Week Three - Break Even Point

[haiqu]

My spreadsheet tells me I've spent $686.94 on vaping products since starting. Tomorrow morning I will have been smoke-free for three weeks, and by then I will have also broken even financially (see the calculator in my signature). With a good stock of juice on hand and a choice of four different types of e-cig it seems to me that vaping was one of the smartest moves I ever made.

In fact let's just see how stupid I was to have been a smoker. I'm going to calculate how much I spent on cigarettes in the last 45 years.

I'll make a few assumptions here. The last time I smoked was 6 Oct and the rate was 60 a day, but since I had only very recently hit that level a more realistic consumption would be 50 a day. A pack of 50 was costing me $26.99 at the time. I'll assume that my smoking started from 0 a day and progressed to 50 a day linearly, which is the same as saying my average over 45 years was 25 a day.

When I started smoking the cost of cigarettes was lower, but so was the cost of living. I'll be making the assumption that the proportions were the same, even though I know this to be untrue due to the recent addition of "sin tax" on smoking.

So here are the raw figures:

45 years x 365 days x $26.95 x 0.5 (to scale to 25 per day) = $221,326.87 in today's money.

No wonder that I'm homeless at the age of 60, this would have bought a very nice house.

If that isn't enough incentive for you remaining smokers to quit, then I don't know what else to say.

 

[Mustang73064]

I think I broke even yesterday.... then I went shopping this morning after clicking on some links here on the message boards.

 

[haiqu]

Looks like you started about the same time, judging by the number of posts. I don't have any tempting new toys to buy right now, just waiting for the batteries to arrive for my new Lambo mod. The eGo is working fine until they arrive. In fact the only forseeable cost might be some gourmet e-juices in the next few months, and they're cheap enough.

I love this game.

 

[LongDraw]

My spreadsheet tells me I've spent $686.94 on vaping products since starting. Tomorrow morning I will have been smoke-free for three weeks, and by then I will have also broken even financially (see the calculator in my signature). With a good stock of juice on hand and a choice of four different types of e-cig it seems to me that vaping was one of the smartest moves I ever made.

In fact let's just see how stupid I was to have been a smoker. I'm going to calculate how much I spent on cigarettes in the last 45 years.

I'll make a few assumptions here. The last time I smoked was 6 Oct and the rate was 60 a day, but since I had only very recently hit that level a more realistic consumption would be 50 a day. A pack of 50 was costing me $26.99 at the time. I'll assume that my smoking started from 0 a day and progressed to 50 a day linearly, which is the same as saying my average over 45 years was 25 a day.

When I started smoking the cost of cigarettes was lower, but so was the cost of living. I'll be making the assumption that the proportions were the same, even though I know this to be untrue due to the recent addition of "sin tax" on smoking.

So here are the raw figures:

45 years x 365 days x $26.95 x 0.5 (to scale to 25 per day) = $221,326.87 in today's money.

No wonder that I'm homeless at the age of 60, this would have bought a very nice house.

If that isn't enough incentive for you remaining smokers to quit, then I don't know what else to say.

Wow, I can't believe the cost of cigarettes there. I think if I was in your boat I would buy a lot more accessories/mods, would be able to break even pretty quickly. Congrats again.

 

[Z_Ghost]

I think I might brake even in 10 years.

 

[haiqu]

Wow, I can't believe the cost of cigarettes there. I think if I was in your boat I would buy a lot more accessories/mods, would be able to break even pretty quickly. Congrats again.

When I started they were $0.34 a pack of 20, and RYO was cheap as dirt. Social engineering at its finest.

Here's a picture of my boat, you may not want to be in it anyhow:

 

[Susaz]

When I started they were $0.34 a pack of 20, and RYO was cheap as dirt. Social engineering at its finest.

Here's a picture of my boat, you may not want to be in it anyhow:

View attachment 146105

Not bad boat at all... When I was rich I used to have a Hallberg Rassy 31, loved the boat! Nowadays that I'm broke I'm the navigator on the Matrero, a racing Frers 50 footer. I'm racking my brains on what to stash for my January race, I don't have to tell you energy is scarce on a sailboat, even more one in the middle of a long race!

