Counting makes it all better

Never thought I'd write something like that. I hate math. Always have. But I've been using my brain (and fingers and toes) for a lot of counting lately. This has the scent of OCD, but I'm cool with that. Counting has really been helping me. Here are my latest counting endeavors...

• When I saw the economy taking a nose dive I really started thinking about finance seriously. I started listening to business podcasts, paying attention to industry trends and just keeping abreast what was going on. Obviously, things looked real bad and I acted on something that I have heard personal finance experts shout from the mountaintops - CREATE A BUDGET! You can't begin to make changes to your spending habits if you don't know what they are. This can be said for the following points as well. It's kind of a pain in the butt at first, but you get used to it and you learn about where your money is going.
  
• About three months ago, I quit smoking for good. No longer would I put myself through the torment of the habit. It was not easy. I found that when I was in bars I would count how many cigarettes people smoked. Man, do they speed up when they have a few adult beverages in them! That was pretty appalling. Yet, perhaps the best way to use counting to QUIT SMOKING is to count how much money you save. When I smoked, I would purchase two packs of cigarettes a week at $5 a pack. I haven't smoked in twelve weeks, meaning I saved $60. That may not seem like a lot, but at least it's being spent for something that isn't going up in smoke. I'll probably put it toward a pair of running shoes.
  
• I've been on a pretty strict DIET lately and I'm exercising more. I have been calorie-counting like crazy. It's miserable, don't get me wrong, but it is so enlightening. You have to know your bad spending habits before you can fix them and you have to know your bad eating habits before you can fix those. Hence, I'm much familiar with the nutritional values of my favorite foods, what healthy portions look like, where I can cut out sugars and the like. I've been trying to keep a count of my calories, both consumed and burned, on this website called myfitnesspal.com. It's worked pretty well so far and it also lets you add your own foods.

Now if I could just apply some accurate measurement to making a decent cup coffee in the morning, I'd be all set.