Who's smoking whom?

[Star]

not anytime in the near future that's for sure. it's the only thing keeping me sane! Maybe later on. I know that Kassandra would love nothing more then for both of us to quit but unless hubby's willing to quit with me (he smokes a lot more then i do - at least 1 pack a day), then it'll be way too hard for me to quit. He has talked about it so maybe we can do that together later on sometime. Our lives are way too stressful right now to even try it. I'd become the biggest bitch in the world!

[Samson]

The financial incentive would be enough for me: I'm guessing cigaretts aren't cheap in Canada, Land-of-Socialized-Medicine: At 4 USD/pack, a pack a day habit costs the smoker $1,660/yr, or $120/month.

Of course, with the Canadian income tax rate which pay for Socialized Medicine, (plus the sums that go into Canadian defense, ensuring that North America never needs to worry about the threat of Greenlanders invading the continent) you must earn, I'd guess an additional 30%, or $156/month to pay for the habit.

New Car, New Carpeting, Florida Vacations?

[Star]

we can still have our new cars or vacations if we want.

we don't drink alcohol or do drugs. so, we spend it on cigarettes instead. it adds up to the same, maybe less then what most people will spend on alcohol so it evens out I think.

[Samson]

Cars and vacations are only suggestions for how these resouces might be redirected.

My point was not to imply that these things weren't affordable while paying for a nicotine addiction, but that there may be many other things (substitutes?) that would allow the simultaneous consumption of your resources without the potentially harmful effects of smoking (additional opportunity costs).

At any rate I do derive some comfort from the fact that somewhere out there, someone is able to afford to choose to jeapordize their health while I drive around in the same Toyota Corrola with its cracked windshield for the next decade wondering if I might afford to send my kids to summer camp if I teach summer school and Delilah gets a raise in wage beyond the $10/hr she's currently making.

[Star]

I understand what you're saying about wasted money. But really, doesn't everyone waste money someplace or another? Going out to a restaurant, a movie, a vacation, bars, spending money on lots of things that we don't really need and we can live without. That's all money that could go to something else right? Even people that can't afford anything wastes money. I think it's human nature.

I agree that smoking is a health hazzard, I'm not saying it isn't. I know this and everyone else who smokes knows it as well. I don't blow smoke in anybody's faces and if I'm with a non-smoker, I respect that non-smoker and won't smoke in a closed area with him/her. I'll go outside.

It's not that easy of a habit to break once you're hooked to it. I wish it were easy because then I wouldn't be smoking. For us smokers, it becomes a way of life. We wake up, we have a smoke. We eat, we have a smoke afterwards. We talk on the phone, we have a smoke. We drive, we have a smoke. We're bored, we smoke. We drink, we smoke (that 's when we smoke too much!).

When my husband isn't home (he's working), I don't smoke nearly as much as I do when he does come home. That's because he smokes more then I do and asks me to go down and have a smoke with him for company, so I smoke a little more. Good thing he works long hours!

I hate to see kids with a smoke in their mouths. They have no idea how much they'll regret smoking once they get hooked. I wished I never started that nasty habit. By the time you realize how stupid it is to smoke, you're hooked and you're enjoying it.

Personally, I think being a smoker is better then being an alcoholic and a drug addict.

[Samson]

Personally, I think being a smoker is better then being an alcoholic and a drug addict.

Agreed, none of us is probably monkish enough to be existing on bread and water, piously looking forward to a better world in the afterlife than the sinners who have picked their poisons below them. But even these guys don't walk on water.

And that's only one extreme: there are coke addicts who justify their habit because they have not had to rob, murder, and pillage those around them to support their habit. And then there are the robbers who are better than murderers. And then there are murderers, who see themselves as better than child molestering kidnapper murderers. There's always gonna be somebody that will be sucking scum at the bottom of our social pond.

I'm just saying that the costs of smoking alone are enough to make it a prohibitive habit, and make me pleased that I'll not ever have to compare my own habits to a drunk's: "I'm better than you, Alchie!!"

[Star]

I commend all non-smokers. The problem with smoking is that it usually starts when you're a kid. That's when I started (at the young age of 12). If I were an adult non-smoker, I would deffinately not start smoking. If I knew back then when I was 12 what I know now, I wouldn't of started the nasty habit.

Most of my nieces now smoke and so does my oldest daughter. I told them all that now is the time for them to stop with the smoking because they're not hooked yet. They chose to keep smoking. They too will regret not stopping once they get hooked (when they reach drinking age and start going to bars).

Unfortunately, there isn't much anyone can do to stop a kid from smoking. If they want to smoke, they'll smoke out of the parent's sight. Kids are stubborn little creatures that think they know it all. If only they knew it all. They wouldn't be doing a lot of things they do. Smoking is one of those things.

[Samson]

If I haven't heard it once I've heard it a hundred times:

Remedy for kids smoking is to have them smoke continuously until they puke, and if they don't puke, then have them eat a few cigaretts (unlighted of course).

[Star]

okay, that would be child abuse in this day and age. :?

My parents tried that with us (my brothers smoke too) when we got caught smoking at a young age. made us smoke a whole pack of cigarettes at once. we got sick to our stomachs for a couple days and puked a lot but we still smoke today. Doesn't work.

[Samson]

You're right; one must remember to be discreet when employing some discipline methods.

[Star]

Originally Posted by Samson

You're right; one must remember to be discreet when employing some discipline methods.

and hope that your kid doesn't rat on you to the teachers at school. Not worth it.

The only thing we can do is talk to our kids about how bad smoking is for their health and hope for the best.

[Duke]

I waste my money on video games and eating out a lot. If I'd just pack a lunch once in a while I'd prolly have more spending money.