Quitting Smoking to Save Money
We constantly hear about the health risks of smoking cigarettes from school programs to television commercials, but no one really talks about the toll it takes on your wallet. As a college student who's been smoking approximately 3-4 years, I have realized exactly how much I've been spending on cigarettes over time. Being a student, I only work during breaks when I'm at home so money is tight, especially with the constant need to buy food, necessaries such as tampons and shampoo, and the dreaded cancer sticks. Recently, I decided to quit smoking to save money. The numbers may shock you and make you want to quit as well.
Smoking an average of ten cigarettes a day runs you two packs every four days. Two packs of cigarettes averages about $8.65. However, I live in a tobacco state, where cigarettes are a lot cheaper than say, New York City. Living in a larger city or a state where taxes on tobacco are higher will raise the price of a single pack of cigarettes to the cost of two here, as well as the grand total dollars spent per year.
Over a year's time, that's 365 days, you will smoke approximately 3650 cigarettes. That's 182.5 packs of cigarettes a year, which costs about $789.31.
By quitting smoking, I could save close to $800 a year, which is a lot of money to a college student. That’s a lot of shampoo and food. It's also equivalent to 16 new pairs of shoes at $50 a pop, 40 article of clothing averaging around $20 a piece, a month and a half’s rent in my college town, or 26.5 tanks of gas at $30. My prime motivation is saving money and being able to treat myself. I figure a new pair of shoes is worth losing the cancer sticks.
