Stopping smoking

About 25 years ago the very cheap brands I smoked went just over the £2 mark for 20! I think they were Red Band and Gold Mark. I commented to the girl in our local shop and she joked that I should turn to roll ups. She sorted me out with tobacco, papers and a rolling machine! 🤣 I had never rolled a cigarette in my life and rolled it so tight that I couldn’t draw on it. My family thought it was hilarious. I smoked them for a few years and packed up completely 21 years ago.

Nearly £20 a packet is staggering.

Good gosh, £17 per pack is incredible. They just keep going up, but that surely fuels the black market.

I smoked 10 a day and that was quite enough but people often smoked 20 a day. That would be £17 a day, £517 a month, or £6,205 per year. In my case £258 per month, wow! I couldn't afford that. It's totally bonkers. I don't know how anyone can smoke in the current cost of living crisis. 💰💰💰

Just looked this up Oreo
You are right - I think the cheapest are about that and it seems most are £17+.

If you are a Dunhill smoker their Dunhill International seem to be around the £20 a pack mark.

I hope everyone stopping smoking can save lots of money - and it's clearly worth doing financially as well as health wise (even if you roll-your-own as tobacco prices are still high).

Good luck everyone. I hope you do get to treat yourselves a little with the savings.

How can people afford to smoke these days? I think a pack of 20 costs around £15!
Well done to all those who have given up.

Schnackie2

Dogsmum2 thanks for the tips about sugar free polos. I will buy some today. I had previously had great (?) success with Champix (stopped for 4 months) and was pleased to hear that they had developed Varenicline as a replacement when Champix got discontinued. Sorry to hear you are having difficulty, but stick with it. Maybe read some of Allen Carr's book. It just makes sense. I am perservering and read every response and have gone back to all the previous threads and read them in great detail. You are all like my personal support group!

Be careful of sugar free polo's - they can have a laxative effect if you eat too many..........

xxxxxx

Dogsmum2 thanks for the tips about sugar free polos. I will buy some today. I had previously had great (?) success with Champix (stopped for 4 months) and was pleased to hear that they had developed Varenicline as a replacement when Champix got discontinued. Sorry to hear you are having difficulty, but stick with it. Maybe read some of Allen Carr's book. It just makes sense. I am perservering and read every response and have gone back to all the previous threads and read them in great detail. You are all like my personal support group!

keep at it you can do it ..

Hi Schnackie2. Hello fellow giver upper. Well done, you are doing brilliantly.

I am at around week 8 of not smoking after over 40 years. I am using the tablets - Varenicline. They are horrible, but have worked for me, so far. I am also sipping water all day and instead of mint imperials i have the low sugar polo's - as my sugar levels crept up!

I said to the pharmacist a week or two ago that my cravings now are worse than in the first couple of days/weeks, she said that was entirely common between weeks 7 - 10 so i am buckling up and hoping to get through these weeks.

Keep going, i know how hard it really is xxx

Schnackie2 and others.
I'm not a smoker but wishing you all success.
Some of you have done amazingly well!
🏆

Well done shnackie. Its one of the hardest things I've done,but so so worth it. Keep going girl you've got this 💪.

Well done for giving up the ciggies, Its 53 years since I stopped
I had stopped for a week, then OH and I went out at the weekend for a drink, a woman at the same table offered me a cigaret, I took it, and when I got home I was sick...I think it had more to do with the vodka, but every time I thought about cigs afterwards, I felt sick, I haven't smoked since. so good for you..

shnackie2

When I quit I planned it with military precision. I gave myself a date I would pack up about a month ahead. During that period I cleaned a room at a time and got rid of anything smoking related, emptied handbags, pockets, drawers etc. as I did each room that then became a non smoking room. I did likewise in my car and summerhouse. I even cleaned out the panniers on my bike as they were a hiding place! 🤣 everywhere was clean and fresh and I sprayed each room with a beautiful spray. It worked for me anyway.

