The Cost of Smoking: Stop Sending Your Money Up in Smoke | brokeGIRLrich
One of my favorite nights out with my mom was to see a show called The Last Smoker in America, which was this awesome little show in the New York Musical Theatre Festival. It was all about one woman’s struggle to give up smoking after it’s been outlawed. It was hilarious and also struck a chord with both of us, since if smoking was ever outlawed, that leading lady would be my mother.
Newsflash: Smoking is a bad choice.
Who am I kidding? It’s not a newsflash. Actually, as a society, we’ve done a great job progressing towards a smoke free future. Rather than showing smoking as something mysterious and sexy, like the media did for decades, it’s been properly vilified. In the fifties, nearly 50% of people were smokers, now we’re down to less than 25% and the number drops every year – most likely through a combination of the older generation dying off and more and more of the younger generation opting to never start in the first place.
When a curious eleven year old takes their first drag behind the high school, they know about the dangers of what they’re doing – it’s been drilled into them since kindergarten.
But I’m not here to be the moral police and quitting something is much easier said than done (says the chronic nail biter over here). I am here to talk about personal finance though and one major, major money suck is smoking.
Let’s go back to using my mom as an example (she is going to love this post) – she’s a heavy smoker, regularly smoking in excess of one pack a day. The national average for a pack of cigarettes is $5.51, but we live in New Jersey were the average costs of a pack of cigarettes is $7.48. To put that in perspective, minimum wage is $8.38. So low wage earner smokers (those who are often more likely to be smokers in the first place) in NJ are pretty much working an hour for every pack they smoke.
Going back to my mom, let’s say she smokes 9 packs a week. That’s $67.32 (on average) per week or $3,500.64 a year. That is more than halfway to a maxed out IRA for the year – but let’s be real, that might not appeal to a lot of people who are blowing that much money on cigarettes anyway (although to be fair, it will certainly appeal to some).
It also means:
- A 7 day cruise to the Caribbean for the family.
- A trip for 2 to pretty much anywhere in the world for a week.
- A Vera Wang wedding dress.
- In about 5 years, you could completely pay off several Kia and Toyota car models.
I mean, consider, smokers, that you have smoked at least 3 pairs of Manolo Blanhnik shoes this year.
Finally, another major cost to consider is your health – and I don’t mean those scary commercials like the “you don’t always die from tobacco” guy singing through his trach tube (although that is a 100% legit concern), I’m back to the numbers again. Many health insurance companies, including ObamaCare, can and do charge a smokers surcharge. Under ObamaCare, insurance companies can charge smokers up to 50% more for their insurance.
You guys have already heard me complain about my insurance premium options, which would’ve been around $300 a month, for just me, with a $6,500 deductible. Smokers – it will be even worse. And I was searching the bare minimum cheaper plans, those health problems I alluded to in the previous paragraph are legit, so you may want or need better coverage than this completely healthy 30 year old.
So what’s a smoker to do? It’s all well and good to say you need to quit, but an addict is an addict. First and foremost, you need to decide you’re ready to quit and commit to it. I speak from experience of years of nagging my mother and remaindering her it would really be swell if she didn’t die before she has grandchildren that nothing works. She just does not care. So until she does decide she’s ready to quit, all efforts are really just pointless. Maybe she’ll just never be strong enough to do it.
BUT there are those who succeed. And very, very few make it cold turkey. Chewing gums and patches are an option that some go with, but many take the first step by switching to e cigs, which give smokers the burst of nicotine they crave without all the smoke and tar – they’re also more socially acceptable and are usable in many public areas.
If you’re a smoker and looking for help quitting, Smokefree.gov is a great starting place to set up a plan and get on the road to a smoke free future.
Any former smokers out there? What got you to quit?
Statistics from:
- ObamaCare and Smokers. ObamaCare Facts. Web. 7 May 2015.
- Rumberger, Jill S., Christopher S. Hollenbeak, and David Kline. Potential Costs and Benefits of Smoking Cessation: An Overview of the Approach to State Specific Analysis. American Lung Association. 30 April 2010. Web. 7 May 2015.
- Saad, Lydia. U.S. Smoking Rate Still Coming Down. Gallup. 24 July 2008. Web. 7 May 2015.
