Wayyyyy back when I started smoking, the cost of Name Brand cigarettes was less than a dollar per pack. They are a lot more expensive today, but certainly not the only cost to smoking. I was thinking about all the OTHER dollar costs I incurred that are directly related to smoking.
- Seat covers: I probably ruined 4 or 5 car seats from cigarette burns. I distinctly remember burning the back seat of my car the day before I was trading it in on a new car. It’s hard to know for sure how much I lost in trade-in value.
- Clothes: I cannot even estimate what I have lost replacing clothes because of burn holes. I know I also ruined a few items just from washing them too often. I couldn’t afford dry-cleaning and I hated my clothes to smell smoky, so I washed everything all the time.
- Odor spray: Room fresheners and fabric fresheners and perfumed sprays and every other thing I bought hoping to disguise the smell of smoking. I kept a bottle in the car and a bottle in the coat closet and a bottle in my bedroom closet and sprayed liberally and often. I should have bought stock in the company – or maybe a 55 gallon drum.
- Sunglasses: speaking of spraying; I managed to ruin a pair of Ray Ban prescription sun glasses with the overspray. Something in the spray damaged the coating to the glasses making lenses look like they were covered in rain drops.
- Antihistamines: I have seasonal allergies during the best of times. Smoking made them a thousand time worse and year-round. Even now I am taking 4 different kinds of antihistamines plus a decongestant. Even over the counter meds cost a lot when you take them every single day.
I wonder if I still would have started smoking if I had known what how much money I would invest in that habit.
