Vape-Budget?

[oopsi82]

So i'm kinda new; Been 'vaping' 4 days now and loving every minute of it, especially the fact that i will be able to breath a whole lot better soon, I don't stink like smoke and get to enjoy all these awesome flavors i'm finding. Thing is, i feel like a kid in a candy store looking at all the really cool pv's, juice's, ect. that i'm finding out there on the web. So here's my question: I plan on breaking it to my wife today that i wanna start a 'vape-budget' so i can finance all these things i want to get. What would you think is a reasonable amount to ask her to dedicate?? I was thinking maybe like 50% of what i was spending on 'analog' cig's.

 

[Benjaimin]

For me it wasn't about the money.. But yeah one would think that 50% saving is better than no savings? but then again I am not married lol

 

[twiggums]

I'd say that's a decent budget, you're still saving money. I actually still set aside as much as we used to spend on smokes and use it for vaping supplies for the wife and I, and whatever is left over we've been having fun with. It's sorta made it easier to realize just how much we were spending on analogs when we look at all the other stuff we can do with that money. Given we're only a month a half in so far so it'll likely change in the future and i'll start putting that money towards more important things. But for now it's been fun and made it a bit more rewarding to stay off the analogs.

 

[MoonLit_Water]

A vaping budget may be a hard thing to figure out. 50% may be tough to start with but the cost does taper off once You get some hardware and back ups. And once You find juices you like buying larger bottles and save that way. And if you decide to start making Your own juice (DIY) it's incredibility cheaper. Also You can start rebuilding Your atomizers.

This forum is a great place to learn about DIY, and rebuilding so browse the forums and ask anything You may be wondering about, and search for videos on youtube their is tons of them out to guide you through just about anything vaping related

 

[brock957]

That sounds reasonable. So far I've been happy buying lower priced Mods and medium priced tanks and rba's. Paid 28.00 for my vamo. 19.00 for my kanger protank. 16.00 for my IGO-L. I buy low priced juice and DIY a little.
Welcome to the site and congrats on quitting the cigs.

 

[Bill's Magic Vapor]

Yeah, I know the feeling. My wife and I both Vape, and started the same day, so I don't have the same issues exactly. Since I buy all of her gear as well, and I'm careful to keep it fair, one APV and topper for her, for every two APV's and toppers for me (I'm a giver and was a heavier smoker), that has worked for several months now.

My reasoning is that as long as I don't deficit spend, then we're saving lives, and we already had a smoking budget, now a vaping budget. I made the mistake of thinking I was going to save all this money, at first, and it has not worked out that way. Getting setup in any "hobby" is actually quite expensive....and vaping is no exception. You know it's always the expectations that get us, isn't it? I used to use analogs to the tune of several hundred dollars per month, and figured if I DIY, I could get that cost down to about $7.00 per week. And that was true, after I got setup. I had no idea that setup costs would be so high. Why? Because there's a fairly expensive learning curve involved here. Look, it takes what it takes, and we measure success by how many analogs we don't use, not how high our startup costs are. My recommendation is don't be so quick to "recover" those smoking dollars before you get setup. Take three or six months to figure out what you like, need, want, etc., then, start thinking about saving that old analog budget....YMMV. I say, happy shopping, Power Up and Vape On!

 

[Spazmelda]

I will echo what moonlit said. People tend to spend more in the beginning when they are trying new things out to find out what they like. This often tapers off. Of course, some people find this becomes their new hobby and spend what they might spend on another hobby that interests them. As with all hobbies, expenditures can vary wildly. Lol.

I spent more than what I spent on cigarettes in the first 4 months or so, but this evened out and now I've saved quite a bit. My signature is pretty accurate, give or take about $200. I have other hobbies that I spend way more money on, lol.

I'd say, one way to keep from going spend crazy would be to do a lot of homework. Don't jump on every new shiny thing that gets mentioned here on ecf. Wait a while to read some reviews from the first wave of buyers. I've noticed that sometimes a particular new item will the the "OMG you have to get this" thing for a few weeks or months, and then it practically drops off the boards.

You can also take advantage of the classified boards here. If you get something and find you don't really care for it, you can resell it. Or, if there is something you want to try, take a look at the classifieds and see if anyone is selling. There are also juice trades somewhere on here. Since I mostly DIY, I don't have any experience juice trades.

 

[Glen Snyder]

Quitting smoking AND saving $$$ is the ultimate win win

 

[RoseB]

Hello and welcome Research what you want and comparison shop. There are good deals out there. For the past 6 months my average spending is about 30 bucks a month. Sometimes less. I use cheap eGos and cartomizers tanks. It's quite satisfying to know I can chain vape for a month, with what would've been about 3 days worth of smokes. Congrats on the 4 days!

 

[Borescoped]

Hail, and welcome to it!

If you are needing to budget for your vape supplies, sitting down with your spouse/significant other is VERY important. I too thought that I'd save a buncha money, yadda yadda yadda right up front. My problem was/is that I'm still learning what I like and don't like, what works and what sucks (i'm not even going to get started on juices). I quit on the 6th of April, and since then... I've probably spent about 110GBP and around $225. I would have spent about $400 for analogs over those 3 months ($45 a carton, 3 cartons a month).

Doing the math... I've broken about even as I figure it. Had I done more reading/research first, and possibly had knowledgeable individuals that I knew to help me out with tips/tricks and advice, I would have saved some money, but hey, everyone has to learn their own way.

