Day nine: The financial and egotistical costs of smoking
I don’t smoke a huge amount but I’ve had moments over the approximate decade since I took it up where even I was getting vaguely concerned.
When it was coming to the end of my studies at university I was getting though a couple of packs a day.
It was a strange time and instead of having just having a cigarette like a normal human being I’d have a Marlboro Red followed by “dessert” of a Marlboro Light.
Now if someone asked I’d say eight a day but I also know that that’s a lie.
It’s closer to 10 or 12 and it makes me feel like a proper addict that I lie to other people about how much I smoke.
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I definitely smoke less as none of my reporter colleagues smoke, I think if I was in the advertising department things would be very, very different.
So I went on to the NHS online quit-smoking tools and found a calculator to discover smoking costs me �1368.75 every year which is almost 10 per cent of my yearly salary.
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That is quite a bit of money and I’m tempted to say something flippant about it but I’m trying to grow up now that I’ve quit.
If I’m completely honest the money doesn’t bother me that much as the fact I feel I’m getting to the stage where I’m too old to be smoking.
When I was a teenager it was a “phase” and at university it was normal but I’m in my mid-20s now and there’s not really anything I can say to justify doing something that I objectively know is stupid.
This is the seventh entry in reporter Amanda Nunn’s blog on giving up smoking. If you’re also giving up let her know how you’re getting on at amanda.nunn@archant.co.uk.
