.: December 2014

Would You like Some Debt with Your Coffee?

The average worker in the U.S. currently coughs up over $20 a week on coffee, working out to a grand total of $1,092 annually. 

Alcohol Use Costs States Billions and Your PeroBudget Thousands

The average college student spends over $1000 a year on beer. While doing that they consume 77,000 empty calories.
When that habit continues, it ends up costing your State billions of dollars. How? Most often, the hidden cost of drinking alcohol came from:

Health care expenses
Motor vehicle crash costs
Property damage
Decreased workplace productivity
Criminal justice expenses

How Smoking Affects the Body

In 2014, a packet of 20 cigarettes costs around $18.70. That means if you smoke a pack a day you will spend more than $5,000 a year on cigarettes.
As a result of smoking, many Americans pay over $10,000 a year more than they need to dealing with:

Life Insurance: Smokers have a greater risk of dying at a younger age than non smokers and this risk is reflected in higher life insurance premium payments.
Health Insurance: Smokers have a greater risk of medical problems than non smokers and this risk is reflected in their medical insurance premium payments.
Health Care: Since smokers frequently have more medical problems than non smokers, they must pay more to take care of these problems.
Medications: More medical problems for smokers usually results more prescription medicine taken by smokers than non smokers.
Home Owner's Insurance: Smokers have a greater risk of burning down their house than non smokers and this risk is reflected in higher home owner's insurance premium payments.
Value of the House: Smoking leaves a bad smell in a house thus decreasing the value to potential buyers.
Value of Your Possessions: Just as with the house, smoking leaves a bad smell to many of the items in your house thus decreasing their value.
Car Insurance: Smokers have a greater risk of getting into a car accident than non smokers and this risk is reflected in their car insurance premium payments.
Car Resale Value: Smoking leaves a bad smell in a car thus decreasing the value to potential buyers or when traded-in for another car.
Earn Less Money: Studies have found that smokers earn between 4% to 11% less money than their non smoking counterparts.
Less Social Security / Pension Benefits: Since smokers earn less than non smokers, they receive less overall social security and pensions benefits than non smokers.
Cost of Cleaning: Whether its the inside of their home, the inside of their car or their clothes, smokers have to spend more to keep things clean.
Dental Care: Smokers spend more on dental care and special dental products than non smokers.
Lost Interest: All the extra money that smokers must spend means that money can't be saved resulting in lost interest.

Smoking affects your body in a number of negative ways which include premature aging, respiratory problems and an increase in risk for heart disease, vascular disease, stroke and cancer. This video will show you: HOW TO quit smoking, HOW TO talk to your doctor HOW TO ask medical questions

How Americans Spend Their Money on Things They Don't Need

Americans spend nearly $11 trillion shopping each year. With that much dough, you could buy over 2000 aircraft carriers, 300 private islands, and still have money left over for a latte. Here’s a taste of the things we bought—and how much we spent on them.
While we spend nearly $500 billion grocery shopping, you won't believe how much is spent on things we don't really

TV Watching Raises Risk of Health Problems, Dying Young

The average American watches nearly 3 hours of television every day. That's more than 1,000 hours per year.

Soda Is Killing You

The average American:

Consumes 60 Gallons of soda per year.
Drinks 90,000 calories per year that have zero nutritional benefit.
Drinks enough Soda to add 25 lbs to their body each year.
At least half of Americans consume soda every single day.

but what does it do to us?

Ages our cells
Contributes to Type 2 Diabetes
Increases risk of heart attack, gout, and obesity.
Changes your metabolism
Can cause nerve disorders

Watch this video to see what a real Coke advertisement would say if they told the truth about the danger of soda.

Sugar Is Sweet and DeadlySugar Is Sweet and Deadly

Sugar. It's in everything! Is it good for us? Well, the sugar industry thinks so. However, the World Health Organization says a healthy adult should only have six teaspoons of sugar per day or 100 total calories from their daily diet.

For perspective:

The average American consumes 22 teaspoons per day (not 6 as recommended.)
A 12 oz Soda has 140 calories (40 more calories than the recommended amount.)
Americans spend nearly 3 billion dollars on Halloween alone each year.
Sugar makes you fat, it specifically makes your belly fat.
Sugar causes heart disease by changing the muscle protein of the heart.

The Costs of Our Bad Habits and Addictions

We often think of addiction in terms of harmful drugs, but our everyday relationship with our dependence on sugar, television, alcohol, fossil fuels and other modern luxuries takes its toll on our wallets and our overall health.

How Many Years Is Drinking, Drugs and Smoking Shaving off Your Life?

New website has calculated the cost of an addiction in years and hours.

Smoking a pack of 20 cigarettes a day cuts ten years off a person's life
Drinking two or more alcoholic drinks every day cuts 23 years off a life
Cocaine addicts lose up to 34 years, with each dose costing 5.6 hours
Methadone users cut their lives by 38 years, and die at an average age of 41
A heroin addiction will cut 42 years off a person's life, killing them at age 38
Lifetime methamphetamine users lose 42 years, each dose costing 11 hours