A major change for the better!

I have chewed tobacco for 31 years. It's a vile and unhealthy habit. Quitting's easy: I've quit 54 times. I desparately needed a new car, and came to the realization (I knew, but I didn't really know) that my habit was costing over $120/ week.
Well, sometimes a rock falls on your head and brings wisdom. So I haven't quit: this time I've retired!
Red Man will not be sending me a gold watch, nor am I getting a pension. But now I can afford a car-payment. I'm still jittery, but I cannot afford to go back to tobacco...
I have always been a 'car guy', but I'm tired of driving cool junk. My '72 Skylark looked wonderful for the 1st 8 years, then it started to rot, and at the 10 year point (and 11 mpg), it was no longer a viable daily driver, so I replaced it with an '87 Grand National. That was 4 years ago. It was really fast, and looked cool, but very few of the options and conveniences worked, and it had 172K miles on it at trade-in. It leaked or burned a quart of oil every 500 miles, and the other faults are too numerous to list. As I said: cool junk.
So, at 42, I have purchased my 1st ever new car. If I slip back into chewing again, my machine will be repossesed and my excellent credit would become less so. Helluva(n) incentive!
Not only do I get the immediate material benefit of a car, well...is there even a point to mentioning the health benefits, short or long? Even my life insurance premiums will go down next year!
Oh, what did I get? Well, I'm still a car guy, but I had to get the economy version of my dream (current model) car. (My dream car is a yellow '70 Buick GSX: neither practical nor economical!) I am now the (excessively) proud owner of a 2010 Challenger SE. Thats the 6 cyl, not the Hemi. Only the Hemi comes in yellow, so I got dark blue with white stripes. It now has 161 miles on it, and everything works! Only maturity (and threats from my wife) keep me from driving around right now! The only way I could be happier would be if an agent called, interested in my book! Speaking of which... I need to get back to my WIP!

Good going WG!!!!! You have definitely driven your point!

Thanx G! Tobacco free for 4 days now...

Woop woop! Well done!

(On a similar note, I was once addicted to a certain chewy mint called Softmints. I literally cleared out a shop one week. Not had a Softmint for nearly 5 years. But obviously tobacco is a lot worse.)

TY, DA! Getting better at this text-speak thing...

Hey Wargood, I just now read this, and wanted to say how proud I am of you! Let me share briefly why:

Tobacco has caused me nothing but anguish over the years. My mother died 7 years ago this Saturday from lung cancer at the age of 56. She smoked since she was 19. My two youngest kids never knew her. I miss her every day. My stepfather is 63, and still chews tobacco. He's lost every tooth in his head, and is now in a nursing home (not tobacco related), but he spends what very little he has on his habit. Both my parents wasted tons of money on their tobacco addiction. That, among other bad financial behavior, has now led to the current foreclosure of the $22K home my mother bought in 1978. They refinanced so many times that my stepdad owes $60K on it, and it's only worth $35K. I do blame tobacco for some of that situation.

So, rest assured, that while I know it's hard to quit for good, you are doing the right thing for yourself and your family. You (and they) won't regret it!