My OBRA (Off Base Resource Adviser) doesn't let me just go nuts ordering stuff, but is pretty supportive of my new habit/hobby, so I'd say it's very important to get yours onboard. Your costs upfront could possibly be the same (or even slightly more) than you were spending on analogs... but will drop in the future I'm sure.

 

[TampaToker69]

Done spending for awhile, have a Vamo, The Natural, 4 egos, various tanks v3, Novas and 2 aga t2s. Only buying juice now. Back ups for my back ups as they say.

 

[pokerplayer]

Joining this forum will blow any budget out the window. Especially if you like all the new fancy cool stuff like I do lol

 

[Moosie]

I'm researching now until I get paid next, but we'd been keeping our analog budget low by stuffing tubes with pipe cut tobacco which kept our cost down pretty low. (Except for the last week or so because my hubs has been falling down on the job of stuffing because of a broken bone. Dang boxed analogs are expensive!)

I'm expecting a start up cost to be like going back to buying all boxed smokes, but I can't wait for the Beni's of not having coughing, smell, and my daughter seeing me burning butts!

 

[Borescoped]

I'm researching now until I get paid next, but we'd been keeping our analog budget low by stuffing tubes with pipe cut tobacco which kept our cost down pretty low. (Except for the last week or so because my hubs has been falling down on the job of stuffing because of a broken bone. Dang boxed analogs are expensive!)

I'm expecting a start up cost to be like going back to buying all boxed smokes, but I can't wait for the Beni's of not having coughing, smell, and my daughter seeing me burning butts!

When you say "stuffing tubes with pipe cut tobacco" you mean hand rolling, or using pre rolled papers attached to filters (eg. Buglers)?

 

[tj99959]

So many choices, and so little time. (or is that 'so little money')

Start-up can be costly, especially if you buy quality products that will last. Nice thing about quality products tho' is that you only have to buy them once.

If I wanted to, at this point I could vape for the next year, or longer, without spending a single cent, and I have never once in the last 2+ years spent more on vaping than I did on smoking.

The wife on the other hand never seemed to notice when I spent $10/day on smoking, but damn does she ever perk up if I spend $100+ on a nice PV or nic base.

 

[Moosie]

Stuffing pre-rolled tubes with a filter. When I was much younger I tried and rolling and they always looked like joints. I can't really afford to have that kind of image problem to have been able to go with hand rolling.

 

[Borescoped]

Stuffing pre-rolled tubes with a filter. When I was much younger I tried and rolling and they always looked like joints. I can't really afford to have that kind of image problem to have been able to go with hand rolling.

Not to advocate using analogs... but you could find/buy the little hand held cigarette making tool that Bugler produces.... would be easier.

Bugler Filter Cigarette Making Machine

Would be easier than stuffing them by hand. I had one and it worked well. I'm sure you could find it cheaper if you looked.

Or better yet, spend that money on an inexpensive ego kit!

I think the second option is a better one, if you can afford it right now.

Hope that helps!

 

[glowplug]

Budget? Budget? We don't need no stinking budget! OK. Just had to do that, but I really do need to get a budget going. As of now, I will spend no more than the balance in my checking account! Wait, that can't be right....OK, as of now I will limit myself to 50% of my analog spending in the past. This is pretty easy to say since I have about $100 worth of stuff coming in the vapemail in the next few days. Lets see if I can stick to it from now on. I think I am set up pretty well. New juice and coils now and then for the next few months should really build up my vape account balance so I really can get that pretty wood mod in the future! I probably have enough juice for the next year, but I know I will have to order some juice in larger quantities when my little "sample" bottles run out.

I do not see myself doing the DIY juice because I already spend too much time with this hobby. However, things may change. Then there will be new expenditures for flavor and base supplies. I gotta settle down!

 

[SpinDr480]

The biggest misconception I had when starting vaping is that, "it will save ME money." Notice I said, "me" because I know there are a lot of people that it can save them money. However for me, my vape budget in the first month was twice of what I would of spent on smokes over that same time.

I will say I'm the type of personality that likes to dive into any new venture, especially a hobby which I have considered vaping to be now. I have bought 4 ego batteries (1 died, 1 I gave to grandpa, 2 backups) a Vamo , about 20 tanks, 50+ juices, replacement coils and now some rebuildable supplies. Fortunately for me, I quit around the time of my birthday so some of that was spent with gift cards that I got as gifts.

In any event, the obsession over the last month has got me through the roughest part of quitting smoking. This last week, I now feel comfortable that I have found my sweet spot that will help me start seeing savings and hopefullly eventually catch up with my cost for smoking. After trying everything I could get my hands on, I have found my battery of choice (Vamo with 4 batteries), my tanks of choice (4 EVODs, 2 ProTanks) and juices of choice (Chai Tea and an RY4). I also learned to rebuild the coils for the ProTank and EVODs so that will help as well.

From here on out, I just plan to spend money to keep supplies of my favorite juices, and then treat myself to a bottle of a new juice every week or two.

I'm sort of justifying all my excess spending, but it sure beats the future cost of medical treatment that my smokes were going to lead to. Plus, the fact that women have commented how good I smell is "priceless"

Cheers

 

[HDVaper]

So far I haven't save a penny!! I can't stop buying stuff!!!! But I consider vaping a hobby that is saving my life so I don't feel too bad about the money I've spent (spending). Compared to my other "hobbies" (Canon EOS cameras and lens, Harley-Davidson motorcycles), this one's pretty affordable. Maybe soon I'll reach a cut-off point and start realizing the savings from quitting analogs. But so far I'm just enjoying it all.