First Person: Quitting Smoking Will Save Me $1900 This Year

When a new year rolls in, many people make resolutions for their lives. I decided to partake in the trend and have now been smoke free for just a little over a week. While this is a huge health benefit, it is also going to be a big financial plus. This is how much quitting will save me, and what I plan to do with the money that is saved.

How much it cost me

I began smoking at a young age because it was all I saw around me. Recently there have been tax increases in my state of Illinois for cigarettes. As of two weeks ago, I was paying $6.35 a pack at the local gas station in town. At the most, I smoke one pack per day. When I calculated how much I spend a year on cigarettes, I was speechless. The numbers showed I would be spending $2317.75 in 2013. That is a large sum of money, and could definitely be used in another place.

What I will really save

Quitting is not easy, and I could never do it cold turkey. I am using gum in place of the cigarettes, so there is still some cost associated with this. The gum I prefer runs about $4 for three packs, and I chew roughly a pack a day. This means I am spending approximately $8 a week for gum. When I ran the numbers for that, it seems I will be spending $416 on gum for the year. That is a far cry from the $2300 that I would be spending on cigarettes. This means that even though I am still spending money on something, I am still saving $1901.75.

What I will do with the savings

With just over $1900 saved, there is so much I could do with the money. My husband and I are buying a house in the near future, and most of that will be added to the down payment account. I plan to take out $300 to do something fun with the kids and my husband as a celebration of a new outlook on life. I am placing the $6.35 in a jar each and every day in order to make sure the savings is being accrued and not spent elsewhere.

It is amazing to see how much money I was wasting on something that was so unhealthy. For several years I have spent over $2000 on these bad things, and have nothing to show for it. This year I will be saving $1901.75 and getting ahead on my housing down payment.

*Note: This was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Do you have a personal finance story that you'd like to share?

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