Smoking Calendar

Congratulations on choosing to start on the path towards quitting smoking!

The Cost of Smoking

Questions: at the start of the exercise Answer
How many cigarettes do you currently smoke in a day?
How many packs of cigarettes would you smoke this month if you continued at that rate?
How many cigarettes would you like to cut down to per day?
If you cut down to this number, how many packs of cigarettes will you smoke this month?
How much money would you save this month?

Reasons to Stop Smoking

Before beginning, it is important to think about the reasons why you want to quit smoking or cut down on how much you
smoke. Write a few such points below:

1) 2)

3) 4)

5) 6)
Some examples include:

 Smoking increases my risk of cancer, lung diseases and heart problems

 Smoking is bad for my children’s health
 Smoking reduces the chances of my spouse and I having a child
 Cigarettes cost me a lot of money

Very often, there may be reasons why you get tempted to smoke again, these include:

 Stress
 Feeling listless and lethargic
 Mental fatigue
 Peer pressure

Instructions for smoking calendar

1) At the start of the month:
a. Fill in the box at the top to remind yourself one reason why you want to quit smoking.
b. Write down the maximum number of cigarettes you want to smoke in the morning and at night.

2) Every day, tick in the box if you smoked less than the number of cigarettes stated in the morning and at night. If you
smoked more, write the actual number of cigarettes you smoked that day and check the box.

3) At the end of the month, fill in the table at the bottom to:
a. Calculate the number of cigarettes actually smoked
b. Calculate the number of cigarettes cut down on
c. Calculate the amount of money thus saved based on the first calculation (which is done on the day itself)
d. Reflect on what you did which helped you quit smoking that month.

4) Keep the money you save from smoking in a safe box.

a. It should be the number you get at the end of every month

5) Repeat steps 1 – 3 every month.

6) At the end of the year, open the box to determine how much money you’ve managed to save by cutting down on
smoking.

7) Put this money to good use!

a. Buy a gift for your spouse
b. Buy your children nice toys
Tips
1) There will be days where you would feel like smoking again, but don’t forget why you want to quit smoking in the first
place.

2) Set aside time to fill in the calendar everyday.

3) Find strategies to distract yourself from smoking. You could play a sport, talk to
someone and so on.

4) Look for other people who are trying to quit smoking as well, so you can discuss
the difficulties you face with each other.

5) Remember to load up your money jar! This will help you track your progress in
quitting smoking.
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
March 1 2 3 4
I’m quitting because…

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31

Questions: at the end of the month Answer

How many cigarettes did you actually smoke this month?
How many packs of cigarettes did you actually smoke this month?
How many packs of cigarettes did you cut down by?
How much money did you manage to save by cutting down on smoking?
What did you do this month which helped you to cut down smoking?
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
April 1
I’m quitting because…

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30

Questions: at the end of the month Answer

How many cigarettes did you actually smoke this month?
How many packs of cigarettes did you actually smoke this month?
How many packs of cigarettes did you cut down by?
How much money did you manage to save by cutting down on smoking?
What did you do this month which helped you to cut down smoking?
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30 31 May
I’m quitting because…

Questions: at the end of the month Answer

How many cigarettes did you actually smoke this month?
How many packs of cigarettes did you actually smoke this month?
How many packs of cigarettes did you cut down by?
How much money did you manage to save by cutting down on smoking?
What did you do this month which helped you to cut down smoking?
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

June 1 2
I’m quitting because…

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Questions: at the end of the month Answer

How many cigarettes did you actually smoke this month?
How many packs of cigarettes did you actually smoke this month?
How many packs of cigarettes did you cut down by?
How much money did you manage to save by cutting down on smoking?
What did you do this month which helped you to cut down smoking?