From movies to commercials, billboards, and other advertisements, it seems we’re constantly surrounded by images of people smoking.
Cigarettes are highly addictive, and with so much of the media representation around smoking promoting it as something that will make you look and feel cooler, it’s easy to see how tobacco companies have gotten so many people hooked.
In fact, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), 15.5 percent of the adult US population—a total of 37.8 million American adults—are smokers. Those numbers are devastating when you consider how cigarettes can negatively impact your health, your quality of life, and your life expectancy.
The CDC also reports that cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the US, with 480,000 people passing away each year from smoking-related causes. Another 16 million Americans are currently living with a smoking-related disease.
But, smoking is much more than just bad for your health. It’s an incredibly expensive habit that can cost you thousands of dollars each year. For example, a person who smokes a pack a day and pays $13 for a pack spends a whopping $4,745.00 on cigarettes each year.
The good news is that as we’ve come to understand the harmful impact that smoking has on our communities, more resources have been developed to give you the support you need to give up cigarettes and stay off them for good. And, the even better news? Many of them are low-cost or even free!
That’s why we’ve put together this list of resources that can help you if you’re ready to start your journey towards quitting cigarettes. Here’s what you’ll get in this guide:
5 of our best tips for giving up the smokes for good.
A comprehensive list of free and low-cost resources, programs, and products that can help ensure you’re successful in your attempt to quit smoking.
With these 5 tips, you can start your way towards quitting with the determination and support you need.
Get set up with a buddy who is also trying to quit cigarettes or another habit to improve both of your chances of success and to find support in one another.
Check out programs like I Quit Monday where you pledge to take a day off from smoking once a week. Starting with a manageable goal can help you gain the confidence you need to quit for good.
If you know that you’re more inclined to smoke when you’re feeling a certain way or when you’re in a specific situation, try to make sure you avoid those situations and manage those feelings. For instance, if you know that having an alcoholic beverage makes you want to smoke, try skipping the drink.
Of course, it’s not going to be helpful if you just replace your cigarette smoking with another unhealthy habit. However, it can be useful motivation to find a free, inexpensive, and healthy reward to give yourself when you achieve specific milestones where you might otherwise have reached for a cigarette.
Sometimes our friends and loved ones can be the worst enablers, but they can also be our best resource for keeping us accountable when they offer the right kinds of support. Be upfront with the people in your life about your process and explain to them how they can help support and motivate you as you move towards quitting.
Because cigarette smoking is linked with so many instances of preventable disease and death and is a major public health concern, many federal, state, and local government agencies have created resources to help you quit. Check these out to get started:
Smokefree.gov offers tons of resources to help you quit smoking including advice for creating a quit plan, a list of free resources to help you quit, and tips for staying off cigarettes permanently, even if you relapse. They have specific sites dedicated to teens, veterans, women, and seniors as well as folks who speak Spanish.
Check out the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website to find a bunch of resources to help you quit smoking. They run social media campaigns under @CDCTobaccoFree on Facebook and Twitter where you can get tips for quitting and connect with others who are working towards giving up cigarettes. Sign up for their email list to get updates from their Tips From Former Smokers campaign.
Most state health departments and many local departments have resources available to help their constituents give up smoking. For example, Minnesota offers its residents the free QuitPlan program where you can receive one-on-one counseling from an expert, get two free weeks of nicotine replacement gum or lozenges, and sign up to receive helpful texts and/or emails.
Check with your state and/or local health departments to see what services they offer for folks who are trying to quit smoking.
Did you know research has shown that people who use text-based services to help them quit smoking nearly double their chances at success? Everything you need to get started on the path to quitting is right at your fingertips with these free and low-cost services:
The National Cancer Institute offers a free phone-in hotline and a chat service weekdays from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM Eastern time in both English and Spanish.
They have live specialists available to answer your questions about quitting smoking backed by scientific research. To connect with their chat service click here. You can call 877-448-7848 to speak to someone over the phone.
Every state has their own hotline available for residents with counselors to help you quit smoking. Call 800-784-8669 to get connected to your state’s hotline. Hours of availability vary state by state.
Smokefree.gov offers the free texting service, SmokefreeTXT, for people who are trying to quit smoking. Programs last for six to eight weeks during which time you’ll receive three to five text messages per day. You can repeat the program or restart from the beginning if you have a lapse.
Stop My Smoking is a free text service that sends you daily supportive messages to guide you through your quitting process and help you in challenging moments.
You can get 24/7 instant, on-demand text support when you are dealing with a craving, and you can also get signed up to be paired with a texting buddy who is also using the program to help support one another.
The Lung Helpline is a free service from the American Lung Association that allows you to call, email, or chat with a certified counselor who can help you decide if quitting smoking is the right choice for you and provide you with advice to help you get started. Check out their website or call 1-800-LUNGUSA for more details.
