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タバコをやめてからは、毎日300円ずつ貯金箱に入れている。タバコを買ったつもりで、お金を入れるわけだ。お金がたまったら自分へのプレゼントとして何か買うことに している。
My own understanding was:
{although the intention to buy cigarettes, (it was concluded that) i insert money in (the saving jar)} .
Or with a rare meaning of 入れる=to pay(one's rent, etc.), i translate it as:
{with the intention of buying cigarettes, no wonder that one would pay/waste money}
Why would 1) and 2) be wrong and {Basically it's the money I planned on spending on cigarettes.} be CORRECT??
This requires some "feeling into the language". I will walk you through the paragraph and indicating the underlying feelings.
タバコをやめてからは、毎日300円ずつ貯金箱に入れている。（→嬉しいこと） タバコを買ったつもりで、お金を入れるわけだ。（→タバコは好きだけれど、やめたらお金はたまる。だからその300円の貯金はタバコを吸った喜びだと思い込む） お金がたまったら自分へのプレゼントとして何か買うことに している。（→プレゼントが買えるから、タバコが吸えなくなった慰めにはなる）
Overall, this person is really trying to stay positive about not smoking anymore. Money is the perspective he took so he feels more comfortable with his actions.
I would translate that sentence as "I am putting in the money as if I have bought cigarettes already."
In order to interpret this sentence with accuracy, I need to know the actual story. So far, this is what I understood from the paragraph.
Hope it helps!
