Working the Smoking Math – How Much Does it Cost?

If you have taken the time to do mental calculations of how much smoking have cost you, you would surely find it rather a noticeable amount. Prices are steadily rising, and that includes the price of cigarettes. A big reason for this is that many states as well as the federal government imposed an awfully high amount of taxes for cigarettes to offset the ill effects that cigarettes brought to health. On average, a pack of cigarette is sold at $5 all over the country. If your habit of smoking makes you consume a single pack per day then it would add up to seven packs a week.

If you have taken the time to think of how much cigarette smoking had cost you in a week you would surely realized that you had spent a significant amount. What many people do not know is that the climbing prices of commodities in the market is largely due to the extremely costly taxes that many of the states and federal government imposed to beat up the increased health problems that cigarette smoking resulted. A pack of cigarette costs $5 all around the country, on average. If your habit makes you consume a single pack everyday, then you are smoking seven packs in a week.

You might have the impression that it really does not cost that much. But if you think of spending $35 on cigarettes, you might just be surprised how it has added up so quickly. Imagine in a single week you are burning your 35 hard-earned dollars! For a lot of people, this already translates to a tank of gas, a movie date, or a brand new outfit if you are a smart shopper. Or you can see your account deposit getting bigger and bigger, rather than have it burn to ashes.

Though the $35 may seem like big money for many, to some people it is just a little money spent for a habit that they love doing. Now consider this. If the average month has 30 days and everyday you smoke a $5 pack of cigarettes, simple multiplication would tell you that you are approximately spending $150 a month. This is already a substantial amount that could have gone to people’s gas bills, power bills, water bills, phone bills or an overnight getaway.

If you are interested to see how much smoking is costing you the whole year round, consider that each year you are consuming 365 packs of cigarettes. Multiply each pack by 20 sticks and you are inhaling 7,300 cigarettes each year which comes at a staggering $1,825! Talk about extravagantly spending money just for smoking! Do not forget though that we are only computing the cost for a single pack a day habit, and assuming too that it is only $5 dollars that you spent per pack. Many states have much higher prices, while other states may have a little bit lower. If you make a double pack consumption per day then you are spending $3,650 and smoking 14,600 sticks per year.

The price alone of the cigarettes that you have consumed in a year is already horrendous! If you consider smoking for the next five years, without any plan of quitting, then you can expect to spend a huge sum of $9,125 for a single pack a day habit and a shocking $18,250 for a two pack a day consumption. It definitely is enormous money that you can save if you skip buying cigarettes.

If the idea of quitting for the sake of improving your health is not motivating to you, perhaps you’ll have a sudden impulse to stop after you do the math of how much smoking costs you. Cigarettes are sold in increasing prices, plus there is the growing cost of living, which make it doubly difficult for many families to live on their budget. Saving money, in whatever way, is certainly a very big help. Even the price of stop smoking aids come significantly cheaper than the price of continuing to smoke.

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