The American Cancer Association offers the Quit For Life program which grants you one-on-one access to a Quit Coach every day including weekdays and can make you eight times more likely to quit successfully.
The program is offered through state governments, employers, and health insurance companies. Check with your insurance company or employer, or fill out this form to find out if your state provides this service for you.
The free chat room Quit Smoking Chat is a bit low-tech, but it can connect you anonymously with other folks who are trying to quit smoking.
Most of us are on our phones or online regularly, so why not use these tools to help you in your quitting efforts? These websites and apps can help you keep track of your smoking, manage your cravings, and reward yourself for skipping smokes:
Become an EX offers tons of tools and resources to help you build and stick to a quitting plan that you can register for free of charge.
Employers and health insurance companies can sign up and refer you to the program to allow you to access additional resources at no additional cost, so ask your employer or insurance program whether they cover this resource. They also have a number of different community forums for folks who are quitting smoking to ask for advice and get support from one another.
The Freedom From Smoking program from the American Lung Association has been helping people quit smoking for over 35 years.
They currently offer an app and web platform called Freedom From Smoking Plus, a six-week program that helps you choose and stick to a quit date, learn about different methods for quitting, distract yourself with activities when you’re craving, and connect with other folks who are also using the program.
When you complete the program successfully, you’ll receive a certificate which might even help you get a discount on your health insurance premiums.
The Stop Smoking Center is a free program created by the experts at Evolution Health, a company that uses tech-interventions to help people meet their health goals. Fill out their questionnaire to get set up with a free quitting program, a large support community, and all the tools and techniques they have to help you quit.
Billed as the longest-running quit smoking program, QuitNet has been in operation since 1995. They offer a social media network for you to communicate with other folks who are quitting, to share your struggles, successes, and daily pledges, and to get your questions answered by trained coaches. You can also get the free QuitNet app to stay connected with the community from your phone.
Smoke Free is an app that utilizes more than 20 evidence-based techniques to help you on your journey towards quitting. The app allows you to see how much you’ve saved by not smoking, how long it’s been since your last cigarette, and how your health is improving from not smoking.
From the folks at LIVESTRONG, the MyQuit Coach app helps you track your cravings, offers several options to create a quitting plan that works with your goals, and gives you motivational badges for each milestone you hit. The app also has a community support function where you can connect with other app users to talk about your progress.
The Quit Smoking: Cessation Nation app allows you to track how long it’s been since your last cigarette, how much money you’ve saved, and how many cigarettes you haven’t smoked since starting your quitting process. It also has games that you can play when you’re experiencing a craving to help you distract yourself.
Kwit is another free app that helps you to track your quitting stats while connecting with others. Compete with other app users to become the ultimate Kwitter and share your progress on social media.
They also offer games to distract you from cravings as well as a feature where you can shake your phone to view one of 200 motivational cards to push you through difficult moments.
The Get Rich or Die Smoking app zeroes in on the financial burden of cigarette smoking by allowing you to track how much money you save by giving up or reducing your cigarette consumption. It then tells you things that you can purchase now that you’re spending less on smoking.
Quit Tracker is yet another free app that allows you to track important stats on your cigarette usage, including how much money you’re saving by not smoking, how long you’ve gone since your last smoke, and a quitting timeline that shows you the health benefits you’ve achieved by not smoking.
Nicotine is the highly-addictive substance that makes quitting smoking so incredibly challenging. If you try to give up cigarettes cold turkey, you’re likely to experience uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms that can make it even harder to quit. That’s where nicotine patches, gums, and lozenges come in.
When you feel a craving coming on, you can use a piece of gum or lozenge to give your body a little jolt of nicotine without the actual cigarette.
Alternatively, you can wear a nicotine patch daily to get an ongoing dose of nicotine. Then you can gradually wean yourself off of these methods as your body adjusts to life without cigarettes. Check these out:
Nicoderm CQ offers a line of patches, gum, and lozenges that can help you fight off cigarette cravings. Click here to get a coupon for $5 off any one product, or try looking for NicoDerm CQ discount codes here. You can also join their MyQuit email subscription program which offers regular guidance delivered to your email, tips and inspiration for quitting, and coupons to save on their products.
Zonnic has a line of products to help you quit smoking including gum and lozenges. Sign up for their mailing list to get a coupon for one free pack of gum or lozenges, plus receive exclusive coupons and offers in your inbox.
Habitrol offers transdermal nicotine patches that can give you significant results within eight weeks. Sign up for their Support Program to get special discounts and offers.
CVS has their own line of smoking cessation products including lozenges, patches, and gums. Most of these products are buy one, get one 50% off. You can also save 20% and get free shipping when you sign up for their Ship and Save program. Also, check here for CVS promo codes (they usually offer 30% off codes).
