Stupid Tax: The Dumbest Thing I EVER Bought
You’ve probably been seeing a lot of posts about “The Dumbest Thing I Ever Bought” mainly because DebtKid is giving his dumbest purchase away. I’m not even sure what the thing is that he’s offering up as a prize, but it’s always a fun post (for y’all) and hubby the Catholic claims confession is good for the soul.
I won’t be giving mine away. For one thing, I bought it twenty years ago when I was just fifteen. Second thing, no one should buy this! The dumbest thing I ever bought in my entire life was the very first pack of cigarettes.
The initial purchase wasn’t much at all, $1.29 plus tax I think … maybe less. It lasted for over a week and a half since I had to sneak out of the house to smoke them. But the kicker is, it ain’t a one time purchase.
I don’t really know how much I’ve spent over the last twenty years on cigarettes. Probably as much as I spent on alcoholic bevarages during my drinking years. Between the two vices, I probably spent enough to fully fund my retirement … and hubby’s too for that matter.
I’ve managed to give up the drinking, but am still smoking after four attempts last year to quit. Hubby wants me to quit. Son wants me to quit. My parents want me to quit. And although there are days *I* want to quit … there are days I don’t want to quit. I’m not sure why. I have heard one person say it was easier to quit cocaine than cigarettes (how’s that for encouragement?) and that dude quit both along with a few other vices.
I know all about the adverse health effects of smoking. I know how bad it makes my clothes and breath smell. Even if I didn’t know these things, my son tells me at least once a month about how bad it is for me. It may be cliche, but the truth is this: it is far far easier (and cheaper) to not start than it is to stop smoking.
That one pack of cigarettes twenty years ago was truly the dumbest thing I ever bought in my life. Too bad I was a naive rebellious fifteen year old who wouldn’t listen to all the public service announcements.