Quit Smoking meters help you log, track and keep tabs on your smoking cessation progress. They typically tell you, for instance, how long it’s been since you quit, how much money you’ve saved thus far, your milestones and anniversaries, etc. They also provide you with encouragement and motivation. And none of these will cost you a dime… they’re all free.

There’s something here for almost everybody, whether you’re a PC or Unix/Linux user or just want to use something online. What I couldn’t find are free quit smoking meters for Macs; the few links that popped up through searches were dead ends. If you know of any, please let me know so I can add it on.

Here’s the list in alphabetical order:

• Linquit (Linux source code)
• ManillaPush (Win)
• Quit Counter (Win)
• Quit Keeper (Win)
• QuitMeter (Web)
• QuitStats (Web)
• Quitter (Linux/Unix)
• QuitTime (Win)
• SilkQuit Meter (Win)

Many of the other sites go on and on about what I consider too speculative and opportunity cost-related (such as costs related to employment and potential healthcare costs), Then there are those expenditures hardcore smokers really don’t give a futz about, what I consider stuff that can be pretty much categorized as “ammo non-smokers use to help badger the smoker into quitting.”  Note that I didn’t say they weren’t correct… what I did say more or less is that real smokers couldn’t care less. So I didn’t bother adding those on to this collection.

Here, I’ve stuck with more practical and immediate here-and-now cost information that in all probability, all smokers will shell out as a result of their cigarette smoking. And, as you can see, for the most part recurring costs at that:

• As of this writing (2009), a pack of cigarettes costs an average of $4.50 to $5 each. So the typical pack-a-day cigarette smoker will spend $1642.50 to $1825 a year on cigarettes alone.
• If you like to smoke in your car, the cigarette smoking-related expense will usually come when you try to sell or trade-in the vehicle. I do not have any hard info — in fact, I do not know where I got the following numbers from; I just had them written down in my notes.

  On a direct sale figure on spending $150 to have a car detailer try to remove your car’s cigarette odor. And that may not even bring the car’s price up to what a comparable non-smoker’s vehicle will bring.

  On a trade-in, expect the dealer take off a few hundred from your car’s trade-in value, maybe even all the way up to $1,000 or more for higher-end vehicles.

• To give you an idea on the difference in cost for life insurance, I went to Geico to get instant quotes on $500,000 20-year term life insurance for a 40-year-old healthy male. The lowest annual premium for a non-smoker was $335. The lowest annual premium for a smoker was $1,435… a difference of $1,100 annually.
• For health insurance info and test quotes, I went to eHealthInsurance. For a healthy 40-year-old male smoker, the lowest monthly quoted was $76. For a non-smoker, $60.  That’s a difference of $192 a year.

I’ll be updating this post as I come across more useful data and info.