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Saving Money Page 21: Addictions: Smoking. ...up in smoke Smoking 20 a day in 2007 costs about £5.50/day, that's £165/month or (spookily) £2007/year. That's the mortgage interest payments for a £30,000 loan...up in smoke. Yes, we know how difficult it is to give up smoking. It is incredibly hard. A senior surgeon at Money Surgery finally gave it up in 1992 because the cost then was enormous. Aside from the stink on your clothes and the obscene health hazards, smoking is so costly that giving it up is ONE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES of the philosophy of Money Surgery. I urge everyone who smokes and is having difficulty with money to give it up if you can. There are useful organisations for people who would like some help giving up tobacco on our Contacts page. Good Luck! Hate spending your money on cigarettes but find it impossible to give up? You are not alone. Have you considered "rolling your own"? This is the term used to describe making cigarettes individually using Rizla papers, loose tobacco and filter tips. It sounds old-fashioned and some might think that it smacks of desparation but the "rolling" needn't take place in public. It could be done in the evening and creating a fine fag takes only a few minutes with practice. There are three components involved, with their approximate costs:
Check out our cost breakdown and see what difference rolling your own can make to you... "Roll-your-own" Cost-cutting Calculator: We have devoted a sizable percentage of this, our No Smoking page, to smoking more cheaply but our emphasis is on giving up the rotten habit completely. Please keep trying to give up even if you become an ardent self-roller. We believe that one day you will give up for good. One day the time will be right. From experience, everyone has the ability to smoke their last fag. These guys can be a source of inspiration: Nicotinell The advantage that smoking has over the other "addictions" is that its consumption is limited to a maximum of around sixty a day and the cigarettes or cigars are widely and legally available. The effects on ones health are grim but gradual. The great danger of using alcohol or drugs or of gambling is that their usage can get out of hand so quickly, capable of consuming the human being after consuming his money. Fortunately, there are some friendly people out there who CAN help to stop the ravages of these addictions. The Best Thing Anyone Can Do(Monday 7th February 2005 news story) Smokers are the luckiest people in the world. They can do something the rest of us can't. They, and only they, are able to do the best thing anyone can do. A smoker who gives up smoking 20-a-day in ten years will save an enormous £35,000. That's an amazing figure isn't it? Read it again: £35,000. Reducing it to mere numbers doesn't do that sum justice. That was Thirty-five thousand pounds. That was sixty-four thousand US dollars. Roughly. Run with me on this. Taking into account the current price of about a fiver for a packet of 20 and factoring-in price rises and the interest. Leave the smell and the health issues aside for a moment. Money Surgery hopes every new-year resolute non-smoker succeeds in dropping the weed. Please read our page on giving-up smoking for a bit more info for Patients who are considering doing the "best thing anyone can do". The sixty-four thousand dollar question is... can you afford not to? Copyright 2000 - 2007 ©Kevin Anthony Jones. All rights reserved. | ||