We both gave up smoking 45 years ago after several attempts, we were living in Germany at the time so they were duty free, no way could we afford to smoke in England, it was hard but so worth it.
Well done Shnackie2 you’ve done the worst bit, keep at it, you’ll have enough saved to buy something you’ve always wanted, or go on holiday maybe.
The best part for us both was realising how much better food tasted and realising how much nicer everything smells.

And I can quite understand why. Smoking leaves its mark on furniture, carpets, light fittings and walls and seeps into the plaster.

Shnackie2, you are very lucky to have a landlord who lets you smoke in the house! Most these days specify "non-smokers only"...

I was a heavy smoker and had tried to stop smoking on so many occasions but I wasn't successful until I used the Alan Carr method. It worked for me and I haven't smoked for nearly 40 years. I'm fitter, calmer and no longer have sinusitis. I also don't stink of tobacco. It's a really good feeling to be free of the addiction. Please keep it up, we are all wishing you success.

My brother in law was a very heavy smoker , up to 60 a day. Never thought he would,or could stop until one day he picked up the book by Alan Carr,I think it was called The easy way to stop smoking. He read the book until the very last page smoking as he was reading. Once he got to the last page he quit and never smoked another cigarette again.

AskAlice oh, I have the same living room as you do!! So horrible, there is nicotine on every single thing in the room. My dear landlord has redecorated every other room in the flat, but when he has offered to paint the living room, I tell him 'sadly, there is no point until I quit smoking'. I have been here 14 years and he will be so happy in the next year when I finally ask him very nicely, to do the living room!!

I am in the middle of reading Alan Carr's book on my Kindle, having smoked for 54 years. Well done Shnackie2, something to be very proud of so keep it up! I do so hope it works for me too. I am at the stage where I am so fed up and ashamed at being a slave to the dreaded weed.

When I quit, I plan on having my living room thoroughly de-nicotinised and redecorated with the money I save! It's the only place in the house where I smoke and I am embarassed when friends and family visit - they must notice the stains and smell.

Well done and now there's no turning back. You've done it. I stopped a few years ago after smoking on and off for 50 years, a ghastly thought!

I flirted with vapes for a while but to be honest I found them worse than cigarettes. They would catch me in the throat and it wasn't nice. I could never switch over to vapes, I really disliked them.

So eventually I made the decision to stop and just threw them all away. I had done it many times before but this was the final time. And I found it so easy once I had made the decision and they were gone. Just remember you too have made that decision and you won't turn back.

AsMayBe70 says, nicotine is very addictive.
It’s nearly 50 years since I stopped smoking, but I love the aroma and could have one today (obviously I wouldn’t)😀
I did surround myself with non-smoking friends who helped me a lot.
Good luck and a great idea to see how financially well you will be doing 👍

These comments are so very motivating!! Today has been difficult but your words have been helpful. A bottle of water is a good idea, (I will add a drop of lemon squash) and could be a distraction from the mints. Well done to all of you who have been successful!!

I've never smoked, but I appreciate how addictive nicotine is. My OH smoked for nearly 60 years, but switched to vapes after knee replacement. However, after a few years of vapes, he realised he was vaping more than he used to smoke and decided to stop. A forthcoming trip, when he realised he was going to have problems with carrying vapes on flights (not allowed in checked in bags and often confiscated from carry on), was the incentive. He's now about 6 weeks off the vapes, but still feels the craving. But it is possible to stop - I really didn't think he would succeed.

Well done Schnackie!

Now when you are tempted you can read all these encouraging comments to keep you on the straight and narrow 😊

Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances on the planet and giving up smoking is incredibly difficult. I had a pretend cigarette that I used to smoke. A bottle of water that you can sip throughout the day helps, too as it replaces the physical aspect of smoking. You have to look at situations in which you would reach for a cigarette and avoid them. I’ve still got an Allan Carr cd that I used at the time and did find it helpful. I don’t think doctors surgeries are helpful because the people helping you usually don’t understand how difficult it is.