Just quit

[gUt]

Hi, this is a bit of a brag thread and intended for support for any smokers who are thinking of quitting or who've tried and failed and convinced themselves they can't.

On Saturday it will be 200 days since my last cigarette (my wife too). I calculated that between us we've saved nearly $8000 in that time in cigs alone (the weed also added up but she never touched that). We quit cold turkey and never wavered apart from the odd urge. I now run 15km per week and am gearing up to start upper body training once this f**king cold goes away.

Since I was 17 I was an on-again-off-again smoker. I stopped for years when my first kid was born but somehow, somewhere took it up again, put it down, took it up etc.

The thing I worry about is the Xmas party period but thankfully there just aren't that many smokers left in my orbit to tempt me and besides, I think this year I would have been able to resist anyway.

You can do it if you want to. I don't know anything about any nicotine replacement stuff because I've never used anything. Think of the money if nothing else. Just stop smoking. Yeah you will be a grumpy merkin for about a month, and probably a bit depressed for another 2 months after that. But really the only hard period is the first day, the first 2 days, the first week, and the first 2 weeks. If you make it to 2 weeks cold turkey, you've done it.

Just quit!

 

[The Charlatan]

Congrats fella. At the start of this month I have been 9 years smoke free.

I smoked over a carton of smokes a week for about 7 or 8 years.

Worked on the average cost of smokes over that 9 year period, I've saved about $82K over that time.

 

[gUt]

f**k me think of that money out of your account right now

 

[jargan83]

Congrats and well done!

 

[thorson1987]

It's been over 5 years since I quit.

Was on a Bucks weekend in Coffs and just smoked so much (used to smoke alot more when drinking and we drank the whole 3 days we were up there).

Bought a packet the morning we left and on the drive home finally decided it was enough. Will finish the packet and than that's it.

Had the last smoke out of that packet the next morning and was done. Had the odd craving but was easy enough to get through.

I learnt that to be successful at getting off them I needed to actually want to quit for myself, not just try to do it because everyone wanted me to.

 

[The Charlatan]

f**k me think of that money out of your account right now

Well I'm ahead on my mortgage, and the wife and I saved for our wedding and honeymoon in 18 months, so it's quitting has paid for itself right there.

 

[Lambretta]

The hardest thing about quitting was always going out drinking
Once you were in a pub and others were smoking it was hard to say no

Thankfully these days with smoking banned in pubs that temptation is virtually non existant

Banning smoking in pubs was the best thing they ever did

Now it's just plain weird to see people smoking.

 

[The Charlatan]

The hardest thing about quitting was always going out drinking
Once you were in a pub and others were smoking it was hard to say no

Thankfully these days with smoking banned in pubs that temptation is virtually non existant

Banning smoking in pubs was the best thing they ever did

Now it's just plain weird to see people smoking.

Crammed into the outdoor pokies area like sardines?

 

[thorson1987]

The hardest thing about quitting was always going out drinking
Once you were in a pub and others were smoking it was hard to say no

Thankfully these days with smoking banned in pubs that temptation is virtually non existant

Banning smoking in pubs was the best thing they ever did

Now it's just plain weird to see people smoking.

I never had that issue. Going out drinking with smokers a week after I quit had no problem not having one.

 

[Lambretta]

Crammed into the outdoor pokies area like sardines?

When I used to smoke, you could smoke anywhere in the pub (yeah, I'm that old)
Thankfully these days, its not a problem

 

[Lambretta]

I never had that issue. Going out drinking with smokers a week after I quit had no problem not having one.

Smoking was banned in pubs further back that 5 years wasn't it?
I was referring to the days when people smoked inside pubs - people would light up next to you
Twas harder then

 

[The Charlatan]

When I used to smoke, you could smoke anywhere in the pub (yeah, I'm that old)
Thankfully these days, its not a problem

• You could smoke in pubs when I did. I'm 33. Just couldn't smoke within 2m of the bar IIRC.

 

[Life's Good]

Well done to you for kicking the habit.
It’s the best type of ‘quitting’ to be associated with.

 

[Sans Souci Sainter]

My earliest memory (about 4 years old, hadn’t started school) was one of my Dad smoking with one his mates and his mate telling me to have a drag on his ciggy and I’d never try one again. I did, and I remember running through the house to the tap to get the taste out of my mouth.

I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life because of it. It worked.

I have two young daughters and the thought has crossed my mind many times to do the same to them, but I haven’t. I reckon I’d probably get hauled away if I did.

Hopefully society has changed enough so they don’t take it up.

As far as financial savings go, I’ve found plenty of other vices to waste my dough on.

Now, if some random relative had forced my hand to fill out a quaddie ticket while ripping one of my ear lobes off, well, I’d be posting this from a far more exotic location.

 

[Life's Good]

The hardest thing about quitting was always going out drinking
Once you were in a pub and others were smoking it was hard to say no

Thankfully these days with smoking banned in pubs that temptation is virtually non existant

Banning smoking in pubs was the best thing they ever did

Now it's just plain weird to see people smoking.

This is why my mates & I loved going to Evan theatre at Panthers back in the late 90’s. It was a non smoking venue(ahead of its time)so you would leave there & not have the stench of the filthy weed on you or your clothes.
The banning of smoking in public places & bars was a very good piece of legislation(coming from someone who worked for a tobacco company for close to 13 years).

 

[thorson1987]

Smoking was banned in pubs further back that 5 years wasn't it?
I was referring to the days when people smoked inside pubs - people would light up next to you
Twas harder then

Used to be anywhere, then they started making smoking areas smaller and smaller, eventually leading to the small smoke filled pokie rooms and outdoor areas.

Alot of my mates still smoked when I quit so I would just go out to the smoking areas with them for a bit. I still occasionally go into the pokie room as I am one of those people who stick to one or 2 types of machine, so if all the ones inside are taken I'll put up with the smokers.

 

[thorson1987]

My earliest memory (about 4 years old, hadn’t started school) was one of my Dad smoking with one his mates and his mate telling me to have a drag on his ciggy and I’d never try one again. I did, and I remember running through the house to the tap to get the taste out of my mouth.

I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life because of it. It worked.

I have two young daughters and the thought has crossed my mind many times to do the same to them, but I haven’t. I reckon I’d probably get hauled away if I did.

Hopefully society has changed enough so they don’t take it up.

As far as financial savings go, I’ve found plenty of other vices to waste my dough on.

Now, if some random relative had forced my hand to fill out a quaddie ticket while ripping one of my ear lobes off, well, I’d be posting this from a far more exotic location.

I had my 1st at 12, started full time smoking at 15 and would buy 2 packs a week (knowing the people who ran the corner store near my school made it easy to purchase them), one for myself and the other I would keep incase people wanted to buy some off me at school. Would charge $1 a smoke when a pack of Winfield Gold 25's would cost me $10.

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

I gave up almost 18 months ago and went cold turkey. I isolated myself from my colleagues at lunch time as the vast majority smoked/still do, for a couple of weeks. That and giving up the drink for a month really helped me through the initial withdrawl period. Now I really couldn't imagine myself having one.

 

[Smack]

Getting off the cigs again, cold turkey. It's only been a day and I want to kill someone.

 

[Life's Good]

Getting off the cigs again, cold turkey. It's only been a day and I want to kill someone.

Hope you are staying the course. It’s only a good thing.