How to Live with Smokers

Living with smokers has many downsides. Any readers who have lived for years with parents, roommates, or friends who smoke know all to well how it wears you down. Why is living with smokers such a bad thing? How do you deal with it?

First off, I've lived in a house with parents who smoke for eighteen years. The biggest pet peeve of mine is that the smell seeps into every piece of fabric in the house. My clothes, no matter how recently I bought them or wash them, reek of cigarettes. Whether you personally enjoy the aroma of tobacco is not the point - carrying the smell around is often embarrassing. People always used to ask me if I smoked because my clothes were so infested with the odor. If you have old clothes or sheets or jackets, the smell is nearly impossible to get out, and even harder to mask.

Your nose also becomes accustomed to the smell of cigarettes when you live in that environment. You have to really focus on the smell to notice it, when others catch it right away. New clothes and fabrics instantly carry the odor; I've actually halted buying new clothes for college until the last minute because I refuse to have them mixed with the smell. Just try your best to cover the smell, do research, and find ways to gradually eliminate it. The bottom line is that if the smokers keep smoking, the smell will stay and stick.

Which brings up another point. Living with smokers may have other health qualms than simply lingering odors. I am no expert on the research of second-hand smoke, but after living with the constant barrage of smoke and odor my entire life, it might not be that far fetched. Perhaps I could breathe slightly easier in my own home if I had grown up and lived in a smoke free environment. Odds are I'll never know, but any people concerned about health problems should talk to those who smoke in your house. Ask them to smoke outside or near a window to clear the air. Place humidifiers and fans in positions where you know they smoke. Be polite about your inquiries. You can not convince a smoker to stop the habit they have been adamant about for years, it is their own choice, but you can let them know in subtle ways that it is poisonous to them and noxious to you.

It is often difficult to live and relax in a home with smokers. Even if you like the smell of cigarettes, you most definitely don't want to carry it around every day on your fabrics. There are potential health factors that could put people at risk of living near smokers, perhaps even more for people like myself who have lived with it and hardly adjusted to it my entire life. If you want to let those around you know how irritating constant cigarette fumes and a potentially unhealthy environment is to you, do so in a polite respectful way. Also know that just because you live with a smoker who has made a personal choice to smoke themselves does not give them immunity to cause you discomfort and embarrassment with that choice. Voice your mind and create some neutral ground if you live with smokers.