Coffee Can Cash

Okay, so I was a little overexcited yesterday regarding the cost of the prescription for Chantix. I had assumed (because my doctor was assuming) that my health insurance was going to cover at least a portion of it, and that was a very, very incorrect assumption to make.

MVP refused to cover so much as a penny of it. So with the discount card I got, the total amount of the Rx was about $124. I was pretty crushed by this, and very worried that I wasn’t going to be able to handle that cost. I had called my dad up to whine about it, and ONLY to whine about it, and he told me that he was going to pick it up for me on his way home from work.

*insert incredibly sweet “Awhhh!” here*

*insert incredible feeling of guilt here*

I know my dad wants the best for me - he’s an amazing man. I know he wants me to be healthy and to save more money. I know that he did this for me out of pure love, and I seriously can’t even put into words how grateful I am for my dad in general. I don’t know where I’d be without him.

So I made the conscious decision that since I wanted to be giving him money on a regular basis each month to help offset the cost of the bills in the house, that I’m going to take $20 out of the money I earn at my cousin’s dog grooming parlor each week and give Dad the rest. I had figured in my budget that I could afford myself upwards of $15 a day for “daily living” expenses, and I just feel like that’s more than I need. (I only drive 2-3 days a week, and only buy food out 1-3 days per week.) So the rest is going to Dad.

That being said, I got the prescription and am anxious to get started. I’m thinking that I’d like to start taking the medication on June 1st (tomorrow!) and that will give me a target quit date of June 8th. The way it works is that you’re supposed to take the first week’s pills while trying to stop smoking all together. You can still smoke, but the goal is to track your smoking and try to cut back to stopping.

The pills reduce your cravings, so the rest is a matter of conscious thinking. I’m planning on keeping track of not only how many cigarettes I’m smoking each day, but the plans to cut back to a lesser amount the next day. I really don’t want to overthink it, but I know that it’s not a miracle pill, despite what I (and the pharmaceutical company tries to make us) wish were the case.

So there that is, I’m hoping that the extra money I’ll be saving each month (even though the Rx isn’t cheap) will help me with some things I’m wanting to put the money towards. I’m also pretty dang excited about the idea of not waking up in the mornings with a closed up throat, or dry mouth, or smelly clothes and hair, the thought of having nice clean, pink lungs someday, and decreasing my risks of heart attack, stroke, COPD, and cancers! Whee!