Frugal Living

[JRudey]

You could buy 4 eGo 900mAh batteries for less than $20. This eGo Twin Pack goes for $9.35. fasttech offers Registered Air Mail free with orders over $15. So, if you have a PayPal account and don't mind tying up $20 of your money for a few weeks, this is a great deal.

https://www.fasttech.com/p/1370101

The ones I bought work very well. I placed my order on 09/02/13 and it was delivered on 09/21/13.

 

[AttyPops]

The thing is...don't skimp on safety though. So check out reviews, pay attention to vent holes and such. Also buy GOOD batteries (AW, most Panasonic, etc.). Remember Frugal doesn't mean cheap. It means value at minimal cost. Eliminating excess vanity expense and such. Sometimes compromising on or eliminating features that you don't need. Or putting more work into it yourself (like learning to solder and making an assemble yourself e-cig. Or DIY e-juice.)

 

[CommaHolly]

Nickel? That's for you rich people. Here, we squeeze a penny twice, just to hear Lincoln scream.

@OP: DIY e-juice is the biggest savings I know of. Also removable battery mods where you can swap the battery out rather than buying an entirely new PV. Also recoiling as mentioned above.

this.

I don't recoil my own yet, but I can see the day it happens,,,,,,,

LOL, it's funny, but when I smoked, I may have groaned when a price increase happened,,,,,but I willingly paid it over to continue smoking,,,,,,,,didn't even slow me down!

when I started vaping, I told myself, if I could save 1/3 of the cost of smoking, I'd be thrilled,,,,,,,,

yeah, I now spend 1/4 of what I used to spend on smoking for vaping,,,,,and I STILL like to save even more money

Anywho,,,,,,,I DIY, it's easy, fast and I love how I can customize anything for my mood,,,,,,,,,and I replace vivi nova heads rather than just toss a carto now,,,,,,

and if my Vamo would ever come on the slow boat from China, I'd be thrilled!

 

[eHuman]

DIY juice costing me less than 5¢ per mil helps offset the purchases I make, but TBH after buying a REO/RM2 I don't want anything else except maybe another REO/RM2.

100' of kanthal, a years worth of ekowool, 1650mL of DIY juice all for under $100.

 

[HeadInClouds]

Partner and I both quit and began vaping at the same time. Health and money are our motivators.
First we used disposables. We quickly found this cost more than real cigs.

We bought a kit with stick batteries, cartomizers, little tanks, and refill fluid. But batteries were constantly in the charger, and the premade fluids we loved were adding up quickly. We were frustrated and still spending more than with cigs.

We bought another kit with e-go batts, learned to clean cartomizers for longer use, and found less expensive premade fluids that we like. But we bought lots of samples to find what we like,

Now I have DIY flavors and nic base coming. I am determined to "break even", so I've done the math in detail. We will soon have a several month stockpile of DIY fluids we like. Cartomizers, occasional nic fluid and flavors will be our only expense.

"Maintenance phase" will cost a small fraction of what cigs would have, but given our initial expenses, we'll be a year into vaping before actually saving month. We're *almost* into maintenance. We could have arrived faster if I'd done a few things differently. Perhaps someone can learn from my mistakes.

I should have:
Bought a load of various-sized e-go batteries, chargers, and small tanks from FastTech.
Tried DIY right away after finding premade flavors we liked.
Buy fluids, cartos, nic base all at the same time from the same vendor to minimize cost.

...would have saved hundreds that way. In the meantime, we're literally breathing easier, and that will help us be patient until the bank account benefits, too. We'll get there about a year after starting vaping.

 

[Ref Minor]

I had switched down to roll your owns to save cash before I quit, it cost me $25 a week, so that is what I set my budget to be. Obviously at the start, especially as I went with a prefills cig-alike to start out with you spend more. Tomorrow is my break even day after 6 months and I have a number of egos and several months of liquid in stock.

I keep a savings spreadsheet that totals the weekly smoking costs and each purchase I make. So long as I can keep below my budget I am comfortable regardless of what I buy, if I choose something expensive it will be paid for out of my savings vs. smoking, that will be the only justification I need.

 

[Cool_Breeze]

Would a 49 cent drip tip be just as good as one for $3?

I'll say, no. I've had an inexpensive, translucent tip break off where the o-ring is. Delrin tips are nice, though not inexpensive. Well...for $0.49, I suppose they are not going to break the bank.

 

[douglasp]

I have bought all the mods I need, rebuild all my coils and I'm now doing DIY juices and yes I have spent more on gear that I would have on analogs so far but I have what I need, that being said I take the most enjoyment from thinking that 1/2 to 3/4 of the money I was spending on cigs was going to taxes for whatever harebrained expense the government wanted to spend it on.
I haven't totally quit smoking yet still buy 1 pack a week(much better than 2 packs a day) and have dropped the nic content down from 28 to 18 mgs so far. All and all I'm happy with where I am.

