One packet of 25 cigarettes costs around $10.50, and the price keeps rising. If you need an added incentive to quit, think about how much of your pay packet is going up in smoke every week.
What could you do for yourself and your family with that extra money? More than you think. At today’s prices, if you smoke one pack of cigarettes per day for 10 years, you’ll spend over $38,000 – easily enough to buy a new car.
After one day
After one day of not smoking, you’ve got an extra $10.50 in your pocket. You could treat yourself to a café lunch or buy a couple of your favourite magazines.
The health benefits of not smoking for one day include:
• Most of the nicotine is cleared from your body.
• Your blood pressure and heart rate are dropping towards normal levels.
After two days
You’ve saved $21. You could go to the movies.
The health benefits of not smoking for two days include:
• Your senses of smell and taste begin to improve.
• You notice that your skin, hair and breath smell fresher.
• Less carbon monoxide in your system means your lungs are more efficient.
After one week
Now you’ve got an extra $73.50 in your pocket. You could take someone to dinner or the theatre, or buy a few books, CDs or DVDs.
The health benefits of not smoking for one week include:
• The small hair-like structures that clean your lungs, called cilia, are starting to work again. Accumulated phlegm from smoking will loosen and you will start to cough it up.
• Your body is purged of most nicotine by-products.
After one month
You’ve saved $320. You could go away for a weekend, buy a new television or treat yourself to some new clothes.
The health benefits of not smoking for one month include:
• Your lungs are working more efficiently.
• Exercising is easier.
• Your blood pressure has returned to normal.
• Your immune system is starting to recover.
After three to six months
After three months you’ve saved over $950, enough for a return ticket to New Zealand with extra spending money or a new home theatre package including a DVD player and speakers. After six months, you’ve got $1,910 to spend. You could pay for a holiday in Queensland or a return ticket to London or the United States.
The health benefits of not smoking for three to six months include:
• You don’t cough and wheeze as much anymore. Your lung function has continued to improve.
• Blood flow to your extremities, like fingers and toes, improves.
After one year
You’ve saved $3,830, enough for an around-the-world plane ticket or a new computer system.
The health benefits of not smoking for one year include:
• Your increased risk of premature death from heart attack is halved.
Other cost-saving benefits of quitting
If you quit smoking, you’ll save money in many other ways, including:
• You’re less likely to suffer from respiratory infections, which means fewer trips to the doctor, less money spent on medications and fewer sick days.
• You won’t need so many visits to the dentist to have your teeth professionally cleaned.
• You don’t have to spend as much time and money on maintaining the house. For example, smoking inside your home discolours paint and wallpaper.
• You cut down on your cleaning bills because clothes, furniture upholstery and the interior of your car no longer stink of cigarette smoke.
Future benefits
The health and financial benefits of quitting continue as the years go by.
• Your chances of conceiving a baby improve. Smoking can cause fertility problems, such as impotence in men and increased risk of miscarriage in women.
• Within two to five years, your risk of stroke is substantially reduced. You’ve also saved between $7,500 and $19,000.
• After 10 years, your risk of lung cancer is less than half that of a continuing smoker and continues to decline (provided the disease is not already present). You’ve also saved over $38,000.
• After 15 years, your risk of coronary heart disease is nearly the same as a lifetime non-smoker. You’ve also saved over $57,000.
Where to get help
• Your doctor
• Your pharmacist
