$247,932.00 - Holy smokes that's a lot of money!

13 years ago

My crazy old father - who art in assisted living - is 91 years old. He started smoking when he was 16. Since then, he's smoked 2+ packs a day. Actually, that's not true. For a time in the 1970s and 80s, he was closer to three packs a day.

I've always joked that the only time he needs a lighter is at 5:30 am - to light the first cigarette of the day. The rest of them are lit sequentially. My husband calls him "a heroic abuser of tobacco."

Today, he was down to his last pack. In response to his non-stop phone calls, I went to the store and tried to purchase five cartons of cigarettes. The clerk said, "you mean packs?" I said, "No, I mean cartons."

They only had three cartons and I bought them all. Cost: $48.50 a pack, times three = $145.50.

That'll hold him for about two weeks. That realization led me to do some math. At his current rate of consumption, that's $300 a month (a little less) for smokes.

Figuring this out in today's dollars, that means my father has spent $247,932 on cigarettes in the last 75 years. In today's dollars. Not including medical costs, of course. They're well over $300,000.

Gives you something to think about, doesn't it?

My father and his twin brother "Junior" in 1919. Note Junior (on the right) is holding my father's widdle paw.

Pictured below is my father in the 1960s in Santa Monica, during a visit with his parents on 14th Street.

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Comments (24)

schoolhouse_gw
13 years ago
Sweet photo. Is his twin still living?
wanda_va
13 years ago
It's amazing that he's still alive at 91, considering all the cigarettes he's smoked. The tobacco industry should use him as their poster guy.

While $48.50 per carton is a lot of money, it's cheaper than a lot of places. My stepson lives in Maryland and pays $7.50 per pack! DH pays $40.00 a carton...and I'm glad I quit years ago.
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redcurls
13 years ago
I'm glad I stopped before they got so expensive. I sure couldn't AFFORD to smoke today...not that I would WANT to....I can't imagine!
chisue
13 years ago
Almost a quarter of a million dollars! Did you know you came from Wealth? Talk about 'money to burn'. We really should be talking about this money invested or *compounded* over 75 years.

How are YOUR lungs? You lived with all that smoke, right?

(Thanks for sharing the darling baby boys!)
petra_gw
13 years ago
Rosemary, I love the photo of the twins. Your dad looked so full of mischief, even at that tender age. :o)
As for smoking, it IS a very expensive habit, and your father is definitely in the minority to still be alive at 91 after a lifetime of smoking.
Jodi_SoCal
13 years ago
When my kids were in elementary school they were told to figure out what 2 packs of cigarettes a day would cost in 50 years factoring in inflation. It made a huge impact on my frugal kids and they decided smoking would never be a factor in their lives.
iowagirl2006
13 years ago
He must be tougher than nails! It would be impossible to quit now.

In farming terms - that much money wouldn't even buy a combine - so there are worse habits - lol (tongue in cheek on this - hope the humor translates)
rosemaryt
Original Author
13 years ago
My father's twin is still alive and in good health, both physically and mentally and has had a surgery for hip replacement. He never smoked or drank.

My father has all the typical smoker problems and has had three major heart attacks, repeated surgeries and repeated hospitalizations (lost count of them), lung problems, artery problems and circulation problems.

The cigarettes came with a price that has nothing to do with dollars.
vannie
13 years ago
That is a lot of $$$. My FIL died from emphysema from smoking all his life--since he was a teen ager. My kids saw that, b/c that's a BAD way to go, and they have never been tempted to smoke. By the way, my FIL had a twin sister. She had 4 sets of twins, and my youngest DD has 3 y o boy twins. They've all been fraternal. I got off the subject!! I'm shocked. LOL
socks
13 years ago
My dear mother smoked from age 16 to age 80 when she died. She said she thoroughly enjoyed every ciggie she smoked. Amazing how some people succumb to smoking-related diseases and others just keep chugging along.
deemarie5500
13 years ago
Looks like smokers in NYC are paying $11 a PACK!

That is one, very expensive habit.

Here is a link that might be useful: CBS Rpt on NYC Cigarette Costs
jannie
13 years ago
My mother finally quit smoking about 2 years ago. But she waited too long. he's 87, blind, toothless and on oxygen 24/7 for COPD/Emphysema.
joyfulguy
13 years ago
Having recently, at 81, had to deal with a lung embolism ...

... I'm glad that, at 16, having smoked for 6 mos., and liking neither the taste nor, farm-raised, the cost ...

