Smoking in office doorways, bus shelters and beer gardens could soon be banned, as the government is considering an extension to the smoking ban.

The government has set a target of halving the proportion of adult smokers from more than one in five to one in ten by 2020. It could also decree plain packaging for cigarettes and impose a complete ban on cigarette vending machines.

And there's a hidden cost for smokers that could prove very expensive.

This might be a good time to quit. Apart from the obvious health risks, smoking eats into your wallet. This NHS website has a calculator that tells you exactly how much you would save by quitting. If you smoke a pack of 20 a day, you could save £1,898 after one year, £9,490 after five and £18,980 after ten.

Beyond the cost of a pack of cigarettes, there are numerous other costs. Smokers pay more for insurance, spend extra on dry cleaning and dental care and end up with less cash when they sell their car or home - smoking leaves a bad smell. It also reduces the value of many other possessions.

What's worse, it can cost you your job. In the US, some companies won't hire smokers at all and many prefer nonsmokers. In the UK, employers are also clamping down on smoking. Several health organisations and luxury hotels have threatened to sack staff for lighting up and Marks & Spencer also banned its staff from smoking in public with their uniforms on show in 2006. That year seven Morrisons workers in Scotland lost their jobs after being caught on CCTV having a cigarette break during the night shift.

So with smoking increasingly likely to hit your wallet, career and social life, maybe now is the time to reconsider the habit.