I FOUND SOME OLD RECEIPTS FROM 2015 AND 2016

[230RN]

They were among some "Miscellaneous Miscellany" in back of my old desk's top drawer..  Have no idea why I kept them, but the one from  02 Nov 2015 was $67.17 for a carton of "MRT 100 GOLD NP" cigarettes. The other one from 13 APR 2016 was for $67.94 for the same item, neither number includes tax.

Not sure what brand I was smoking, but "MRT" looks like Marlboro, and I still have a Marlboro baseball cap.

I was smoking easy, no sweat, a pack and a half a day, usually more.

Roughly, for either date, that works out to about $3600 per year, again, roughly, equivalent to about $5000 in  today's money.

I quit in September of 2017. It was rough.  Took five days, cold turkey, by guts and grit.

Today is September 4th, 2024

Terry, 230RN.

[Bogie]

So, we're gonna be hearing about a nice custom shotgun?

[BobR]

Part of doing triage in the ER is asking people if they use tobacco products, and how much. I used to keep track of the price of cigarettes and I would only point out the monetary cost every year their habit was costing them and ask if they could use that money for something else. I didn't even talk about the health benefits, if you don't know them by now as an adult you must be living under a rock. I would like to think once the cost was pointed out and what they could do with that every year it planted a seed and maybe a few actually quit smoking.

bob

[HankB]

Part of doing triage in the ER is asking people if they use tobacco products, and how much. I used to keep track of the price of cigarettes and I would only point out the monetary cost every year their habit was costing them and ask if they could use that money for something else. I didn't even talk about the health benefits, if you don't know them by now as an adult you must be living under a rock. I would like to think once the cost was pointed out and what they could do with that every year it planted a seed and maybe a few actually quit smoking.

bob

I remember listening to Dave Ramsey's call-in radio program (among other things, he offers advice on how to dig yourself out of deep debt) and he had a woman caller (deep in debt) who admitted that she and her husband were addicted to Starbuck's Coffee to the tune of well over $5000/year. Ramsey advised they get a coffee maker and a couple of good thermos jugs and brew their own.

She flatly refused to consider it, because she and hubby needed their Starbucks and only Starbucks. Three times a day. Each.   

(Afterwards, I began to wonder if it was someone from Starbucks Marketing who called in and used the show to score a free commercial.   )

[MechAg94]

I remember listening to Dave Ramsey's call-in radio program (among other things, he offers advice on how to dig yourself out of deep debt) and he had a woman caller (deep in debt) who admitted that she and her husband were addicted to Starbuck's Coffee to the tune of well over $5000/year. Ramsey advised they get a coffee maker and a couple of good thermos jugs and brew their own.

She flatly refused to consider it, because she and hubby needed their Starbucks and only Starbucks. Three times a day. Each.   

(Afterwards, I began to wonder if it was someone from Starbucks Marketing who called in and used the show to score a free commercial.   )

That was always the problem with the financial call in shows.  Most of the people knew damn well what they were spending too much money on, but wanted someone else to tell them to do it or refused to even acknowledge the issue. 

[JTHunter]

They were among some "Miscellaneous Miscellany" in back of my old desk's top drawer..  Have no idea why I kept them, but the one from  02 Nov 2015 was $67.17 for a carton of "MRT 100 GOLD NP" cigarettes. The other one from 13 APR 2016 was for $67.94 for the same item, neither number includes tax.

Not sure what brand I was smoking, but "MRT" looks like Marlboro, and I still have a Marlboro baseball cap.

I was smoking easy, no sweat, a pack and a half a day, usually more.

Roughly, for either date, that works out to about $3600 per year, again, roughly, equivalent to about $5000 in  today's money.

I quit in September of 2017. It was rough.  Took five days, cold turkey, by guts and grit.

Today is September 4th, 2024

Terry, 230RN.

Good for you !!
Those damned things killed my grandmother, 4 days before her daughter's (my mother) 47th birthday and 2 weeks before my 21st. 