Ugh! My mom is a lifelong smoker and will not quit although she claims she has tried a few times over the years. What blows my mind is that she pays close to $10 per pack of cigarettes here in NY. There are SO many better uses for those $10 than cigarettes. I am dreading the long term healthcare costs that are going to come from this habit down the road.
Shannon @ Financially Blonde recently posted…Don’t Get Cyber Violated Like Me
Agreed. Not to even get into how it frightening it is to have someone you love so mired in a dangerous habit that’s likely to kill them.
This is a big problem even though the say the percentage of the population who smokes is less. But the population has grown since the fifties so it could be a wash. I tell the kids all the time smoking is bad, and I sure hope it sticks. Good Luck with your mom.
EL @ Moneywatch101 recently posted…What is Wealth
Growing up around my dad who smoked was enough for me to not ever want to smoke. Many of my friends did and some of my siblings did also for a while. Only one sister and her husband continue. Even when they are too broke to buy gas and groceries they always have cigarettes. My dad did quit when he was in his early 50s. One day he went in to the Dr for a cough he couldn’t shake and they took xrays. They saw a spot on his lung and it was Cancer. Inoperable and aggressive. He was gone 3 months later. He had just turned 70 years old. With the thousands of similar stories from people who have lost loved ones to tobacco caused lung cancer and other cancers that I know everyone hears about I am constantly amazed anyone would want to light up.
LeisureFreak Tommy recently posted…Take the First Step, Choose Financial Independence
I REALLY wish smoking was illegal- I really don’t know why it isn’t.
Stefanie @ The Broke and Beautiful Life recently posted…Making Room for New Spending Priorities
I don’t know about making it illegal – I actually think too many things are illegal that shouldn’t be. People should have the right to make their own decisions, even when they’re bad ones.
Who is to say the government will always get it right if they start legislating what is ok and what’s not? It seems to me they often don’t. And it’s a slippery slope.
I do like the regulations that protect non-smokers from smokers though.
My husband was a smoker. He quit for nearly a year, until the stress of our wedding sent him back. Then his grandmother’s death right afterward. About a year and a half later, he “quit” but had just been sneaking cigarettes.
He tried to quit a few times after that. I nagged him about it: cost, health (he has asthma, for cryin’ out loud!) and the fact that I didn’t want a smoker around any future kid. None of his attempts worked because he just wasn’t ready.
Last year, he quit… until he went up to see some childhood friends — all of whom smoke like chimneys. He was going to quit the next month, but then our cat died. So he quit in November. He had me quit candy in solidarity.
He says he’s barely tempted anymore. The deciding thing for him was the last cigarette he had right before midnight on October 31st. He spent more time hacking than smoking the thing. That’s when he finally realized he was done.
I’m hoping it sticks this time. Six months later, he’s still going strong, so I’m hopeful.
Abigail @ipickuppennies recently posted…Why I don’t want an inheritance
That’s awesome! Good for your husband. I agree that no amount of nagging can get someone to change until they’re ready to.
You’re so right, smoking is such a money suck. My parents smoked while I was growing up, all the smoke fumes I had to inhale back then put me off for life! My dad managed to quit around 10 years ago, but my mum has struggled. She’s actually trying to quit at the moment, after smoking heavily for over 50 years. My mum is not in the best of health, after having a leg amputated last year due to bad circulation, not helped by smoking. She’s paid the price of smoking in more ways than one. 🙁
Hayley @ Disease Called Debt recently posted…Financially Savvy Saturdays #90
My father was a two pack a day smoker. He had a stroke and never touched another cigarette until the day he died. That was enough to scare him. But, I’ve seen people dragging their oxygen tanks around behind them while they smoke (that cannot be safe).
Tre recently posted…A Day In My Life
Smoking is a great example of the nexus between physical and fiscal fitness. No doubt that the impacts from one often have consequences for the other.
SavvyJames recently posted…Boomers – The Selfish Generation?
Now that is an interesting concept.
Outlawing smoking for the people’s long term health benefits. Great idea in principal and the health benefits would be far reaching. Governments do it all the time, intervene and legislate for the peoples benefit, but not sure they would ever extend this far. Ironically the financial gains from the improved state of health of the nation would surpass the losses in tax from the cigarette companies. Would the people embrace it, realizing it was for their benefit long term???? When you factor in their potential health and money savings as you mentioned, long term yes. Short term, cold turkey and the withdrawals, NO….
Overall try and quit 🙂