Save money! Save health!

Ok, so that title make no grammatical sense. I couldn't think of anything better.

Since I've been posting about allergies and colds I figured this post would go right along with that. Chances are you or someone you know could save some cash. I wish this post would work for all of us but it's rather topic specific.

See, this is about cigarettes. I'm not even going to touch on the health impact. I won't mention it, not even once. I'm going for the money argument. A long time about I used to be a smoker. I know it's hard to quit but the way I eventually did quit was by checking my bank account. I added up everything I spent on cigarettes and I was not happy.

I'm going to make it quick:
Average cost of Cigarettes per pack by state varies from $4.96 in Kentucky to $14.50 in New York. (Prices from theawl.com)
I'm going to run averages a few different ways: The lowest average price per pack $5, Highest price per pack $14.50, and average price per pack $8.4622 or $8.50 for simplicity.
First how much it costs a year.
Smoking only a pack a day you spend: $1,825.00; $5,292.50; or $3,102.50.
Smoking a half pack a day: $912.50; $2646.25; or $1,551.25
Smoking a pack a week: $260.00; $754.00; or $442.00
and 2 packs a day: $3,650.00; $10,585.00; or $6,205.00

Numbers, numbers, numbers...

What does it mean?
For college students:

Average cost of a 4 year college per year for a full time undergrad $22,092. (according to NCES) So if you smoke a pack a day at the average price of $8.50 a pack you can pay 14% of your tuition out of pocket every year or $12,410.00 by the end of college. That like getting a semester free of loans!

For high school students:
Again with a pack a day.
You can buy a scooter or put a down payment on a car. You can have one very awesome prom dress or tux plus enough cash for weekly mani/pedis and possibly enough for your favorite stylist or shopping trip.

For young adults:

You can use the money to help pay off a student loan, put a down payment on a car, get your weekly mani/pedi, invest in stocks, or put it in a 401k.

So lots of things to do with it other than smoke it.

Stay green,

Yasha