Have you seen your money go up in smoke?

1st July marks the first anniversary of the smoking ban across England, a time when many smokers choose not to stand out in the cold but to pack in the habit for good.

A 20 a day smoker is spending on average £170 a month for the pleasure, but by giving up today and putting the money to better use smokers could benefit from a much more rewarding habit.

For example, if a 20 a day smoker put that money monthly into a high interest paying savings account such as the Abbey Fixed Rate Monthly Saver currently paying 7.25% gross fixed for one year, they could have built up a gross balance of £2,119.26 by now. Better still if they saved monthly into a Cash Mini ISA, such as the Abbey Direct ISA currently paying 6% tax-free, they could have built up £2,099.84 tax-free.

Smokers could also ease the burden of the credit crunch by putting the money towards paying off their mortgage. By overpaying on their mortgage by just an extra £5 a day, Abbey customers could knock just over 8 years off the term of their mortgage, saving over £50,000 over 25 years.

Reza Attar-Zadeh, Director of Savings and Investments at Abbey said: "It goes without saying that giving up smoking is not only great for your health but also for your bank balance. Using the saving wisely could knock years off your mortgage"