What is your best money saving tip?

[adios_mach_3s]

Buy a 12 pack of Arko, a couple hundred Astra's, a couple big bottles of Master's bay rum A/S, a tweezerman brush and a gillette 40's style super speed.

That would be a couple years worth of great shaving supplies (tweezerman is debatable) for around $80.

Then turn your computer off for the next 2 years.

 

[zethreal]

Then turn your computer off for the next 2 years.

Nah, just don't visit B&B for the next decade or so... You guys are some of the best ( worst? ) enablers I've come across...

 

[Quinner30]

You have to look at saving money apples to apples. You are saving money on blades. That is all. You should be using a brush and soap/cream with a cartridge razor as well as a DE. So all of the moneys you spend on soaps and brushes is out of the equation.

Having said that, you can buy a 6 pack of proglide carts at Walmart for $21, should last 1.5 months. That is $14 a month. That is $168 a year. One years worth of DE blades is on the high side $50. You are saving $116 a year on blades. So you save around $9.50 a month. To save money, just spend less than that on new Soaps/Creams. You can do that by looking for bargains, and only buying one new product every 2 months or so. If you want something that costs more than $20, just drool over it for around 3 months, then pull the trigger.

There you go, money saved.

 

[Pebcak]

My best money shaving tip for shaving is go with an electric shaver, unless you're one of the freakish few that doesn't have this become a hobby.

 

[zethreal]

I actually dislike electrics. I find that even with new blades, they tug & pull. They also don't get very close and after the blades get dull, you're looking at a $50 or so investment in either new blades or a new razor... If I had to stop DE shaving, I'd probably go to a cheap cartridge.

 

[BallisticBurrito]

Electrics are a waste.
Takes a month or so before your skin gets used to it, the shaves don't last long, all the vibrations leave your face feeling numb for a while, cleaning is a pain, hilariously expensive replacement parts.

My parents bought me a Remington double-foil long ago and it's only good for 1 day old stubble. Anything beyond that and you have to use the build-in trimmer to get it down to a short enough length where it can shave again. Talk about tugging and pulling. I ended up going back to the Mach3 after that experience because I could slather on some canned goop and drag the blade around in a lot less time then it would have taken for a decent electric shave.

 

[BallisticBurrito]

You have to look at saving money apples to apples. You are saving money on blades. That is all. You should be using a brush and soap/cream with a cartridge razor as well as a DE. So all of the moneys you spend on soaps and brushes is out of the equation.

Having said that, you can buy a 6 pack of proglide carts at Walmart for $21, should last 1.5 months. That is $14 a month. That is $168 a year. One years worth of DE blades is on the high side $50. You are saving $116 a year on blades. So you save around $9.50 a month. To save money, just spend less than that on new Soaps/Creams. You can do that by looking for bargains, and only buying one new product every 2 months or so. If you want something that costs more than $20, just drool over it for around 3 months, then pull the trigger.

There you go, money saved.

Heck I'll probably spend around $5 on blades this year. 100 pack of Crystal Platinum Chromes was $12. Each blade lasts around 3-4 shaves, I shave 2-3 times a week so a blade lasts me 1-2 weeks.

 

[buyandhold2018]

My best money shaving tip for shaving is go with an electric shaver, unless you're one of the freakish few that doesn't have this become a hobby.

the blades on an electric have to be changed usually ever 6 months, some cost as much as $45. 100 blades and soap you can get for $20; of course an electric provides you a bad-shave or razor burn free of charge

 

[PugslyCat]

Just set a budget and stick to it. You will be amazed at how many traditional shaving supplies you can buy for how little money. I figured out what it would cost me to buy a years worth of Mach 3 cartridges and have sworn to keep under that, on average, over several years of DE shaving.

Build your collection with a plan. I don't want to buy a bunch of products with clashing fragrances or hardware that I really don't have a need for.