Rite Aid also has a line of nicotine lozenges, gums, and patches. Join the wellness+ rewards program to get up to 25% off many of their products and earn up to $10 BonusCash, plus keep your eye out for Rite Aid promo codes, which they offer frequently.
Walgreens offers a line of patches, gums, and lozenges, many of which are buy one, get one 50% off and can be mix and matched with other products. Join their Balance Rewards program to earn points on your purchases, plus get 20 points for each day you log with them on Nicotine Replacement Therapy. You can also search here for Walgreens coupon codes.
Newegg has this 30 pc set of nicotine patches available for $7.39, 51% off the normal price. Ships for free from China.
Of course, there are also prescription medications that can aid you in the process of giving up cigarettes. These two drugs have been clinically proven to increase your chances of quitting smoking successfully:
Chantix is a prescription drug that helps you quit by reducing your body’s dopamine response when you smoke a cigarette.
Many insurance providers will cover Chantix, but if they do not or you don’t have insurance, you can download their Prescription Savings Card and save up to $75 on your monthly prescription at participating pharmacies. You can also sign up with Pfizer’s Patient Assistance program to get help with your co-pays or access to free or discounted prescriptions including Chantix.
Zyban is the brand version of the drug Bupropion, the same ingredient that acts as the basis for Wellbutrin. Zyban is an extended-release version of the common antidepressant that reduces cravings for nicotine. Here are a few ways you can save:
GoodRx. Download their discount card to save up to 80% on your prescription at participating pharmacies.
Rx Pharmacy Coupons. Print their Zyban discount card to save up to 90% at select pharmacies.
Help Rx. Get their free Zyban coupon card to save up to 75% off your prescription.
Folks who are more inclined towards natural healing methods are also in luck. There are a number of different ways that you can use herbs, nicotine-free cigarette replacements, and even hypnotherapy to try to kick the habit.
Quit Market offers a line of natural smoking cessation products including teas, herbal supplements, and gum. Chat with their AI Doctor QuitBot to help you get started quitting and receive a coupon for 20% off your first order.
CAMFormulas.com has a natural lollipop product called Smoke Free Naturals to help you quit. Sign up for their mailing list to get 10% off your first order and join CAMRewards to get two reward points for every dollar you spend. You can also find 10% off promo codes here.
The MediCrave spray from Native Remedies can help you quit smoking by reducing cravings, encouraging calmness, and assisting with sleep issues.
Sign up for Native Remedies’ email list to get 15% off and free shipping on your first purchase. You can also save 10% on MediCrave by getting it auto-delivered monthly, and you can find promo codes for 25 - 35% off at Native Remedies here.
Harmless Cigarettes are an e-cig product that have no nicotine, liquid, or tobacco, instead allowing you to “smoke” oxygen in order to break the habit. Harmless cigarettes have been shown to help you quit smoking in as little as four weeks.
Sign up for their mailing list to get a free stop smoking hypnosis audiobook. You can also refer a friend to get a 10% discount code for both you and the person you refer.
Free Hypnosis Clinic offers a free quit smoking hypnosis session to help you get started on your quitting journey and to decide whether or not hypnosis is the right path for you. You can also find tons of free at-home and self-hypnosis videos like this on YouTube!
While the results may vary, acupuncture and cold laser treatments are popular alternative methods for giving up smoking. You’ll need to find a local provider in order to get set up with this treatment and with discount opportunities.
However, some insurance companies do cover acupuncture and other alternative healing modalities, so check with your insurance provider to see if you could get some of all of these services covered.
Giving up any addiction is much easier when you can get support from others who are going through or have gone through what you’re experiencing. Check this group out if you’re looking for a support group:
Nicotine Anonymous offers a version of the popular 12-step program aimed at helping you give up cigarettes. You can find your local in-person meetings here, or check out their telephone and internet meetings if those work better for you. Find the 12 steps and other helpful reading materials here.
Researchers are always working on developing methods to help people quit smoking which means they need study participants to test out their research. Joining a research study is free, can help you to quit, and may also come with compensation or free stuff for your efforts. Check out these sites that can link you to relevant studies:
Smokefree.gov's research study list is a full list of research studies available both nationwide and at specific locations around the country.
ClinicalTrials.gov offers a comprehensive list of publicly and privately funded clinical trials that you can sign up for. Search for “smoking” or “smoking cessation” under the Condition or Disease tab to find relevant studies.
If you live near a college, university, or medical research facility, check out their website to see if they have research studies on smoking open for participation.
Giving up cigarettes is not only a great choice for your physical health, but also for your fiscal health. A cigarette-free life is within your reach with the free and low-cost resources that we’ve listed here. Quitting will help you save thousands of dollars in cigarette and health-related expenses over the span of your lifetime.
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