Dollar-A-Day Group

[ChurchMouse]

I've been avoiding the forum like the plague. But money spent since July 4th sales = 0!

I was planning to order on Labor Day, but I did inventory & while there are two juices I want, I really have plenty in general for at least another month. I spent July and August's regular budget. Now September vape budget = $10 and that only in case I miscalculated on coil supplies.

I'm proud of myself! Just not opening a whole bunch of threads...nope...not gonna look...

 

[glointhedark]

There are times when I am eternally grateful that my parents and their siblings were raised during the Depression. I learned early on to make do with what was on sale, to reuse leftovers, and to save anything that could possibly be repurposed. That being said, I hope I do not jinx myself again as I did in July, when I had to put in an emergency order for new batteries when my Evod clones started acting up.

As of this moment, the only thing I anticipate spending money on, vape-wise, is an order on Monday to Mt. Baker Vapor, mainly to take advantage of the sale they will be having. I will be nagging my daughter and her boyfriend all day tomorrow to get me a list of what they want/need. For myself, I do not really "need" anything right now. However, MBV has a few flavors that I really enjoy, so I will be hopefully ordering a couple of those for myself. Since the house that we are renting was sold at the end of July, after almost a year of being on the market, and the new owner has raised the rent, and my daughter had to get a new (to us) car, with the accompanying downpayment and loan, we are going to be on a tight budget for a couple of months, so I will not be able to "treat" myself to much for my 65th birthday in a few weeks, other than a couple of favorite flavors. This is only a temporary belt tightening, thankfully, and mainly to make sure that we remember to take into account the new rent and the car payment.

I really do not want to know what we would be spending if we were still smoking. We both chain smoked under stress, and we have been chain vaping for the last few weeks - the house closed at the end of July, just in time to make August rent payment a problem, and the car started really being a problem around the same time. Due to my over-ordering on coils and eliquids from a couple of new vendors, we are doing GREAT as far as vaping supplies, with no thought at all to going back to smoking.

To semi-quote "Maverick", "As my old Pappy used to say" if you have the money, and it is a good price, stock up when you can. You will not regret it.

 

[szot]

$1 a day!...heck , I'm down to $3 a month....reading and learning teaches a man many ways to save money and continue their needs and interests.

 

[3mg Meniere]

We now have a support group for budget-minded vapers. http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/groups/vaping-dollar-day.html ! Join, and tell us about your economies, why you are budget-minded, and anything else. When the pressure to spend gets too much to bear, we will remind you why three Provaris are two too many.

Just a reminder for newbies who are feeling overwhelmed with the start-up expense of vaping. Look for your equilibrium point, and be a happy vaper. It is less expensive in the long run.

 

[Str8vision]

Because I extract my own tobacco flavoring (NETs), and use rebuildable atomizers (RBAs) on mechanical mods that allow battery replacement, I'm "was" well under a dollar a day in vaping expenses. However, due to impending government regulations/actions I decided to play it safe and spent a considerable sum of money stockpiling Liquid nic, and other items I felt the government might restrict/ban or excessively tax.

 

[Alien Traveler]

I am vaping for 5 (or 6?) month and I have spent about $600 total including initial costs of premade juices (around $50) and DIY supplies. As for most members of ECF vaping is a hobby for me, but rather not a big one. Most important for me – to keep myself away from smoking. I usually do not vape in public places and aesthetics of my vaping equipment means nothing to me, only functionality is important.

For now I have: two Vamos, bunch of iClear 16, Aerotank, RGM2, RG280, Fogger V4 clone and IGO-W clone. I am not a cloud chaser and I do not want to consume an awful lot of juice, so no subohming for me, no mech mods. I like better to be able to vape my 4 ml of juice per day slowly and longer. Why Vamo? I like its 3-button interface (so no Provari) and changeable batteries (so no MVP 2). Since I do not need high wattage I do not see anything better for me than Vamo on the market today in price/usability terms. So I am not planning to buy any equipment in the next 3-5 month. OK, plans are usually got broken, so suppose I’ll spend $100 more on vaping in 3 month. I am fully stacked for at least half a year with DIY supplies, and it means no spending on juice and coils. It brings my total spending on vaping to $700 during 8 moths, i.e. $2.92 per day. Not a $1, but it includes all my initial spending. So, vaping can be both cheap and satisfacting.

Disclaimer: I did not try to go cheap, I just do not like to buy things I will not use. I am in DIY because I do not want to be screwed by possible government intrusions in vapers realm (and I actually like DIY).

 

[3mg Meniere]

"A dollar a day" refers to expenditures after you reach equilibrium (the minimum amount of vapestuff that will keep you happy)-- so you have reached the goal. And then some.

 

[JimmyDB]

So, figured out my costs... thank you bulk (on sale) NIC purchases

unflavored DIY 2.4% NIC --> $ 0.0236 / mL
flavored DIY 2.4% NIC --> $ 0.0276 / mL to $ 0.0316 / mL

I budget myself 4mL of liquid per day, but I'm not strict about it... 4mL * $ 0.0316 = $ 0.1264 / day ~ $ 0.13 / day

I have been replacing the coil head in my tank about once every 2 weeks,... $5 / 14 days --> $ 0.357 / day

I don't run a special fridge or freezer.

