This really surprised me.

I’ve quickly realized the benefits of quitting smoking. So many things have improved – my health, my hair, my skin and my taste buds. I feel better, I’m less tired in the mornings and in general I’m a total convert. One thing that has really surprised me is how much money I’ve saved. When people talked to me before about the astronomical cost of smoking I always figured the extra few euro would be spent on something trivial anyway. I didn’t think I would actually notice a difference in my bank balance so quickly. I smoked between 8-12 on a normal day but that could rise to close to 20 on a weekend especially if I was socializing. On average I’d say I bought 3 packets of cigarettes per week. Those 12-13 packets per month equate to €2190 per year. Every month I was spending between €120 and €140 on smokes and I’ve already saved nearly €400 since quitting. Now don’t for a second believe I’m a saint. That money is not sitting in a savings account, nor has it been donated to charity. It has of course been used to pay bills, and get a long overdue filing from my dentist. The point is that I’m now much more on top of my finances and my bills are paid on time a fact which is in itself relieving much of the stress that drove me to smoke in the first place. Now I intend to actively save that money each month (another formidable journey that probably warrants its own diary as I am the least financially savvy person in the universe). That €2,000 is a pretty epic holiday or a decent chunk of change to put towards a deposit. On a real practical level, it's about 6 months groceries or my electricity bills for quite some time. If I had been reading this very diary six months ago I probably would have scoffed and dismissed it in an instant. But trust me, stick your smoking habits into this calculator, see how much you spend monthly and then try say it’s worth it. By Cassie Delaney It's safe to say there's a lot of savings to be made if you can quit smoking. In order to help you kick the habit and save some serious cash head over to www.QUIT.ie to find out more. From quit tips to live chat, there's support available to help you create your own personalised quitting plan- so there's never been a better time to ditch the cigs for good.