My Wife and I started strict budgeting a few months prior to us switching to PV's. She's been impressed with how much we're saving over smoking, especially since I started DIYing all our juice.
Before I started mixing, I used to make one set of purchases totaling $100 at the beginning of each month. This would be enough to keep us vaping through that month. Juice, hardware, stockpile for the coming Vapocalypse...everything would easily fit into this budget. It became part of my addiction - seeing how much value I could sleeve into that $100 budget.
With DIY, it became too easy, too fast. For that same $100, I could buy enough flavors to keep me futzing for months. I had enough nic to last us 2 years, the atty drawer was full, and I was already equipped with a killer mod. What else to buy??? I got cocky and found myself buying any flavor from any manufacturer without doing much research.
So one night I "volunteered" to lower our budget to $60 per month - yeah, I'd had a few. My Wife was obviously ecstatic.
Now I'm back to trying to put together that vaping puzzle every month...
"Dag, I need PG this month...should I forgo the cartos or the mini batt I've been eying?"
...or...
"Should I finally try some menthol or get a new fruit flavoring?"
...Add to that shipping costs and stock problems, and it can get a little frustrating. But I must admit, I'm having a lot of fun at the same time.
So, it's a mixed blessing. Sure, I'd like to be able to buy everything I want as soon as I think of it. But at the same time, part of what gets me through the month is trying to augment my choices so they will work best for us the following month. But eventually this will also become too easy. At some point I could hit a wall. I won't need to buy any flavors month-to-month. I'll have so much hardware stockpiled that I'll find it silly to add another atty to the bucket.
I'll just have to resist the urge to "volunteer" anything when that happens.
Before I started mixing, I used to make one set of purchases totaling $100 at the beginning of each month. This would be enough to keep us vaping through that month. Juice, hardware, stockpile for the coming Vapocalypse...everything would easily fit into this budget. It became part of my addiction - seeing how much value I could sleeve into that $100 budget.
With DIY, it became too easy, too fast. For that same $100, I could buy enough flavors to keep me futzing for months. I had enough nic to last us 2 years, the atty drawer was full, and I was already equipped with a killer mod. What else to buy??? I got cocky and found myself buying any flavor from any manufacturer without doing much research.
So one night I "volunteered" to lower our budget to $60 per month - yeah, I'd had a few. My Wife was obviously ecstatic.
Now I'm back to trying to put together that vaping puzzle every month...
"Dag, I need PG this month...should I forgo the cartos or the mini batt I've been eying?"
...or...
"Should I finally try some menthol or get a new fruit flavoring?"
...Add to that shipping costs and stock problems, and it can get a little frustrating. But I must admit, I'm having a lot of fun at the same time.
So, it's a mixed blessing. Sure, I'd like to be able to buy everything I want as soon as I think of it. But at the same time, part of what gets me through the month is trying to augment my choices so they will work best for us the following month. But eventually this will also become too easy. At some point I could hit a wall. I won't need to buy any flavors month-to-month. I'll have so much hardware stockpiled that I'll find it silly to add another atty to the bucket.
I'll just have to resist the urge to "volunteer" anything when that happens.
