Quit Smoking Savings
Cigarettes in Australia are obscenely expensive. See exactly how much you'd save by quitting - the numbers might shock you.
A pack-a-day habit in Australia costs around $20,000 a year. That's not a rounded-up scare number. It's maths, and the calculator below will prove it with your own figures.
What 10 cigarettes a day costs over 5 years
Half a pack a day at $55 for a 20-pack works out to $27.50 every single day. That's $192.50 a week, $10,037 over a year, and $50,187 over five years.
Put that $27.50 a day into a savings account at 5% interest instead, and you'd have around $56,400 after five years. Enough for a house deposit in parts of regional Australia. Or a brand-new Mazda 3. Or three years of private school fees. The point isn't to guilt anyone. It's to make the invisible visible, because $27.50 a day doesn't feel like $56,000 until you see it written down.
Full pack-a-day smokers? Double everything. That's over $100,000 in five years, gone in smoke. Literally.
How to get the most out of this
Use your actual pack price, not the cheapest one you've found at the airport or duty-free. Most people also undercount their daily intake. If you're "about 8 a day," try entering 10 and see how the number changes. Rounding up is more realistic than rounding down.
Look at the milestone breakdowns in the results. Seeing what you'd save after 1 month, 6 months, and a year makes it feel less abstract. Some people screenshot that table and stick it on their fridge. Whatever works.
And don't forget the costs this calculator doesn't cover: higher health insurance premiums (some funds add $500 to $1,000 a year for smokers), more frequent dental work, and replacing clothes and car interiors that absorb the smell.
Frequently asked questions
Why are cigarettes so expensive in Australia?
Tobacco excise. The federal government has raised it repeatedly since 2013, and it now makes up about 70% of the retail price. A pack that costs $55 in Australia might cost $15 in parts of Asia or Europe. It's deliberate policy designed to discourage smoking through price pressure, and it's worked. Smoking rates in Australia have dropped from about 24% in 1995 to under 10% today.
Does switching to vaping actually save money?
Disposable vapes cost less per day than cigarettes, typically $5 to $10 depending on usage. But vaping products are now heavily regulated in Australia, with prescription requirements and retail restrictions tightening through 2025 and 2026. The long-term cost comparison is a moving target, and the health trade-offs are still being studied.
What if I only smoke socially or on weekends?
Enter your weekly average divided by seven. If you go through 10 cigarettes across a Friday and Saturday night, that's about 1.4 per day. The annual cost is lower, around $1,400 at current prices, but it still adds up to over $7,000 in five years. Weekend smoking also tends to creep upward over time, so check back in six months and see if the number has moved.