[Brad Johnson]

That was always the problem with the financial call in shows.  Most of the people knew damn well what they were spending too much money on, but wanted someone else to tell them to do it or refused to even acknowledge the issue. 

Working with a couple in the same situation. Friend called me in to be the Disinterested Third Party for a couple he's friends with. Long story short, they're in over their heads because of a "Enjoy it now!" lifestyle. Not so far they can't easily get out with a few changes, but enough that it has them in a bind. Aside from the obvious things like too much house and car, which they actually didn't go too far overboard on, they have a penchant for leisure craft. Boat, jet skies, motorcycles (dirt and street), and a travel trailer - all financed, all in paid storage, and all of which get used maybe five or six times a year at most per activity. The only ones that get used more are the dirt bikes, which they take out most sunny weekends. If they got rid of everything except the dirt bikes, they could be back in the good in five or six months. It would serious financial discipline for that period, but otherwise easily doable. After that, they could live quite well on their current income, actually better than they are now considering the elimination of a few thou a month in debt obligation.

They'll talk about it. They'll dance around it. They'll give it lip service. The one thing they won't do is act on it. They desperately want to do something about their financial situation, but apparently that "something" doesn't include the easiest, most obvious route. They have about a year until the situation borders on unrecoverable, which they verbally acknowledge but don't really seem to comprehend.

They're both reasonably well educated and otherwise very nice folks who are decently sensical, but don't seem capable of intellectualizing the situation they're in.

Brad

[HankB]

Working with a couple in the same situation. Friend called me in to be the Disinterested Third Party for a couple he's friends with. Long story short, they're in over their heads because of a "Enjoy it now!" lifestyle. Not so far they can't easily get out with a few changes, but enough that it has them in a bind. Aside from the obvious things like too much house and car, which they actually didn't go too far overboard on, they have a penchant for leisure craft. Boat, jet skies, motorcycles (dirt and street), and a travel trailer - all financed, all in paid storage, and all of which get used maybe five or six times a year at most per activity. The only ones that get used more are the dirt bikes, which they take out most sunny weekends. If they got rid of everything except the dirt bikes, they could be back in the good in five or six months. It would serious financial discipline for that period, but otherwise easily doable. After that, they could live quite well on their current income, actually better than they are now considering the elimination of a few thou a month in debt obligation.

They'll talk about it. They'll dance around it. They'll give it lip service. The one thing they won't do is act on it. They desperately want to do something about their financial situation, but apparently that "something" doesn't include the easiest, most obvious route. They have about a year until the situation borders on unrecoverable, which they verbally acknowledge but don't really seem to comprehend.

They're both reasonably well educated and otherwise very nice folks who are decently sensical, but don't seem capable of intellectualizing the situation they're in.

Brad

Shortly after I graduated and got my first job, a colleague at the lunch table was lamenting his financial situation - all his credit cards were maxed out and he and his wife were struggling to make the payments. He was a senior level chemist so I had a pretty good idea what he was making (more than me - I was still a relative newbie and salaries went up about 15% per level) and he said his wife "made more than he did" . . . so I was puzzled, since I thought I was doing OK financially on less money. 

I asked "Since you brought up the subject I gotta ask - did you have some sort of emergency that put you into debt? If it's none of my business, just say so . . . "   He shook his head and said no, no emergency . . . he and his wife just like buying "stuff" too much. But cutting back is hard for both of them.

"Well, if that's the case . . . all I've got is that when you're in a deep hole, you have to stop digging."  He responded that everyone he'd talked to had given them the same advice.

I think he & his wife eventually got things sorted out, but of course I don't know the details.

[230RN]

"After that, they could live quite well on their current income, actually better than they are now considering the elimination of a few thou a month in debt obligation."

Interesting how that parallels the United States "budget." Just increase the debt limit regularly.  But of course, da goobermink can just print more IOU notes any time it wants to, the "U" being your grandchildren.

The cost of cigarettes wasn't the main reason I quit smoking but it sure helped.  And the agony and stress of cold turkey quitting was certainly worth it.  Best of luck to your sample couple and I hope they go cold turkey, too.

Terry, 230RN