I had to give up smoking, they kept putting up the price of beer. Only half joking.
Back in the day drinking was [sort of] cheap, 50c for a pot of mid strength but I got 20c/play or 3 for 40c on my juke boxes.
The first time I gave up was the fed budget of '63 when a pack went from 3 bob to three and thruppence. I was newly married and if I ran out of cigs before payday, I just didn't smoke. So I didn't buy any on payday.
