There I was, with a bank account almost empty and some change, buying cigarettes at the local convenience store.  I remember leaving the store, wondering how I was going to pay for the next day of cigarettes. On the way home I began to think about all my bills and the lack of funds.  I was still under the false assumption that cigarettes were not the cause of my woes. Twenty eight years of a smoking addiction had clouded my judgment and ruined my health, but still, my mind refused to accept the fact that smoking could have any thing to do with it. Don't misunderstand; I knew my health was failing.  I also understood all the risk, but the physical and psychological addiction was doing all the thinking for me. It was obvious to me that a cigarette had become my best friend. It had become my world and the universe.

That same day I arrived home from the store with two packs of cigarettes and broke. My wife and I both enjoyed smoking. We sat on the porch smoking and talking about the increased price of cigarettes and our financial problems.  It was then that my wife appealed to my cheap side.  She said “You know, between the two of us we are spending about three hundred sixty dollars a month just on cigarettes”.

Ironically we had to borrow three hundred dollars to cover an over drafted bank account that same day. I began thinking if both of us quit smoking it would go a long ways to cure our financial problems. Before I could say anything my wife suggested that we quit smoking thus saving a large amount of money every month. What she didn't know was that she had me at three hundred sixty dollars a month.

Just a side note:  we also decided to unplug the televisions and suspend the satellite TV service for six months. We had tried this before, and we saved approximately one hundred dollars just on the power bill. This time, we are cutting out the satellite service which saves about fifty dollars a month. In total that will cut our debt by about five hundred dollars per month.  Also because of the damage of smoking it cost less not smoking in medicines, smoking incidentals such as lighters, filters etc.

I quit smoking, and I am not going to say it has been easy.  As a matter of fact, it has been very difficult, but I am confident that I can do it.  It seems to get better by the day, and I plan on taking it one day at a time.  I had been smoking for approximately twenty eight years, and I have a long way to go.  I would like to encourage anyone reading this to give up the habit.  Don't do it for some one else; do it for yourself, and live long enough to see your grandchildren. Live long enough to be a burden to your children or maybe long enough to accomplish a life long goal.

If I fall, I will get back up and walk again.

If I walk through the mud and get muddy, I have myself to blame. I could have gone around it.

If you want to know what it fells like to quit smoking, go tell your best friend to never speak to you again and lean on no one.

I have walked in darkness to long, and now I walk to the light. My journey will be long, but I shall not loose sight of the light again.