,,im nearly thinking of doing a weight loss thread im looking for a real good cause to keep me at it i know it will be a good cause for me but i wanna do it right like the smoking i rekon we could get a sponsered diet  going from blonde on here,for a real real good cause pm me if you think of any it got to be real special so that people dont fall off,,,,, well done all non smokers and thankyou for pms and support,,,.james EX SMOKER lol

[thetank]

I'm still off em. It's not that tough really.

No niggily pangy pains in my chest is a brucey bonus, feel much healthier.

Good luck with the diet Tikay. 

[JungleCat03]

wd everyone who's got this far.

I'm 4 weeks in and going strong.

Had a big test recently when i stayed for a week with my ex, who smokes a lot. I didn't waver though, well i wavered slightly on maybe 2 occasions but shook off the momentary desire quite easily (cigarettes not the ex btw!)
.