To think that people who smoke aren't totally skint?

[Greedymiss]

Probably going to get shot to pieces for this, but aibu to think that if you are are buying cigarettes, then you aren't actually totally broke?

This has come from someone who has been saying that they can't afford food, but are spending between £40-£70 per week on cigarettes.

I do get that times are tough and the reason that this has made me feel angry is because it reminded me of my parents when I was growing up. We never had money for any luxuries like days out or nice clothes, because they were always poor. Yet they both smoked like chimneys and drank like fish.

100% agree @Greedymiss And I reckon those who complain the most about having nothing, are quite often the ones who have fuck all to moan about.

It's like the other day there was a woman roughly in her 40s, who had been on the TV in the morning, claiming she can't afford to pay for her electric and gas, and yet she had lip fillers, botox, collagen, fancy false nails, balayage hair, and false eyelashes. She must she must have spent multiple hundreds on all that, and yet she 'couldn't afford' to pay for her gas and electric.

I know that some people really, genuinely don't have a pot to piss in... But some people take the piss ... They claim they've got nothing, but then spend hundreds of pounds a month on luxuries like cigarettes, scratch cards, phone contracts, lottery tickets, booze, and yes, botox, false nails, false eyelashes, lip fillers, expensive haircuts/dyes, collagen, booze etc etc etc...

I also can't believe the poster saying ciggies cost virtually nothing some years ago! Of COURSE they did! It's all relative. £3.50 for 20 may not be much now, but it was in 2001 when they were that price. What a silly thing to say!

I don't know why some people are giving the OP a hard time for starting this thread. It's a free country, and it's a discussion board, and people are entitled to their views.

I smoked when I first came to England.
I was working in very low paid jobs, and cigarettes were my "luxury".
Of course I was addicted and I definitely prioritised cigarettes over food. I could go without food for a day, but definitely not without cigarettes.
I was only responsible for myself and no children.
Luckily I managed to stop many years ago and would hate to smoke now.

However, I do understand "skint smokers".
I really felt like a cigarette was my one treat to myself. Meals out, concerts, theatre, holidays - all those things were totally out of reach.
Yes, I could have tried to save for those things, but that money would no doubt have been used for some necessity before I would have actually saved up enough.
It is really rubbish to have no money. And I do think since the Tories have been in power poor people have been demonised more and more.

Yanbu.

I had a similar experience as a child. My Mum, Dad and Gran would all literally chain smoke. And then moan they had no money, we’d be going down the backs of sofas for pennies to buy stuff. I didn’t put 2+2 together until I got older but I never saw them go without fags - my Mum would buy all of their weekly smokes in one go at Tesco and I remember once the ££ came to about £200. Ridiculous.

Smoking I can kind of get my head around. But no food but have weed? That I inwardly judge.

@IntentionalError

When I was a student, back in the mid 90s, I did PT bar work. One of the places I worked was a traditional local pub. A group of male, middle aged regulars would come in straight from work every evening, have 3 or 4 pints accompanied by half a pack of cigarettes then go home for their tea.

These men constantly moaned about how skint they were, yet I estimated they each spent £12-15 per day on fags & beer. That’s £25-£30 a day in today’s money. After working there, I decided I would never marry a smoker.

Ditto. I would NEVER entertain marrying a smoker. I am not even keen on having them in my friendship group, and I will NEVER go into the home of a smoker. I am entitled to feel this way. I don't really give a fig what people think.

That's nonsense. It's still a choice to not try and overcome it.

I've never said it's good parenting; not sure where you got that from? Please can you link to the Haribo study. Would you say that people addicted to heroin choose to be so?

I know of a few people like this in the past - AND now actually. And I get sick of the 'but its an addiction!' excuses. Plenty of people give up, and if someone wants to, they can, and they WILL. People who say they 'can't stop' don't WANT to stop. Still, as you say, they will carp and whine that they're skint. As a few posters have said 'always got money for the ciggies though...' - and often a few pints at the pub 3 or 4 nights a week!' Skint my arse.

They really didn't cost ' nothing'. My mother's 50 year smoking habit cost her hundreds of pounds a year even then (we didn't go without cos she and dad earned well).

And she died of lung cancer.

Cigarettes are way too expensive nowadays.

I also hate when smokers says "well I smoked but my kids never went without"
My parents and my inlaws trot that out all the time.

We had what we needed but barely. No holidays, second hand clothes, hand me downs, and back of the freezer teas

We never went hungry or cold but we absolutely went without

Some people on this thread clearly have no understanding of addiction whatsoever.

That's a crap excuse though. Anyone who WANTS to quit can.

Some of us have been addicted and do understand but addiction is an excuse.

Plenty of others have been smokers and managed to quit so know the “waaah it’s an addiction” line is a bit pathetic.

Nonsense, I suggest it's you with the poor understanding if you just throw up your hands and go 'addiction, nothing to be done then'. I've known several people quit after decades smoking. It's possible if the person is motivated enough and gets the right help

100% this.

Exactly. Such a dumb comment from @Radi06music

As I said earlier ...

I can't believe the poster saying ciggies cost virtually nothing some years ago! Of COURSE they did! It's all relative. £3.50 for 20 may not be much now, but it was in 2001 when they were that price. What a silly thing to say!...

Have you never heard of inflation FFS! And what a nasty thing to do, say that people who are upset and angry that their parents spent money on ciggies instead of on them, are 'bitter...' Such a rude, mocking post.

Smoking is highly addictive and maybe the person could afford it when they started. Difficult though it may seem to understand for a non smoker, the psychology of smoking is very complex and when faced with difficult situations thinking about giving up smoking, even though it will benefit your health and finances and you know you need to do it, can cause so much stress you continue to smoke. It’s a vicious circle.

It's a bit like alcohol.

Some people can enjoy an occasional drink with no risk of addiction, some people find their drinking creeps up if they let it and it takes a greater or lesser amount of effort to cut down or quit, some people just can't stop, even after they've lost everyone and everything they love and are gravely ill. Some people who have stopped know they can never touch alcohol again or they will be straight back into heavy addiction.

I'm really pleased for anyone who has quit smoking and found it relatively easy / not that hard. For many, smoking is an occasional choice, for others it's a habit they can fairly easily quit with some effort, but it's not like that for everyone.

You wouldn't tell an alcoholic in the throes of heavy addiction that stopping drinking is not that hard because you did dry january.

Not really. Because people are not all the same. Great some managed to quit. It's not as achievable for everyone.

Heroin is a lot safer to withdraw from than alcohol. Anyone physically withdrawing from alcohol should have close medical supervision and abrupt cessation can be lethal.

I agree. I had a colleague that pleaded poverty at every opportunity, even asked coworkers outright if they could pay for her lunch, yet she smoked 20 Marlboro lights a day and always had money for those…

@Radi06music cigarettes have always been expensive when considered with the cost of everything - they cost ‘nothing’ compared to now, but it wasn’t nothing then! I remember desperately scraping together 2.50 for the fag machine when I was a student - no dodgy imports from the EU then!

It’s an addiction, and you can stop. I used vapes to stop smoking, took about 2 months. And it feels amazing (18 years). It’s whether you WANT to stop.

Nicotine addiction is relatively easy to overcome, for all the reasons mentioned on this thread. If you are addicted to nicotine you can get immediate, free and plentiful help on the NHS. Yabu.