I don't have any numbers for what it costs to charge my batteries, but I know it would be low... for the sake of argument let's pretend I only charge my vape batteries off of a 4Ah battery pack (supplied by someone else) that I charge elsewhere (for free). Either way, I paid 8 dollars for each battery (which came with a tank+charger). I subtract the $5 for the coil head I took from the tank -> $3 and I will have to replace them once a year ( $3/365.25) --> $ 0.008/day * 2 --> $ 0.016 ~~> $0.02/day

Juice: $ 0.13 / day
Head: $ 0.36 / day
Batts: $ 0.02 / day
-------------------------
Total: $ 0.51 / day for the normal stuff

I'm still messing around with other stuff... I do have mods, drippers etc,. and a bunch of cylindrical batteries in various sizes, oddly, that's not my go-to equipment. Either way, I'm a low-wattage vaper... so I don't need hi-drain expensive batteries. Most of mine are reclaimed from battery packs.

I guess the last thing I really need to do is figure out the right tank so I can just rebuild/rewick my coils and be happy with the results. I'm guessing when I read this thread from the start, I'll find suggestions for tanks/heads that are good for rebuilding.

It wasn't my goal to do this as cheaply as possible... but when I sit back and look at the numbers, it can be very very cheap. I have also rebuilt a number of ecigs that someone was throwing away... they worked fine after a new coil, battery charge, cotton and juice. I have even retro-fitted a BLU so that magnet wires come out near the light-up tip for simple recharging via a standard Li+ charger yanked from one of those battery packs I mentioned... swapped the hard tip for a soft tip from a different eCig and whamo... re-useable ecig on the super cheap. My "Zef Cig".

I'm starting to wonder though... do I really need to replace the coil at all, well, the Kanthal? I took a cruddy head apart, unwound the coil... cleaned it, torched it, re-coiled it and used it in my dripper. Tastes fine, vapes fine. That would just leave the wicking material... I have some wire mesh, but I have not done anything with it yet. I have also seen a few coils that are supposed to wick on their own mostly.

 

[JimmyDB]

Learned a secret last month. Well, maybe not a secret, but something I didn't know. You can order wholesale from Mount Baker. There is a different site Wholesale E Juice for the wholesale side. The bad news is you must make a minimum order of $100. The good news is you can get your cost of juice down to about 5¢ per ml. While my wife has a resale certificate from our home state, none was required.

I ordered 16oz each of two of our favorites flavors, plus 32oz of the flavor my wife and two of our neighbors like. I am charging our neighbors what it costs, no profit involved. At those prices it is not too much more than what I DIY for!

Glad I found this site! I have gone through the initial start up purchasing craze and now at the point where I have what I want (like) in the way of hardware. Envision having to purchase batteries and possibly another tank, but other than that, I should be set for awhile!

Currently making our coils and wicks (both silica and cotton).

It's a few months later... and it looks like they do require your business license now. Can you confirm if your previous account still works, i.e. do you see pricing?

 

[rusty zipper]

We now have a support group for budget-minded vapers. http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/groups/vaping-dollar-day.html It was created just this morning! Join, and tell us about your economies, why you are budget-minded, and anything else. When the pressure to spend gets too much to bear, we will remind you why three Provaris are two too many.

I blend my own juice, 50ml costs me about $4.00. I drip, so I wind my own coils. That, and cotton is cheap. I shouldn't be spending anything. I have mods, attys, and VV/VW devices. I have all the tanks I'll ever need, and I rebuild Kanger and Aspire coils, so no expense there. I should be vaping my heart out and spending almost nothing. So will somebody please tell me why vaping is costing me over $150 a month? I don't get it. Don't get me wrong... I like it, but I don't get it.

 

[JimmyDB]

It was requested that I post this info in this thread...

Bigger da Blob, Better da Job...NOT!


Having taught USAF High Reliability Soldering based on NASA curriculum standards, I’d like to share some critical soldering guidelines for ya'll. It's not rocket science; just a lil' physics, common sense and 'touch' (more on that in a bit).

BTW, there was a study that determined that there was, on average, 200 lbs of excess solder on a typical B-52 at the time. Ergo, the soldering course!

Here we go:

