3 Vices You Should Quit For Financial Reasons

Your vices can cost you thousands of dollars each year. Think they are still worth it?

Vices — not only are they bad for your health, they are also not great for your wealth.

Admit it: We all have them — little “treats” we give ourselves after a hard days’ work. We like to reach for that glass of vino or simply veg out with an easy McDonalds delivery and a box of chocolates.

You slowly find yourself doing it more and more until it becomes a part of your life. Once a habit forms, kicking it is going to be a pain. But if you don’t, you'd be wasting a lot of good money. For starters, look at how much you can save if you cut back or curb these bad habits now.

Smoking: S$4,745 per year

Oh, where do we even begin with this one?

Despite the smoking ban in 2007 in a bid to promote a smoke-free lifestyle in Singapore, it hasn’t quite stopped smokers from taking a puff or 10 at designated smoking spots, has it?

Setting aside the fact that smoking is a serious health hazard, let’s talk about the financial damages this bad habit has on the nicotine addicted. A pack of 20 cigarettes can easily cost up to S$13. Assuming a smoker goes through a pack a day — and this doesn’t include “special occasions”, where you'd probably smoke more — one would have spent S$4,745 a year.

Drinking: S$4,888 per year

Stay away from the liquor cabinet.

Before you start bawling your eyes out, hear us out. As much as a glass or two of vino a week is nice to have to unwind and relax, sometimes we get carried away. It’s not unheard of for two glasses to lead to two bottles. Are you really so stressed? If you are, the money wasted on you getting wasted could add to the stress, no?

On average, a decent bottle of wine costs about S$47. Let’s be very conservative, and say you have only two bottles a week. Here’s the math: S$47 x 2 = S$94 a week. In a year, you are looking at S$94 x 52 weeks = S$4,888!

And that’s only for the regular week. Let’s not forget special occasions like Christmas and birthdays. You might consider “celebrating” a little less on normal days for the sake of your liver and wallet.

Fast Food: S$1,456 per year

After a long, exhausting day at work, you’re finally home and it’s late. Forget cooking. All you want to do is curl up on the couch, and wait for someone to McDeliver your fries and burgers while you Netflix and chill.

We are not even going to go into how fast food is killing you slowly. Let think about more immediate pains — that of a financial nature.

To qualify for delivery, you need chalk up at least S$10 in your order, and McDonalds charges a delivery fee of S$4. That works out to S$14 at the cheapest. Assuming you do this at least twice a week, that’s S$28 a week or S$1,456 a year.

You’re better off stocking up on some turkey ham and grapes for a nice healthy sandwich on those lazy nights. Cut the cost, cut the cholesterol.

These 3 Vices Cost You S$11,089 per year

We honestly hope you don't make smoking, drinking and fast food a regular part of your life.

But if you are guilty of them all, perhaps you will be determined to reduce or eliminate these vices, which are costing you upwards of — gasp! — S$11,089 each year. Are you still feeling like a puff of cigarette now?

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By Alexa Fang

Alexa is a pop-culture vulture. She lives to read, write and travel, and decided long ago that life is stranger than fiction. When she's having croissant, she thinks in French. "31 Rue Cambon" is her favourite address, and she believes that money one enjoyed spending is never money wasted.