Ditch the cigs to save money, charity says

24/06/2009

Quitting smoking can not only improve people's health - it also offers a sensible route to saving money in the downturn, a campaigning charity has advised.

Martin Dockrell, director of research and policy at ASH, explained that someone who kicks a 20-a-day habit will have saved roughly £4,000 in two years.

Mr Dockrell added that this factor could help smokers who have tried to give up but need more incentive than the health issues alone.

"I spoke to one woman who was saving enough money from dropping smoking to buy a new pair of shoes every Saturday," he explained.

"That's what she did to motivate her and she did pretty well - after six months she had a lot of new shoes."

According to the latest smoking-related figures from the Office for National Statistics, two-thirds of smokers want to give up, with those smoking less than 20 cigarettes a day the most likely to want to quit.

EuroDebt director Kevin Still commented that cutting back on vices like cigarettes and alcohol "are obvious, but sometimes difficult, things to do".

"From a budgetary point of view, people in financial difficulty need to be seen to make meaningful cut backs on discretionary items of expenditure for reduced payment plans to be accepted by their unsecured creditors," he added.

"As a leading Debt Management Company, EuroDebt is licensed to use the Common Financial Statement and we use the workings of this to determine if there are items in a client's monthly expenditure that are excessive and the cause of this. These would be reviewed with the client before we start negotiations with their creditors and present a formal repayment proposal."

Tags; Budgeting Advice,

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