- Use 60Sn40Pb rosin-core solder (most common). 63Sn40Pb is ideal due to no plasticity stage, but hard to find locally and not cheap.

~~~

If ya have any questions, corrections or suggestions, please LMK!

Hello,

How long ago was this information originally prepared? I do still have 60/40 and 63/37 laying around as well as some other special purpose ones, but my go to for quick stuff is 62/36/2Ag but it's only a tiny bit better. Not to mention the pipe-working mixes which should NEVER be used on electronics you want to keep.

My friends from NASA wouldn't stop talking about using Gold solder... silver bearing or even straight silver was oddly below them, let alone lead I was told it was for reasons of sustained conductivity in the presence of specific contaminants and physical strength/give to prevent breaks under stress.

In regards to "63Sn40Pb", for clarity sake, do you mean 63Sn37Pb ?

Over all, looks like a lot of great advice.

 

[JimmyDB]

I blend my own juice, 50ml costs me about $4.00. I drip, so I wind my own coils. That, and cotton is cheap. I shouldn't be spending anything. I have mods, attys, and VV/VW devices. I have all the tanks I'll ever need, and I rebuild Kanger and Aspire coils, so no expense there. I should be vaping my heart out and spending almost nothing. So will somebody please tell me why vaping is costing me over $150 a month? I don't get it. Don't get me wrong... I like it, but I don't get it.

So,... what ARE you spending that money on... juice? Or are you just buying up stuff you don't need?

 

[JimmyDB]

Hello fellow scrimpers,

If you haven't seen this...

1 GAL of VG + 1 GAL of PG = <$60 SHIPPED​

I actually just picked up 2 Gal of VG for under $50 shipped... which I figure saved me over $70+shipping.

Thanks to an earlier post in this thread,... I just bought 400ft of Kanthal A1 in various sizes for under $30 shipped.

I'm now paying $3/100mL for my flavored DIY juice @ 24mg/mL, which is a little better than I had last posted, AND it's much stronger flavoring... so happy.

I ran some numbers a few minutes ago... between the wife and I, we were spending $600/month on tobacco.
Based on my latest run of numbers, thanks to greatly reduced costs for heads/coils... we are now at $0.50 per day... COMBINED.

 

[Iffy]

How long ago was this information originally prepared?

I taught that course 'bout 25 years ago. Note that the physics and chemistry hasn't changed for lead soldering since.

Not to mention the pipe-working mixes which should NEVER be used on electronics you want to keep.

I did note rosin core as opposed to acid core used for pipe soldering.

My friends from NASA wouldn't stop talking about using Gold solder... silver bearing or even straight silver was oddly below them, let alone lead I was told it was for reasons of sustained conductivity in the presence of specific contaminants and physical strength/give to prevent breaks under stress.

Unfortunately, I never got to 'operate' under a NASA budget in my 20 years in da USAF!

In regards to "63Sn40Pb", for clarity sake, do you mean 63Sn37Pb ?

Yepper, thanx, good 'catch'! <Off fer Rev 47.1>

Over all, looks like a lot of great advice.

Again, thanx!

Hopefully my post has made soldering more of an exercise and not a challenge fer our fellow 'builders'.

 

[3mg Meniere]

I have been having a frustrating time of it lately. My cartotanks have been bubbling and gurgling like crazy-- positively filling the well of my Vamo.

I got an Orchid a week ago for $10 from FT, and had a horrible time learning how to build and wick. Now it is working very nicely, and am waiting for a 91% Russian from FT for $17. Today I have refilled my Orchid three times, three different juices from among my favorites. Once the Russian arrives, I may just buy three more Orchids, and retire the cartotanks. In fact, I may officially retire the cartotanks tonight and switch to clearos for the time being.

So I have been silent only because of embarrassment.

 

[readeuler]

I have been having a frustrating time of it lately. My cartotanks have been bubbling and gurgling like crazy-- positively filling the well of my Vamo.

I got an Orchid a week ago for $10 from FT, and had a horrible time learning how to build and wick. Now it is working very nicely, and am waiting for a 91% Russian from FT for $17. Today I have refilled my Orchid three times, three different juices from among my favorites. Once the Russian arrives, I may just buy three more Orchids, and retire the cartotanks. In fact, I may officially retire the cartotanks tonight and switch to clearos for the time being.

So I have been silent only because of embarrassment.

No need for embarrassment IMO, the cost good RBA should be spread for the life of the atomizer, which may well be several years. I've never had the pleasure of using a carto-anything, unless the cartridges for my cigalike from several years ago count. I imagine I never will, as rebuildables are quite satisfying and fun, once you get it right.

Says the guy who broke the glass tank in his 4 day old Fogger (2nd RBA) a few hours ago...

 

[3mg Meniere]

Yeah, once I get them, I will be happy, and not need to buy anything other than flavor, nic, vg, pg, wick, wire and cotton. Of course, I have said that for months.

I totally agree with you on cartotanks-- a bad option for the penny-pincher. Those cartos are expensive! But it has only been lately that inexpensive RTA's have been available on FT. I just couldn't see shelling out @ $30, even with guaranteed quality and detailed instruction booklet.

 

[TheGirlfriend]

I find one treatment for shinyitis is telling myself I cannot buy something. I can only barter for it. Then the hunt is on.

 

[3mg Meniere]

I find one treatment for shinyitis is telling myself I cannot buy something. I can only barter for it. Then the hunt is on.

Yeah. Right. Anybody want some used cartotanks in trade for RTA's? Silence. Absolute silence.

 

[TheGirlfriend]

ha ha ha. It is not so immediate. And you're thinking too laterally. Don't you have other stuff in the house that you want to get rid of? Either craigslist it for money, or see about trading. I've been lucky. One of my side gigs are bulk purchases of makeup/perfume testers. I've found several people willing to trade (though it is a little bit harder than having a "male" centered item for trade since I find so many vapers online are male.)

Anyway, helps me think of ways to declutter (not just for ecig stuff)-- I want something new, I have to get rid of several older items.