Pocket Change

POCKET CHANGE  is from my blog, and can stand repeating:

How can pocket change make a difference in your life? Well think about how much weight it adds to your purse or your pockets, and how that affects your spine, because it is usually carried all on one side. Finding a place at home to keep that change is good, and saves on chiropractor adjustments. A huge jar, box or drawer works fine. Now if you are a smoker there is probably never enough pocket change, or coins laying around. You are always looking for enough money to get that last pack of cigarettes before payday, to keep from spending extra gas to go to the ATM. If you buy by the carton then those 10 packs are usually gone faster than if you have to scrounge it pack by pack. You are in bondage my friend. You are owned by the addiction, and your pocket change will never be of any value to you, as you will be spending it on the next draw, and flushing that money down a rat hole.

For the non-smokers let me tell you what you gain by not smoking. It does no good to tell a smoker to quit, it's like telling a fat lady to quit eating, unless she wants to lose weight you are just blowing smoke. That pocket change adds up, just remember Benjamen Franklin said "a penny saved is a penny earned." What does that really mean? It means that's one less penny you have to work for, that's what it means. Every time you break a dollar there's usually change, and if you consistently put that change in a place at home, and don't carry it with you it will mount up in time. A pack of cigarettes now costs somewhere between $3-$4, and a carton ranges from $25-$50 depending on where you live in the USA. There are ten packs in a carton, so if you smoke a pack a day, that's ten days worth of poison.

Here is some math for you:

10 days into 30 days = 3 cartons per month X $35 (ave cost) = $105. per month;

now take 12 months in a year X $105 pr mo = $1,260. per year.

Now for $1,260. you could buy a new washer and dryer, the best dishwasher, or even a nice refrigerator. Let's look at this from a male point of view. You want a flat screen tv for watching the football games, car races or some other male thing. That same $1,260 at Sam's club buys a nice flat screen TV.

Let's take that pocket change a bit further down the road. Your car is a piece of crap, and doesn't get good gas mileage. If you saved that cigarette money, and kept that pocket change where noone could get it, then in three years you would have $3, 780., and that's a nice down payment on a new car. Being thrifty could net you a new car without all those finance charges that come along with a car loan. In ten years you could drop $26, 460. on a new car or truck. Let's go a bit further, if you smoke two packs of cigarettes a day, then in ten years you would have $52,920.; now if that doesn't make you wish you had quit ten years ago nothing will!

Given the above calculations the three to four pack a day smoker has just smoked up an entire house! In my area, which is less expensive than rest of the country. So every time you want to light up, just think about what it really costs you. It isn't that $3-4 you spent on a pack yesterday, it's the accumalitive effect that is stealing not only a tv, dishwasher, car or house from you, it's the unknown costs of health issues in hospital and doctor bills, but an early death.

Is a pack of cigarettes pocket change? If you think so you are just plain deceived, because it is far more than you would be willing to pay, if you think about it. Do you have the health insurance for cancer, a nursing home or other diseases like COPD? I'm not telling you to quit, just count the cost and tell me if you can afford it. For the nonsmoker, this pocket change will add up to your wants and desires being fulfilled ten times faster. Especially if you save this money instead of that extra movie, eating out, or new clothes. Pocket change? NO, I don't think so.