 

[KjAthena]

I now own 1 eGo 650 nah battery...2 eGo 11000 mah twists...4 evod toppers , i pack of coils , 1 charger, 1 case bought new ($65.00). I also own 2 1100mah twist batteries, 2 protanks, 2 mini pro tanks a homemade mechanical mod, battery and charger bought used ($75.00)
ordered but not arrived VTR w Iclear 30s tank/coils/batteries $95
and around 200ML off good Vapable Juices purchased new/used/traded/won ect $115 spent

$350 spent

my quit o metter shows I have saved:331.62 Dollars so I should hit even less than a week.

Ongoing weekly costs $12 max for e-juice $5 set aside for coils, battery replacement...upgrades ect (I am a good saver) $17 week, smokes just went up to $38.92 for a carton of the cheapies I was smoking every week. Saving over half...feeling better...healthier and not smoking

 

[tj99959]

I can (and have) make a PV for ~$5, I can DiY juice for ~5c/ml, I can rewick/recoil for ~10c. So everything considered I could vape (if I wanted to) for less than 20c a day. ($6/month)

But I'm not that frugal ................. YET

 

[KjAthena]

LOL...thats some low cost for sure...my husband brought to light that my smoke budget ( If I was still smoking) would have been within $2 of my food/household budget for a family of 3 adults/2 dogs/2 cats/2 birds....So glad I switched

 

[Cavediver]

I can (and have) make a PV for ~$5, I can DiY juice for ~5c/ml, I can rewick/recoil for ~10c. So everything considered I could vape (if I wanted to) for less than 20c a day. ($6/month)

But I'm not that frugal ................. YET

I set out to make one of those $5 PVs. I think it actually wound up costing $45, but I can make another half dozen of them for free

 

[tj99959]

This one cost me $2.20 to make. It's now over two years old and still works fine.

 

[douglasp]

you made a homemade reo please tell us how?

 

[tj99959]

you made a homemade reo please tell us how?

I wouldn't exactly call that a Reo

 

[KjAthena]

coolness...I like my secondhand homemade mechanical....it is Unique...wish I could take pics and post them here...that copper one looks nice however

 

[Capt.shay]

A real easy way to save money is simple DIY. Any one can do it. I was doing it off of my first order. If you need really High nic. then it wont work, but for most it is a money saver. Order your juice stronger than you need it and with an extra flavor shot if you want. Then get a big jug of VG or PG depending on your preference. Glycol is much cheaper then prepared juice. Then just add PG/VG to bring it down to your nic level. I find a lot of flavors don't even need an extra shot. I figured out all the numbers and I was ending up saving me more than 25% on my juice

Here is what I would do:

I vape at 18mg/ml

Order at 36mg/ml 100% pg one extra flavor shot
Add an equal amount of VG to it

I end up with twice as much 18% at 50/50 VG/PG

You can play with the ratio's to get exactly what you want and save over one quarter on your juice. Along the way you will begin to get comfortable with DIY.

 

[Butters78]

Yup I rebuild and diy my juice.

One great thing my wife is doing is coupons. She has to say home with my son who is special needs so she is all into the coupons. It's her hobby like vaping is mine. I have a closet full of free stuff. Hundreds of razors, shaving creams, toothpaste and brushes. We don't only get things for free we also get overage. For example an item costs 1.49. The coupon is 3 dollars off said item, multiply that multiple times in one shopping trip. There has been many occasions where we had say a 200 dollar grocery bill and only payed 20 bucks or so.

On the coupon forum she has thousands of posts like I do here lol.

 

[KjAthena]

I am a coupon and stockpile queen also...My house is never without at least a 6 month supply of our needs and donate to local foodbanks and womens shelter twice each month on a budget of $30 a week. Last week I stockpiled 18 bottles of name brand mouthwash at 18 cents for a 32 oz bottle. 12 will carry us for a year and 6 will get donated. Next week I will buy 30 bottles of laundry soap for 13.00 plus tax...that will last us over a year. Our stores do not double (or do overages)but I can stack coupons and a local drug stop is having a buy 1 get 2 free sale.

 

[Butters78]

That is awesome! Too bad they don't do overage. Our local grocery store used to let us stack but they stopped it it stinks. Plus they don't double either so we have to be creative. My wife is on the we use coupons forum, she sells coupons as well. Well technically it's a coupon clipping service ha. We get a lot of redplums.

I am a coupon and stockpile queen also...My house is never without at least a 6 month supply of our needs and donate to local foodbanks and womens shelter twice each month on a budget of $30 a week. Last week I stockpiled 18 bottles of name brand mouthwash at 18 cents for a 32 oz bottle. 12 will carry us for a year and 6 will get donated. Next week I will buy 30 bottles of laundry soap for 13.00 plus tax...that will last us over a year. Our stores do not double (or do overages)but I can stack coupons and a local drug stop is having a buy 1 get 2 free sale.