 

[haiqu]

Thanks Susaz. She's a Hartley Queenslander 35'er moored in Sydney Harbour. Not the most salubrious ship in the sea but it was my solution to being homeless and certainly more comfortable than living in a T4 VW Transporter.

For the racing stash I'd be looking at a 5V 5W solar panel to recharge batteries during daylight hours. You should be able to fill an 1100mAh battery in about 1 1/2hrs with any luck.

 

[Susaz]

broke or even, sailing is a lifestyle, and more in your location (raced the Sydney/Auckland several times).

Yes, I've seen the solar powered packs but I'm not sure they perform well. I was thinking more of a some kind of mod with large (5000mAh) batteries I can carry precharged from home. Buenos Aires/Rio is a week long race, and there're no hours for the nav, specially in rough weather. I don't think a solar panel will take up the challenge, nevertheless I'll buy one and give it a try!

 

[Tiffany Smeggin Peak]

wow, someone told me a story that when he met his wife, she said pretty much that if you want to get with me, you need to quit smoking, he was a 2ppd smoker, and quit... so what he did was put the money in the bank that he would have spent on smokes. On their 30th wedding anniversary he took himself, wife 5 kids, their sposes and kids on an all expenses paid trip to Cancun. Mind you he was earning interest, but shoot, looking at that and REAL numbers should make you stop in your tracks, you are spending lots of money to kill yourself, foolish huh?

 

[Dr. Phill]

And the big question..............How do you feel after smoking that long and vaping now? Any results?

 

[haiqu]

My health has improved greatly in a short time. I'm not sure how I'll cope with vaping in social situations - haven't been going out much lately - but fairly sure it will be ok. No regrets here at all.

 

[haiqu]

broke or even, sailing is a lifestyle, and more in your location (raced the Sydney/Auckland several times).

Nice.

Yes, I've seen the solar powered packs but I'm not sure they perform well. I was thinking more of a some kind of mod with large (5000mAh) batteries I can carry precharged from home. Buenos Aires/Rio is a week long race, and there're no hours for the nav, specially in rough weather. I don't think a solar panel will take up the challenge, nevertheless I'll buy one and give it a try!

You can get 5000mAh 18650 batteries now. Maybe a few of those precharged would do it. Depends on how hard you vape I expect.

 

[bobbybee1968]

yeh vaping gets addictive to buy stuff

 

[Thantoss]

just thought I'd post a pic of an option for power that Xanthon posted in Hurricane Sandy thread I started



hopefully this might help called a Freecharge 12V wind up charger (searched for it to get more info on it)

 

[haiqu]

While that's a really nifty device, it wouldn't be practical for this application unless the user had arms like a gorilla. I can see it being useful for inserting a small charge into a dead phone on a remote camping trip, but e-cigs use a whole lot more current in a short time.

The best use I've seen for this technology was actually the invention of a wind-up radio receiver for remote Africa. I believe it sold for $10 or something when it came out over 10 years ago.

http://windupradio.com/trevor.htm

 

[Thantoss]

yeah I guess your right, well was a thought

though if ya could mod it somehow for like a windmill(small thing at top of mast or somewhere else) to crank it... bah ignore me, the troubleshooter in me wants to escape lol

 

[Susaz]

Nice.



You can get 5000mAh 18650 batteries now. Maybe a few of those precharged would do it. Depends on how hard you vape I expect.

I'm going through about 2000 mAh a day. Worst case, 3000. 3 or 4 batts on a 3.7v mod should do the trick.

 

[Susaz]

yeah I guess your right, well was a thought

though if ya could mod it somehow for like a windmill(small thing at top of mast or somewhere else) to crank it... bah ignore me, the troubleshooter in me wants to escape lol

Jaja energy on a racing boat is a tricky thing. I've studied this all of my life, my boat was rigged with two alternators and a very sophisticated electric system. On the race the energy is needed for sat info, GPS and instruments. The crew sometimes go to bed groping in the dark. We're allowed to start the engine just to recharge batteries, and since it puts a lot of strain on the engine, it's done only twice a day. We don't even carry a fridge, just a very large, very insulated cooler.