A woman shared her story with me. Her bad habit was smokingcigarettes. She smoked less than a carton a week. Along with herhusband’s habit they used about two cartons a week. On occasionthe decision had to be made whether to buy food or thecigarettes. Guess which one got bought.

She made the choice to get a job outside her home, to make thefood/cigarette decision go away. Now she could have both. Workbegan to take more and more of her time. She enjoyed the otherstuff besides cigarettes the money would buy. A budget was neverconsidered, she spent every dime she made. She had STUFF!

The stuff had to go, so she started with the obvious, thecigarettes. Not before she tried every way to keep them. Shetried to fit them into her budget. She lowered her grocery bill,began hanging her clothes, used only cold water in her washingmachine, anything to save money to keep her cigarettes.

She discovered that whatever she did she could not scrimp andsave enough. It came down to another decision: Stay at home withher son and quit smoking or, go back to work to keep her habitsupplied.

She made the decision to stay home with her son. She stoppedsmoking. In the three and one-half years since she has quit, shehas NOT smoked 27,000 cigarettes. She has saved $7,185.00, morethan $1900 a year. She has put that money to better uses.

You know you could find a place for more than $150 a month; Iknow I could. Don’t let your bad habits rule your life and drainyour resources. Get them under control and put that saved moneyto good use in your financial plan.

(C) 2005 David Wilding

About the author:David Wilding has spent the last ten years working with groupsand individuals to help them become debt free. Visit his websitehttp://www.debtattack.com for more ideas, tools, and strategiesto rid yourself of debt.