I know what you’re thinking; “What’s the catch?”  What do you need to sell, what do you need to invest up front, what vital organ is this person after?

Yes, there is a small catch, but no, it doesn’t involve selling, investing, and it actually means saving your vital organs, not giving them up.  For $1,500, are you willing to read further?

Today, the average price of cigarettes is about $3.50 per pack in the U.S.  There’s typically 12 cigarettes per pack.

Now, how much do you smoke every day?  If you’re a “light” smoker, meaning half a pack per day, you’ll spend over $380 per year for cigarettes.  For many people, that’s two car payments, or a month’s worth of groceries for the family!

If you’re a moderate smoker at a pack a day, that’s $766 per year. Now we’re talking an entire month’s apartment rent, or three or four months’ worth of gas in the car, or the price of a very nice flat-screen television.

And for two-packs-per-day smokers, the price per year is over $1,500.  Think about that amount for a moment – one thousand, five hundred dollars.  Repeat it in your head over and over, and imagine what you could do right now, today, with one thousand, five hundred dollars.

Of course, it’s somewhat tough to think of that amount adding up over the course of a year since that’s a long time to wait for money, so think of it in monthly terms.  For a half a pack a day, that’s over $31 per month; for a pack a day, that’s over $62 per month, and for two packs a day, that’s $125 per month.

What would you do with that extra money?  Pay off credit card bills, put gas in your car, or go out to dinner more often?  $31 per month may be close to a tank of gas for many, so even light smokers are hurting themselves financially by tossing their money away – should we say, putting it up in smoke.

The money of course is just part of the reason why one should consider their options to quit smoking, but it’s not something to be easily dismissed.  That money adds up month after month, year after year, and could be better used for so many other things.

So in reality, someone really is offering you $1,500; as a matter of fact, you already have it, you just need to keep it rather than throw it away on cigarettes!