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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder how people afford to smoke?

208 replies

paintingbutterflies · 17/08/2017 13:44

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?

OP posts:
MumIsRunningAMarathon · 17/08/2017 14:43

lem plenty of posts here from people who were that child going without.....

thecatsthecats · 17/08/2017 14:46

I've just come back from holiday with a few smokers, and what annoyed me (apart from the one day where I couldn't avoid them and ended up feeling really rough from second hand smoke), was the continual going to buy cigarettes. They could easily have bought the full 20-30 a day they were puffing away in one go, but instead they kept dragging everyone back to the one shop that sold them a mile out of the way.

But to be honest, that just underlines that it's an addiction - they were continually in denial about NEEDING more, and more, but then desperate when they ran out.

Very glad I don't have the problem (except I do have the problem of washing out my stinky clothes after spending so much time with them).

Beadieeye · 17/08/2017 14:50

I fucking hate smoking with a passion, for every reason one could possibly hate something. But unless it's directly affecting you, I don't see the point in this thread. What other people do isn't for others to 'wonder about' really. It's not rocket science: if someone wants to spend money on something, they will cut corners in other ways or use loans, credit cards ect.

ofudginghell · 17/08/2017 14:52

How do people afford coffee out twice a week or more?

How do people afford holidays abroad every year?

How do people afford nice cars?

It's irrelevant really isn't it?

tobacco costs me about £10 a week and hopefully none soon as weaning off. I gave up for two year and can honestly say I didn't notice a gain from the extra £10 a week.
My dc were and are still fed very well,clothes very well,live in a lovely renovated house paid for by me and my dh.
We have a uk break every year.
We saved hard and had a new kitchen last year and a new bathroom this year.

Not sure what the point is.
How do people afford to drink wine of an evening or a weekend?

How do people afford to eat out or get take away?

It's bad enough out every move being monitored now a days and being told what we can and can't do as a country,why do people then feel the need to assume because we smoke our dc are hard done by or we live in squalor?

Useless and shitty thread

Foreverhopeful22 · 17/08/2017 14:53

Well maybe they save money in other ways !!!

Don't drink
Don't buy clothes (except charity shop)
Don't buy Costa etc
Don't go hair dressers
Don't have nails done
Don't buy makeup
Don't go on holidays
Don't go gym
Don't eat out
Don't go down pub

Shops at Aldi or Iceland and grows lots of own veg , picks fruit from farmer and he gives me fruit in abundance as a reward

toddler has more toys than most children but yet my husbands low salary I buy tobacco

Maybe that's how !

What a judgemental thread

I'm off for a fag! Smile

ShapelyBingoWing · 17/08/2017 14:55

No, but their children probably do

Vile assumption.

I quit almost 2 years ago now. DD had never gone without a thing but I woke up one day and realised I hadn't bought a single new item of clothing for myself in over a year despite having lost weight. It was me going without. Now that I've quit, I still panic the same way I used to buying something like a lipstick...because it used to be the case that any money I spent on things for myself was money I couldn't use for cigarettes. I can now afford to treat myself frequently and I'm still not used to it.

Valderal · 17/08/2017 14:56

Thanks guys for the recognition. I am proud Grin

To answer OPs question.
This is how I was able to afford smoking.

Wages in
Bills paid
Cigarettes bought

Leftover money

Leftover money was used for whatever was necessary and there wasn't very much.

A low point was when I smashed the kids savings a couple of days before payday to get cigs. DP & I ate chip butties for tea that night.

We couldn't afford to smoke is the answer (for me)

VladmirsPoutine · 17/08/2017 15:01

Foreverhopeful22 Stop being ridiculous. It really isn't like that at all. I know some posters on MN like to be pious and feed their families steak and caviar on just £2 a week but really - as a former smoker I think this thread stands to reason.

LuLuuuuuuu · 17/08/2017 15:01

Fuck Me , more poor bashing by fucking stealth ..

How dare some insinuate smokers children do without . Get over yourselves you up your arse twats . Or go chill with your movie subscriptions, or nasty Prosecco in your Naice (what a stupid moron word) cut crystal glasses.

Perhaps a cig is the only joy the poor bastards get!!

Mittens1969 · 17/08/2017 15:01

Everyone makes choices as to what they spend their money on! I have 4 cats and they are expensive to look after, with vet bills and food, and cattery when we go away. But I love cats, my choice.

