Quit Smoking in Australia: Here's How Much You'll Save in Your First Year
Smoking is terrible for your lungs, obviously. But it is also a direct debit from your future that never asked permission.
In Australia, cigarettes are so expensive that quitting can feel like giving yourself a pay rise. Not a fake LinkedIn pay rise. A real one, where money actually stays in your account.
If you've ever wondered whether quitting is financially worth it, the answer is yes. Aggressively yes. Here's what the numbers look like, how fast the savings add up, and how to stop that money quietly leaking back out on takeaway and random Bunnings visits.
How much do cigarettes cost in Australia in 2026?
Prices vary a lot by brand, pack size, and retailer. Rather than pretend there is one official national shelf price, this guide uses $50 for a 20-pack as a worked example because that sits in the ballpark many Australian smokers will recognise.
If your preferred pack costs more, your savings are higher. Congratulations, I guess.
The main point is simple: once a daily habit gets priced like that, the annual number gets ugly very fast.
What quitting saves you over a week, month, and year
Let's keep the maths simple and use that $50 per pack assumption.
If you smoke 10 cigarettes a day
- Daily cost: about $25
- Weekly cost: about $175
- Monthly cost: about $760
- Yearly cost: about $9,125
If you smoke 15 cigarettes a day
- Daily cost: about $37.50
- Weekly cost: about $262.50
- Monthly cost: about $1,141
- Yearly cost: about $13,688
If you smoke 20 cigarettes a day
- Daily cost: about $50
- Weekly cost: about $350
- Monthly cost: about $1,521
- Yearly cost: about $18,250
Those monthly figures use the average month length of 365 days ÷ 12, which is why they're a touch higher than just multiplying by four weeks. Rent works the same way. Months are annoyingly not all identical.
Plug the amount you'd normally spend on cigarettes into the Savings Goal Calculator, then test longer-term upside with the Compound Interest Calculator. If you want to compare the number to your actual income, the Pay Calculator helps too.
What could that savings amount actually do?
This is the bit that makes the number real.
If you stop spending $175 a week on cigarettes, that money could instead cover:
- a solid emergency buffer over a few months
- rego, insurance, and those other annual bills that arrive like a personal insult
- extra repayments on debt
- a proper holiday fund
- the start of a house deposit or moving-cost stash
Even at the lighter end, $9,000-plus a year is not "small savings" territory. That's serious money. For some households, it's the difference between constantly treading water and actually building a buffer.
What if you invest the savings instead?
Now it gets interesting.
If you redirected $175 a week into savings or investments rather than cigarettes, the long-term number can get surprisingly chunky. The exact result depends on returns, tax, and whether you actually leave the money alone, which is the hardest part of all human financial behaviour.
As a rough example, saving $175 a week for five years gets you to about $45,500 in contributions alone. With growth on top, it can be materially higher. That is a very expensive habit wearing a nicotine patch and a fake moustache.
If you want to run the exact numbers, use the Compound Interest Calculator with your weekly savings amount and a conservative return assumption.
Don't forget the hidden costs
The pack price is the obvious cost, but smoking can also create a few side expenses people forget about:
- more convenience-store spending because smokes rarely leave the shop alone
- higher life insurance or health-related costs depending on the product and insurer
- extra coffees, snacks, or impulse buys linked to smoke runs
- time lost to buying cigarettes, smoke breaks, and managing the habit in places where smoking is restricted
Not all of those are easy to measure, but they make the real annual cost higher than the sticker price on the packet.
What quitting costs up front
Quitting is not always free. You might spend money on nicotine patches, gum, lozenges, counselling, or prescription medicines. Fair enough. But compared with the ongoing cost of smoking, those upfront costs are usually tiny.
For example, if you spend a few hundred dollars over a couple of months on quit support, that can still wash out very quickly against a habit costing $175 or $350 a week.
Australia also has support options like Quit. The Australian Government also notes that nicotine patches are available on the PBS at a reduced price with a prescription, and that bupropion and varenicline are PBS-subsidised for eligible patients when used with coaching support from Quitline or a health professional. The right support matters, because financially "I should quit" is strong, but physically nicotine can still be a pest.
How to make sure the savings don't disappear
A lot of people quit, save money without noticing, then wonder why their bank balance has not transformed into a yacht. The missing step is automation.
Try this:
- Work out your realistic smoking spend per week
- Set up an automatic transfer for that exact amount on payday
- Send it to a separate savings bucket or account
- Name it something specific like "Holiday", "Emergency Fund", or "House Deposit"
This matters because vague savings are easy to spend. Named savings are much harder to "accidentally" convert into food delivery and novelty garden lights.
A quick worked example
Say you currently smoke 12 cigarettes a day and your preferred pack costs $52 for 20.
Your approximate cost is:
- Per cigarette: $2.60
- Daily spend: 12 × $2.60 = $31.20
- Weekly spend: $218.40
- Yearly spend: about $11,388
Even if you spent $600 on support products and appointments while quitting, you're still ahead by roughly $10,788 over the year. That's the sort of maths that tends to win an argument.
Frequently asked questions
How much money do smokers spend in Australia?
It varies by brand, pack size, and retailer, but even 10 cigarettes a day can easily cost more than $9,000 a year in Australia.
How much will I save if I quit smoking for one year?
Using a $50 pack price, about $9,125 a year at 10 cigarettes a day, or about $18,250 at 20 cigarettes a day. If your preferred brand costs more, the savings go up.
Should I use the savings to pay debt or build savings first?
Usually whichever reduces stress or interest costs fastest. High-interest debt often wins, but many people also need an emergency buffer so one surprise bill doesn't send them backwards again.
What's the easiest way to keep the money after quitting?
Automate the old smoking amount into a separate account or savings bucket as soon as you get paid.
Sources and assumptions
This post uses a $50 per 20-pack example to show the maths. Your real cost may be lower or higher depending on brand, pack size, and where you buy.
- Australian Government, Get ready to quit for quitting support options and PBS-subsidised medicines
- Australian Government, Quitting methods for nicotine replacement therapy information
- PBS review of smoking cessation medicines for PBS-listed pharmacotherapy categories
Use the Savings Goal Calculator to map the weekly amount, the Pay Calculator to compare it with your take-home pay, and the Compound Interest Calculator if you want to see the longer-term upside.
Up Bank lets you set up automatic savings buckets with zero willpower required. Get $10 free when you sign up.