Reward Yourself With Money Saved From Quitting

When I initially decided to stop smoking, one of the major factors was the money that I could save. Here in New Jersey, it's well over six dollars a pack. Figuring myself at a little over a pack a day, that's an easy 50 bucks weekly, two hundred a month.

If you're giving up cigarettes, or have given them up, you've surely considered the money spent over the years. What are you doing with yours? Something, I hope.

I keep mine tucked away, and every once in awhile it's a nice bonus to have it there for impulse spending. Depending on circumstances, a person could easily use that cash to go out to dinner or have some kind of a night on the town every couple of weeks.

Maybe you want a copy of Guitar Hero, or your own domain name (just so you know, it's uber-geeky to have your own name registered as a dot com, I think I'm gonna go for it). Hell, for that kind of money, you can probably make payments on a nice entry level car. When I say nice, I mean that it's this year's model, not necessarily nice as in power windows and air conditioning.

I guess it's been about nine days quit for me today, and I didn't have any really bad cravings over the weekend consciously, but I was halfway between insomniac and inconsolable most of yesterday. Managed to sleep like a rock overnight, and today is much better.

I'm taking myself camping this coming weekend with my quit money, what are you doing with yours?

What To Expect When Quitting Smoking

A common question for those about to quit is, "What should I expect?"

Coming off nicotine will trigger withdrawal symptoms that vary widely from individual to individual. One thing that seems true though, is that the symptoms seem to be worse and longer lasting for people who have been smokers for longer periods of time. So if you're considering quitting the cancer sticks, it will be easier on you if you start sooner rather than later.

Some of the most common symptoms include:

• Headache
• Tightness in chest
• Nausea
• Feeling of fatigue or exhaustion
• Insomnia (quite frustrating when combined with the above)
• Increased appetite (almost universal, this one)
• Depression
• Irritability
  
• Unusually vivid dreams

Just remember that whatever symptoms you're experiencing will fade soon enough, sometimes surprisingly abruptly.

Most of the nicotine is gone from your system between three and seven days after your last cigarette. If you're still experiencing discomfort after that time, it's good advice to adopt the mindset that the worst of your symptoms will be disappearing any time now.

Think mind over matter, and use it to your advantage. Don't talk yourself into having prolonged withdrawal symptoms.

It's been around three and a half days for me, and I still might be just a little more irritable than normal (it can be hard to decide if this is even a withdrawal symptom for me, as I can go from zero to crabass in less than four seconds if I haven't gotten enough beauty sleep), but otherwise my worst thing might be the not-quite-quenchable tendency to eat anything sweet that finds itself in my field of vision.

Maybe I'll get on the scale tomorrow.

Day 2 Of Quitting Smoking Success

Operation quit smoking continues to run smoothly. Day 2 of a wonderful success story. I have not been able to find any hard and fast info regarding sunflower seeds, though I swear I remember reading something last time about them containing a vitamin or something that was beneficial to the process of quitting. I'll keep on the prowl for this, because now I'm curious.

Quitting sure did make me tired yesterday, I've probably slept for around 12 of the last 24 hours, certainly a 2007 record for me. I've been a little more moody and irritable since I quit smoking, but not as bad as I expected. I also haven't left the house since Saturday, so we'll see how things pan out for the rest of the week.

The outside world usually finds some way to aggravate me if I spend enough time to give it the chance. Hey, I did say I was a little irritable.