A lot of people’s excuses for not quitting smoking (and that includes me as well!) is that it “costs too much”. Well, I decided to do a little bit of research…

The brand I’m “buying” is NiQuitin^{^} and the place I’m buying from is Boots^{^} and I’m not going to look at special offers because they come and go. On with the price comparisons…

Smoking

Let’s assume that I’m a 10-a-day smoker and that I buy my cigarettes in packets of 10 and that I smoke Benson & Hedges only. Each pack of 10 costs me £3.22 and I start smoking within 30 minutes of waking up.

Patches

For the patches, I will need to be on Step 1 for 6 weeks, Step 2 for 2 weeks and Step 3 for another 2 weeks. Each pack you buy are for one weeks’ use.
Step 1 pack costs: £15.86 a week
Step 2 pack costs: £13.29 a week
Step 3 pack costs: £17.49 a week
The cost for the whole ten week course would be £156.72
The cost of smoking during this time is: £225.40

Lozenges

These are the sucking mints that NiQuitin offer. I’ve tried them before and I thought it was like sucking a menthol cigarette and didn’t enjoy them much but I know that loads of people have quit easily while using them.
Like with patches, this is also a ten week course but only has 2 steps. Let’s say a pack of 72 lozenges lasts you about a week because you’re sucking on around 10 lozenges a day (you will need to suck on at least 9 lozenges a day). Step 1 lasts for 6 weeks and Step 2 lasts for at least 3 weeks, so that’s a 9 week course at the minimum.
Step 1 costs: £68.94
Step 2 costs: £32.97 (at least)
Total nine week course will cost: £101.91
Cost of smoking during this time: £202.96

Mini’s (Small lozenges)

Mini’s are just small lozenges. Because they’re not as strong as the normal lozenges and they’re to help you quit one cigarette at a time, the length of the course is up to the individual. You can buy a 4 week pack of Mini’s for £60.00.
The cost of a twelve week course: £180.00
The cost of smoking during this time: £270.48

There are cheaper brands available (and completely different quitting tools too!) and you can get great offers if you look around online but this should give you a clear enough idea of how much quitting smoking can save you, even in the short term.
So the next time someone says they’ll quit smoking after [something] has happened because they “just can’t afford to do it” right now, you can tell them otherwise.