Besides the health benefits you can reach when you stop smoking – you can greatly reduce your risk of cancer and heart attack – there are important monetary benefits as well.

Let’s say you are a pack a day smoker, and the cost of a pack of cigarettes is $3.50.  That equals $24.50 per week or $1,274 per year!  Think about what you could do with that extra money.  You could set it aside for your children’s education in a 529 savings plan.  You could fund a portion of your Roth IRA (you’ll be living longer now, so you need to plan for it!).  Basically, you need to think about lighting up as burning money, because that, in essence, is what you are doing. Stopping smoking today can help you secure better physical and monetary health.

In researching this post, I found all sorts of methods touted to help people give up the smoking habit (or methods of smoking cessation, as many web sites put it).  I found sites advocating hypnosis, acupuncture, and even ear magnets.

My recommendation would be to find trusted sources and avoid fad methods.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a quit smoking site that has a number of resources.

Good luck!

Originally posted on pfhacks.com: Save Big Money When You Quit Smoking