And then Sky TV??? That's a considerable expense when Freeview has a lot of good variety anyway. But if you can afford it, go for it, your choice.

Same with smoking. I don't like the habit, but it's not my business. As long as their children don't go without, it's entirely up to them and who am I to judge?

MumIsRunningAMarathon · 17/08/2017 15:03

Quite easily Lu Smile

OuchBollocks · 17/08/2017 15:04

I'm not insinuating anything, I'm saying outright that i went without, and got a lifetime of health issues into the bargain. Its not poor bashing to say that most families would notice a £300+ per month drop in wages.

Foreverhopeful22 · 17/08/2017 15:04

Vladmirs - how am I being ridiculous- I didn't say I feed steak and caviar on £2

I said the things I don't do which means I can afford a cigarette (my luxury)

Foreverhopeful22 · 17/08/2017 15:05

And how does it stand to reason? Explain

ivenoideawhatimdoing · 17/08/2017 15:06

bayleaves are you this officious in real life too?

How dare you judge someone without knowing anything about them. What business is it of yours?

Lay down a list of everything you do and let's nitpick it. Let's say what we do or don't agree with and let's disrespect and try to shame each other.

Or be an adult and try to be less bloody rude. You don't know why they even smoke in the first place.

I find excessive drinking to be a worse habit but again, I don't judge because I don't know the first thing about them.

My auntie was a functioning alcoholic and my father smoked twenty a day. I can tell you who affected my childhood more.

Also at which point have I ever said I smoked?

NewBrian · 17/08/2017 15:07

I spend about £7 a week on tobacco. I don't have sky, any beauty treatment etc. God knows how anyone affords actual cigarettes though!

WhatsGoingOnEh · 17/08/2017 15:10

I gave up smoking a year ago and must be saving over £300 a month. I don't know where it is! I don't know where the fag money came from, and now I don't know where it's gone.

ivenoideawhatimdoing · 17/08/2017 15:11

Whilst we're on it. How the fuck do people afford sky? Where do you get the money to have regular false nails? Tell me more about how much organic food you could buy if you didn't have a £100 haircut. How do your children react to your 17 reg car, the money for which could have been put into an account for their future and you drive round in a 2003 Punto?

Littlepond · 17/08/2017 15:12

There's loads of stuff I don't understand how people afford. Like running a car or eating out in restaurants or holidays abroad or brand new iPads or Levi jeans.

TheNaze73 · 17/08/2017 15:13

Let & let live.

I hate smoking & think it should be banned from all public places & spaces however, to insinuate kids are going without because their parents are drug addicts is unfair

FrustratedTeddyLamp · 17/08/2017 15:23

I think the comparisons to Netflix and drinking aren't really comparable for most in terms of value. Netflix is what £8 a month compared to £10 a day, and most drinkers won't be spending £8 a night for a bottle of wine, when they drink they may buy 2-3 bottles but it's still often done rarely. Even so if they did buy one a day, that's £60 a month or almost a weeks worth of cigarettes saved.

May be wrong but IME it's mostly higher earners who buy coffee out daily so in a sense if you're making it a class thing then they are more likely able to afford it.

I don't think anyone has the right to tell others how to spend their money,

FrustratedTeddyLamp · 17/08/2017 15:25

Their money though so it's up to the people who smoke if they want to, I just don't think false equivalencies help

MumIsRunningAMarathon · 17/08/2017 15:25

Naze are you calling smokers drug addicts there?

Alpacaandgo · 17/08/2017 15:27

Interestingly I helped a friend out recently as she was really struggling to make ends meet. And yes her children were having to go without quite a few things and she hadn't bought herself anything new for ages. So I offered to help her out with budgets and see if I could help her reduce her bills, help with changing electric etc etc.

We did a budget of her expenses together and she actually spent more per month on cigarettes than she did on the family food shop. It was a massive surprise to her. She says she has cut down but still hasn't given up. If she gave up, she could afford all those things the kids and her were doing without, including being able to go on a holiday. I'm trying my best to support her but if shes not prepared to help herself theres really only so much I can do. Its quite frustrating.

I can't understand how she would rather go without much needed undies and socks for the kids (and her!) than she would a packet of ciggies. They are crazily expensive nowadays

MumIsRunningAMarathon · 17/08/2017 15:27

Well Netflix is an occasional thing.... restricted to days off or eves.....smoking is several times a day so it's not a great comparison

Plus Netflix doesn't kill you

And kids can join in with it!