After two weeks and three days of staying away from cigarettes, Renay Ditshego starts up her smoking habit again. She has come back to university, ready carry on with Chinese, Politics and Economics. Ditshego did not attempt to quit. No, she just would not dare to smoke in front of her aunt, with whom she stayed for the break.
After two weeks and three days of staying away from cigarettes, Renay Ditshego starts up her smoking habit again. She has come back to university, ready carry on with Chinese, Politics and Economics. Ditshego did not attempt to quit. No, she just would not dare to smoke in front of her aunt, with whom she stayed for the break.
Now, however she has the freedom to indulge. She buys a Dunhill Switch pack of 20 cigarettes (at an average price of R33.50) and a second pack of 10 to avoid going back to the shops for a while. This purchase will hopefully last for the week – that is, if she does not go out on the weekend and smoke socially.
Most smokers are aware of the health risks. This includes Ditshego. She says, “If I carry on this way, my lungs are going to end up looking like [the res]braai stand.”
Smokers, however are not fully aware of the financial risks of the habit. Ditshego ponders how much money she could save if she did not smoke, unaware of the exact figure.
Ditshego does not spend as much on cigarettes as a chain smoker. She has only three to six cigarettes a day. In addition to this, Ditshego will smoke more when she socialises on the weekends. Therefore, her monthly expense on smoking is R268.
Ditshego’s average yearly expenditure on cigarettes alone is R3 216. This is equivalent to roughly six R500 bus trips home, or 49 meals out at a rate of R65.
For the duration of her four- to five-year degree, Ditshego will spend about R16 080 on cigarettes.
Ditshego has an ambition to build a theatre “as noble as the Globe”, but before she reaches this stage of life she will begin working and paying bills. Ditshego will pay medical aid, life insurance, water and electricity and possibly home rental.
An example of just one extra cost a smoker incurs is life-insurance premiums.
As a smoker, with 1Life, Dialdirect, 1st for Women, Auto General or Virgin Money, Ditshego will pay a monthly average of R5.30 more than a non-smoker.
At first glance, this amount is not exorbitant. After 20 years of paying for life insurance, however, Ditshego will have spent over R1 000 more than a non-smoker (excluding the actual premium of between R200 and R300 a month).
The premium increases even more if a smoking insurance payer is male; on average a smoking man will pay R7.20 more than a non-smoker. After 20 years of paying monthly life insurance premiums, a smoker like 20-year-old Mark Stanley will pay R1 800 more than a non-smoker (over and above the monthly premium).
Insurance aside, Stanley has never considered quitting the habit because it is something he greatly enjoys. He has about 20 cigarettes a day; this is four times that of Ditshego’s intake.
Stanley smiles broadly when he speaks of his favourite brand: Camel. A box of Camel costs an average of R32.10 making his monthly cigarette expense R898.
He wants to go into music production and is doing a BA course that will take four years to complete.
Mark will spend R43 142.40 on smoking over this four-year period.
Needless to say, the same amount could pay for a good second-hand car or a trip to beautiful Denmark, which he so longs to see.
Ditshego and Stanley are similar: they have ambitions which can be achieved with the help of money.
After calculating the exact amount she would save by not smoking, Ditshego says she just might come back after the next vacation and quit smoking for good.
