I know most of us have habits. Some are free while some can be costly. I sat down and reviewed my costly habits. The biggest two...caffeine and nicotine. I love Starbucks and usually go there at least 4 times a week. My favorite drink costs exactly $4.13 with tax. I am also a smoker and usually smoke about 1/2 pack a day. For those of you that don't know, there are 20 cigarettes in a pack. The average cost of a pack of cigarettes in this area cost about $3 on average.

The monthly totals look like this:

20 visits to Starbucks - $82.60
15 packs of cigarettes - $45.00 (not taking into account the health costs)

Monthly bad habit total: $127.60
Yearly total: $1531.20

Wow, that is a reality check! I am literally drinking and smoking my future. What a buzz kill...

What are your bad habits and how much are they costing you?

9 comments

  1. epwait // July 14, 2007 at 5:14 PM  

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  2. b4freedom // July 14, 2007 at 11:19 PM  

    Be glad your not in Jersey, you'd be paying at least $6 for your favorite pack.

    $127.60 invested monthly in a market returning 10% (average) between the ages of 25 and 65 would net you ~$806,952.

    If you were in Jersey (paying $6/pack) and you invested it monthly with the same return and same time period, you'd net over $1million. Expensive habit.

  3. SingleGuyMoney // July 14, 2007 at 11:45 PM  

    $6 a pack??????? That would definitely be enough to make me quit.

  4. b4freedom // July 15, 2007 at 12:01 AM  

    I looked at your “My Net worth”. For starters, it's stupid to post some of that information for the public to see. Posting that shit makes you a target. Keep it close, it's nobodies business.

    This is what a criminal says when they see this shit: “$39k cash? That's awesome, I will now target you for a scam because I know you have money. I'd target you for a lawsuit, but your net worth isn't that high.”

    Secondly, $12k credit card debt and $39k cash? That's fucking retarded. Unless your getting 0% interest rates with no transfer fees, pay off the credit cards.

  5. b4freedom // July 15, 2007 at 12:13 AM  

    Yup. This is a list off the cigs you are allowed to sell in the state. http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/pdf/other_forms/mlpcig.pdf

    Notice the minimum price? If you sold it at a minimum price, you'd make no money. Typically stores charge $1 to $2 more.

    A lot of people started ordering them online.

    Then the state sued all of the online companies for a list of customers. They won.

    My friend got a tax bill in the mail for 3 years of online cig purchases. It was about $6700. They said if you pay now they won't press charges. Otherwise they'd press charges and you'd have to pay thousands more in fines.

  6. Bob // July 23, 2007 at 9:46 AM  

    Just be glad you're not a smoker living in the UK. A pack of 20 costs about £5.70 / £5.80 here, which is $12 at current exchange rates - i.e., four times as expensive as what you pay.

    The market for black market cigarettes and hand-rolled is huge here.

  7. Tasha // January 22, 2008 at 2:09 AM  

    I recently started my pf blog and while I was contemplating on expenses, I realized that getting pregnant did do me good. I stopped smoking, which saved me $20-$30 a week. Here in NZ, a pack costs NZ$10 on average, that's about US$7.50. I don't plan to go back to smoking anymore. As for coffee... well, I still have some now and then but I'm good about making them myself. I don't wanna go back to smoking because I enjoyed it and might not be able to control myself anymore. Ugh!

  8. Anonymous // January 24, 2008 at 1:55 PM  

    I'm a smoker and a frugalist. I got a cigarette making machine (Premier) and buy bulk tobacco and tubes. I can make a pack of full flavor filter cigarettes in about 3 minutes and it costs me about a buck a pack.

  9. Anonymous // March 6, 2008 at 11:44 PM  

    My habit is buying little random things that I don't think amount to anything but they do. Money's money. Your realization about your habits is a good thing. It could lead to saving money on all fronts. Maybe your insurance premiums will go down if your company knows you don't smoke anymore and maybe you could cut down Starbucks to twice a week?

    Jerry
    www.leads4insurance.com