[olug] OT: poll question

[Will Langford]

On Tue, Aug 19, 2008 at 1:43 PM, Luke Dashjr <luke at dashjr.org> wrote:

> On Tuesday 19 August 2008 12:43:00 Will Langford wrote:
> > > Myself, I tend to make one or two non-necessity purchases a year, max.
> >
> > Aye, twice a year max myself as well.  This year is gonna go a bit over
> > that with the MythTV experiment I have yet to attempt, and another
> > entrepreneur idea I've got floating around my head :)
>
> I don't think most people who smoke can go with only buying cigs once or
> twice
> a year.
>

The assumption was you're referring to a non-budget-trivial amount of
money.  Most people have no problems finding ways to spend $14 a week on
non-absolute-necessities.  Pack of bubble gum one day, a drive through
coffee another, a fast food breakfast another,  a cheap 5minute dollar-aisle
toy for the kid, etc.

Smoking, like any luxury item, should be money spent and enjoyed.  If it's a
single cold beer after work each night, ciggies, a weekly cinema trip, pizza
night, similarly any family related eat-out-esque night,  movie rentals, or
perhaps the $60 a month Cox wants for expanded analog cable.  If your budget
can't handle a luxury item, then that luxury item shouldn't be in your
budget.

Other than health side effects, smoking is not really any different to me
than the rest of any other 'i dont have to have but i like' things.  There's
alot of bad press around tobacco, which I don't really understand (and
didn't understand when I was a non-smoker either).  Sure, I could save $56 a
month by not smoking.  I could easily save more by dropping digital cable on
the idiot box.  I enjoy both, so I keep both.

Another simple example might be buying Heinz instead of Our Family brand
ketchup.  You don't HAVE TO HAVE the Heinz, but it's better (or at least
IMHO it is heh).

For what it's worth, I didn't start smoking until I lost my first kid to a
miscarriage about 3 or 4 years ago, and I'm 30 :).

-Will