... I had the good sense to quit!

ole joyful
joyfulguy
13 years ago
Likely over $248,000. by now.

The price of a good house (in some locations - quite a few more locations than a couple of years ago)!

ole joyful
marilyn_c
13 years ago
Cute little guys!

I am glad I never took up that habit. My father smoked, and so did my oldest brother, but no one else in the family. In my husband's family, he only has one brother who smokes and he took up the habit at age 50!!! Now, if that isn't insane, what is?
socks
13 years ago
I never smoked, but both parents did and a roommate I had in my 20'a smoked, so I feel I've had my share of second hand smoke. Now, I think I only know one smoker, my beautician, and she smells like it too. Don't mean to offend any smokers here.
bee0hio
13 years ago
The little babies' picture is soooo cute. Both of them have such an ornery look in their eyes.

Simply amazing that he has lived thru all those maladies & is still perking & smokin' @ 91!! AMAZING!!
lynn_d
13 years ago
What cute babies your dad and uncle were! The cost of smoking, from dollars to health, was enough to make us see the light 3 years ago. I'm so glad that we are out from under that habit. But I fully understand, it was a hard addiction to break, there are times that I would love to light up, only the fear stops me.
mary_c_gw
13 years ago
Like all addictions, no one outside can control it.

If your father has lived to 91, even with his health problems, and everything else, well, let him smoke.

I quit for the 4th and final time about 5 years ago. I still get ticked at people who tell me "Oh, it was just a habit, an addiction - you didn't really enjoy it!"

Well, yes I DID enjoy it! And it was your father's money he was spending, as it was mine to spend while I was smoking.

He chose to buy cigarettes and smoke them. I agree, it's sad that they come with health issues, and I fully expect to have lung cancer sometime in my future. But when your father started, and when I started THEY WEREN'T DANGEROUS, and they are damned hard to quit.

So lighten up. He's really old, and I know he's been a royal PITA. But give up the counting of the money spent. You're probably underestimating by a great deal anyway. And it's gone. And it wasn't yours to begin with.
amyfiddler
13 years ago
Hmm. Makes me wonder how much money I've spent on junk food. At any rate, that's a lot of money on cigarettes! Interesting.
blitzyblond_protege
13 years ago
Me and several people I know often get into discussions on this subject. My Late DF's smokes and the resulting health issues cost no less then an addiction to food; for it causes Diabetes, heart disease, obesity, which comes with it's own issues, digestion malfunctions,...or soda,...or....

and it all leads to the same end "suicide by spoon". I can understand those with addiction, because I have had several food, caffeine, ginseng addictions. People don't think about the cost of food as paying for an addiction, but anyone--myself first--who is over weight has paid for the addiction somehow and will cost the health industry because of it. l.marie
neesie
13 years ago
First of all, you must mean 48.50 a carton...not a pack.

I'll be the last to defend smoking but I would venture to think that 75 years ago your "crazy" father was paying a few cents a pack. Nowadays the price has more to do with the sin tax than the tobacco, hence the difference from one state to another.

You gotta give him credit for getting to age 91, he must be doing something right. Or maybe he just lights 'em up and lets 'em burn in the ashtray????
rosemaryt
Original Author
13 years ago
Yes, cigarettes cost less 75 years ago, but IMHO, it was proportionate. I used today's cost because it's probably close to an accurate reflection of the proportionate cost in TODAY'S dollars.

As to the expense of smoking, I'm not raising any issue about whose money it is or was. I'm raising the issue that that's a LOT of dough to set fire to - literally! Seems like a waste.

Further, as the person who's now very involved in his health care and is running him around to doctor's appointments, it's very, very sad to see what these cigarettes have really cost him. He's got a multitude of health problems directly related to cigarette smoking and it's pretty awful.

Rose
joyfulguy
13 years ago
I don't want to be a slave to a person.

Much less do I want to become a slave to a little white paper tube ...

... filled with dead leaves (and Lord only knows what else).

Or in a pipe, or other dead leaves, of the tobacco kind, i.e. a cigar, either.

Very few pop cans (that I've used) hang out around my place (but I pick up empties and beer cans along the road) ... and I'm not great on junk food (apart from cookies).

I should eat more fruits and veggies when out of season, I think - but it sure takes a lot of diesel fuel to bring 'em ... and tomatoes in winter look like the real thing ... but taste somewhat like cardboard.

ole joyful

$247,932.00 - Holy smokes that's a lot of money!

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$247,932.00 - Holy smokes that's a lot of money!

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