To wonder how people afford to smoke?

[paintingbutterflies]

I know addictions are just awful. But so many people seem to be struggling with money and smoke. I wonder where the money comes from. Do people just go without basic things?

No, but their children probably do

I don't understand it either. I just don't know where the money comes from.

Mum that is not fair. Both of my parents smoked and we were far from comfortable. I did not want for anything. I hate smoking and judge quite openly but your comment is out of order

More people smoking roll ups than ever before IMO.

I hate the bastarding tobacco companies bleeding the poor dry and progressing to a bright cancer-spreading future in the colonised world.

It's an addiction so to that end people will do anything to 'afford' it. I quit smoking because I couldn't justify the cost anymore when it become something close to £10 a pack. On the continent I used to smoke like a chimney because it was basically the price of a sherbert in Greece 10 years ago
But that does mean they'll re-arrange finances and 'afford' it in that respect. I think when you're poor, being a little more poorer for the sake of fags is neither here nor there. The fact is there is/was little money to begin with. There are many interacting factors but when I for example was a student I'd spend outrageous amounts going clubbing and back packing but would happily live on dry toast, tea and cereal.

I wonder too, especially with the price of cigarettes now, a lot of them cost over £7 a pack and some are over £10 I think some people probably do go without some things so they can get a packet.

Both of my parents smoked and we were far from comfortable.

Doesn't this mean the opposite of what you're trying to say?

I know, I wonder this and we are financially very comfortable.

Not judgmental at all as I gave up smoking 12 years ago myself but a tenner for 20 Silk Cut - WTAF?

£280 a month £3640 a year ........ scary.

£10 a packet?!?

Then I stand by my comment even more so!! Lem out of order?? Pffftt...At£7-£10 a packet....some are on a packet or more a day!!

Do people just go without basic things?

Yes, sometimes.

And also a lot of people buy illegally smuggled/bootleg tobacco from people who smuggle it in from overseas, for a much cheaper price than you actually pay in the shops. I worked in a horrible pub once where one customer made his living smuggling cheap tobacco into the UK and flogging it to people.

It's unfair to assume that children go without because a parent smokes.

Under £12 a week here, not going without anything.

Smoking rollies though, if I were to extrapolate my consumption into ready makes, it would probably be about £16-20... (I smoke about 5 a day...)

Mum that is not fair. Both of my parents smoked and we were far from comfortable. I did not want for anything. I hate smoking and judge quite openly but your comment is out of order

How long ago are you talking about, re your parents smoking? Cigarettes used to be relatively cheap, the OP is commenting on the fact that the price of cigarettes is much higher than it used to be (accounting for inflation, cost of living increases, etc.), so the financial outlay on previous generations is irrelevant.

I could afford to smoke as a student, 25 years ago. Even if I did still smoke now, I couldn't afford to, not at £200-300 per month.

No, but their children probably do

In my experience that isn't the case at all. Much more common for people to give up things themselves rather than take things from their children, eg if they are spending some of their food budget on cigarettes they will make sure the children have three square meals a day but will sacrifice their own dinner and make do with a fag.

I don't quite know where people get the idea that parents who are poor don't care about their kids as much as wealthy people do.

Cannot believe the price of cigarettes - I've never smoked and since they have hidden the displays in shops I have no reason to take note of what cigarettes cost. Ten quid a pack! And some people are puffing their way through more than a pack a day. Can only imagine that they are prioritising buying fags over other spending, or buying cheap knock-off fags from China under the counter.

It's also interesting that according to government figures, people in the lowest earning bracket are more likely to smoke than higher earners, who you'd think could afford it more. "23% of those with personal annual income up to £9,999 are current smokers, compared with 11% of those whose annual income is £40,000 or more."

I actually agree with the "children going without" y'know.

And I'm saying this as someone who stopped smoking only 5 months ago...still fucking hard though!

My children did go without to an extent, I'm ashamed to say. Never the basics though.

However I am very pleased that for the first time EVER! DP and I are taking the 4 kids abroad in the October half term. All paid up and everything. Simply due to stopping smoking.

It feels good.
I do miss smoking though, as we both enjoyed it

For every person smoking say 10 fags a day, so £5 a day, there is someone else buying a coffee every morning on the way to work and a sandwich from Greggs.
Does the same rule apply to them?

What a horribly judgemental thread.

Do you all drink? How dare you spend money on alcohol when your children will be destitute!

The average bottle of wine costs 7/8 quid. Similar to a packet of tobacco/most cigarettes and in many cases doesn't last as long. A few bottles of nice wine/ale will cost as much/more than many parents cigarettes.

But bloody hell, lets flame parents who smoke. It's tobacco, not heroin get a grip.

They spend money like normal people spend on alcohol/magazine/dvds/netflix... all adult things. Most people don't pawn their children's shoes for some fags.

Reading this you'd think that a cigarette was akin to the cost of a mortgage payment. Get over yourselves.

Having said that. My car (and all its taxes, insurances) costs me £350 per month.

Maybe if I gave up driving too we could go on holiday for 2 weeks as opposed to one?

People live within their means and prioritise certain expenses over others.

I know I would prioritise cigarettes over a new fidget spinner, or entry to a theme park

I'll be honest. We never had the money for ice skating, or the big adventure park, or meals out, or clothes that weren't from Primark, or annual trips abroad, but my parents had the money to smoke a pack a day and redecorate annually as the walls and ceilings were stained yellow, and as a child I never questioned it but as an adult and parent it does leave me a bit

2 adults smoking a pack a day is a mortgage payment.

I used to spend £15 a week on rolling tobacco/rizla/filters. So not a crippling amount. nobody went with out anything. Now I spend £7 a week on Eliquid.

As is two adults drinking a bottle of wine a night. I don't see any harsh judgement of that.