Use fuzzy logic and fuzzier math. My example of how I'm saving money is that in two years of DE shaving I've spent as much as 3 years of replacing cartridges and goo, but since I've shaved for two years on that expenditure and set up three other guys I'm "saving" 40% over having purchased 5 years of cartridges.

Don't worry about using all of the fanciest products. Soaps, aftershaves and colognes that you can get from the grocery, drug, and discount stores do the job just fine. Being an Aqua Velva man, being a Brut, or smelling like WWII isn't necessarily a bad thing. These products wouldn't stay on the market for decades if they were truly bad.

Some knock offs of well known products really aren't that bad. Aqua Velva, Brut, Old Spice, and other drug store aftershaves and colognes usually have clones available in discount stores. Some online retailers have pretty good renditions of better brands of fragrances as well. I know I can go to Mama Bear and get a years worth of bath soap, shaving soap, aftershave, and cologne that strongly resembles a high priced fragrance for what a bottle of the name brand cologne alone would cost. If I mix the other knock off products with the name brand cologne, nobody will ever know.

If you must indulge in AD's, try lots of samples instead of buying a bunch of full products.

Buy in bulk if it's something you know you will eventually use. Some of the soaps are available in large quantities, such as kilograms of Cella or multi-packs of Arko. Blades come in 100 packs, or I've even seen some online deals for hundreds of blades.

If you have other traditional shaving enthusiasts in your local area, see if any of them want to combine purchases. If somebody is willing to split soaps or decant fragrances you can experience a product in more than sample size but at less expense than buying the whole product yourself. Half a kilo of Cella is still a lot of soap. Half of a 12 oz bottle of The Veg is either not enough or WAAAYYYY too much.

 

[VerbaVolant]

What is your best money saving tip?

Stay away from ANY shaving forums.

 

[DEGuy]

Buy an old Gillette razor (Tech or Super Speed), use Astra blades, ARKO soap. If you use a hard soap, buy an Omega 10083 boar-bristle brush.

Best tip of all given above: Stay off Badger & Blade. You guys have got me buying new blades, razors... But I'm diggin' it!

 

[musicman1951]

Don't spend what you don't have. If you can afford what you purchase enjoy the hell out of it - you're going to die someday.

 

[Tom-Dave]

grow a beard

 

[fingerguy]

To the OP. Have one razor, a ton of blades, and enough shaving cream. Don't get hooked on the hobby; rehab is a *****!

 

[linty1]

For me it is automated withdrawals into a RRSP and a TFSA. I don't even get a chance to touch it and it's funneled off. Other wise it's really easy to just spend it all.

 

[mdevine]

Don't overpay for vintage razors on eBay when first starting out. If you are patient, you can usually get the same thing for much less. In the three years since I started wet shaving, I've probably spent $1000. The bulk of that was in the first year. The past year, I've spent very little except for a good deal on 500 Iridiums about a year ago. At under $30/month, it is a relatively inexpensive hobby, about as expensive as smoking a pack of cigarettes a week. And for the money I've spent, I've got a few years worth of supplies (at least), and the razors I bought a few years ago are selling for much more than I paid for them.

Mike

 

[Chico]

When going out, put some money in your pocket and leave wallet at home.

 

[Romeo Bravo]

It is possible to get good quality products locally. Here in France I can get quality blades for under $2/10 (Gillette blue), soft soap for under $2 (Monsavon), There are already mentioned deals on AS. Here as in the USA, it really possible to do it very inexpensively. Beyond that a set budget per month say $20 to $30 could get you quite a bit of variety.

 

[nav]

Don't spend what you don't have. If you can afford what you purchase enjoy the hell out of it - you're going to die someday.

+1
I couldn't have said it any better.

 

[LabGuy]

It's funny. I got into DE shaving when I went on the internet to look for an alternative to those expensive cartridges. Now my blades are super cheap, but my other stuff has cost a small fortune - but at least now I am spending money on stuff I enjoy.