Two packs of cigarettes

I was standing in line at a convenience store the other day and overheard the gentlemen in front of me ask for two packs of cigarettes from the cashier.  I was not paying too much attention until I heard the lady behind the counter say "that will be $9 sir".  NINE dollars!!!  As in niner!!!  Holy freakin cow I thought to myself.  Nine Dollars?!?!?

So, being the nerd that I am, I pulled out my Blackberry and fired up the calculator.  OK, so, if I smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day at a cost of $9 a day for 365 days that would come out to $3,285.  To be perfectly honest with you, that is about the amount of money we paid for all diapers and baby food for Morgan's first year of life!!!

$3,285 is about equivalent to...

The amount McKesson matches my 401K for one year

Three times the amount I paid to fuel both our cars last year

Three times the out of pocket expense for the birth of Morgan

Slightly less than what I paid for a 10 day honeymoon in Paris in 2004

One-third of our annual housing cost

Same amount I will spend over 10 years on a $500,000 life insurance policy

8 times the amount I pay on our annual healthzone membership

Wow !!!  Nine Dollars.  That is something else.