Yep, you guessed it, Australia is the most expensive place in the world to buy a packet of cigarettes.

Did you buy cigarettes at the weekend and get a bigger shock than usual when told the price?
On Saturday 1st September the price of cigarettes jumped up another 12.5%, an estimated $3 per pack, taking the price of a packet of smokes close to $40. Ouch!

According to analysis by finder.com.au, a pack-a-day smoker will now be spending over $900 a month or $10,000 per year. Even bigger ouch!

Do the price hikes stop you from smoking?

Unfortunately, the annual price hikes do not appear to have had the desired effect as Australia reported only a 0.2 per cent drop in smokers in the last three years.

Increasing the price might make smokers want to quit smoking or cut down but it won’t help them to quit smoking. Cutting down just makes cigarettes appear even more precious.

The negatives of smoking, such as the enormous cost, are not why you smoke – you smoke because you believe that smoking provides you with some sort of pleasure or crutch or that it will be difficult to quit.

Whilst this belief is in place, you’ll find it hard to quit and the extortionate cost will be blurred from your thoughts.

If you continue to believe that you’re making a sacrifice or giving something up, you’ll always find the money; that’s what drug addicts do.

So what are your options?

1. Carry on smoking and pay a fortune for the unfortunate privilege
2. Try and quit smoking with the usual methods and forever feel deprived
3. Quit smoking easily and happily with no sense of loss, no giving up, no feelings of sacrifice, just an overwhelming sense of freedom. All for the cost of 3 weeks of cigarettes.

Save me lots of money now!