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Can vaping save you money, too? Yep. It saved me over %60 over the cost of smoking

MD_Boater

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So... I'm a computer geek / vaper who apparently has waaay too much time on his hands. I've kept a spreadsheet with all of my vaping expenses in it from the day that I started vaping. It's not that crazy. I use my debit or credit card for almost everything I buy and with electronic statements it's been easy to import all of the expenses into Excel. I've probably bought a handful of coils using cash that aren't accounted for in it, but I'm sure that it would be less that $20-$25 total. My DIY purchases include a bunch of flavors, nicotine, and equipment (syringes, bottles, tips, a few small beakers, etc.) that I still have, so technically, my cost per month will continue to decrease until I use up everything that I have.

Here's the summary.

Vaping start date: 11/1/2013
Last day smoking 11/6/2013
Current date: 1/7/2017
Total days vaping: 1163
Months vaping: 38.77
Days not smoking 1158
Months not smoking 38.60

My cost to smoke for 38.77 months would be $3,055.30 (Based off of 1.5 PPD at Maryland prices in 2013)

Cost of vaping (for 38.77 months) $782.81
Vaping cost per month (Not including DIY purchases) $20.28
Vaping cost/mo compared to smoking 0.26 (Vaping costs 26% of what it cost me to smoke)

Cost of vaping for 38.77 months (w/DIY). $1,211.27
Vaping cost per month (Including DIY) $31.25
Vaping & DIY cost/mo compared to smoking 0.40 (Vaping & DIY costs 40% of what it cost me to smoke)

Savings (not including DIY) $2,259.35
Savings (including DIY) $1,830.90


The answer is YES. You can save a ton of money, but there are 2 requirements:
  1. You can NOT be a vaping hardware collector. You need to buy your device (I usually have 2), and use it until it stops working before replacing it. Collecting devices will NOT save you money.
  2. You MUST make your own juice. DIY costs are extremely low. A 30ml bottle of single flavor (20%), 3mg eliquid costs me $1.76 to make. Since I started vaping, I have only purchased 29 bottles of eliquid. All in the first 2 months, and 18 of those were 10ml or smaller bottles.
Here's the breakdown by category:
E-Liquids $183.79
HW & Misc $602.40
DIY $425.08
Total $1,211.27
 

Paratech

I forgot
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Member For 4 Years
So... I'm a computer geek / vaper who apparently has waaay too much time on his hands. I've kept a spreadsheet with all of my vaping expenses in it from the day that I started vaping. It's not that crazy. I use my debit or credit card for almost everything I buy and with electronic statements it's been easy to import all of the expenses into Excel. I've probably bought a handful of coils using cash that aren't accounted for in it, but I'm sure that it would be less that $20-$25 total. My DIY purchases include a bunch of flavors, nicotine, and equipment (syringes, bottles, tips, a few small beakers, etc.) that I still have, so technically, my cost per month will continue to decrease until I use up everything that I have.

Here's the summary.

Vaping start date: 11/1/2013
Last day smoking 11/6/2013
Current date: 1/7/2017
Total days vaping: 1163
Months vaping: 38.77
Days not smoking 1158
Months not smoking 38.60

My cost to smoke for 38.77 months would be $3,055.30 (Based off of 1.5 PPD at Maryland prices in 2013)

Cost of vaping (for 38.77 months) $782.81
Vaping cost per month (Not including DIY purchases) $20.28
Vaping cost/mo compared to smoking 0.26 (Vaping costs 26% of what it cost me to smoke)

Cost of vaping for 38.77 months (w/DIY). $1,211.27
Vaping cost per month (Including DIY) $31.25
Vaping & DIY cost/mo compared to smoking 0.40 (Vaping & DIY costs 40% of what it cost me to smoke)

Savings (not including DIY) $2,259.35
Savings (including DIY) $1,830.90


The answer is YES. You can save a ton of money, but there are 2 requirements:
  1. You can NOT be a vaping hardware collector. You need to buy your device (I usually have 2), and use it until it stops working before replacing it. Collecting devices will NOT save you money.
  2. You MUST make your own juice. DIY costs are extremely low. A 30ml bottle of single flavor (20%), 3mg eliquid costs me $1.76 to make. Since I started vaping, I have only purchased 29 bottles of eliquid. All in the first 2 months, and 18 of those were 10ml or smaller bottles.
Here's the breakdown by category:
E-Liquids $183.79
HW & Misc $602.40
DIY $425.08
Total $1,211.27

I definitely failed #1.
I like the way you chose to word this:
"It saved me over %60 over the cost of smoking"
This is the correct way to state it.
Reason; we aren't actually SAVING money, we are simply spending less on vaping v/s smoking.
With you wording it the way you did, it is correct.

I switched in 2011 and I log EVERYTHING so one day I'll do the math to see how much less I have spent on vaping that I would have smoking based on the prices at the time I quit.
I'm sure the number will be rather high.
In my particular case though, I have spent a lot more since switching HOWEVER that is because I failed #1.
I am a vape gear collector.
If I ever find myself thinking I have enough, I'm sure I'll find something else to spend the money on.
One thing is for certain, I would NOT have been able to spend the amount on vape gear if I hadn't quit smoking.
 

happy valley

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Good that it's working for you AND you're saving money.

For myself, It's all about staying away from combustion. Somewhat similar to your point #2 on DIY, as a smoker I had long ago gotten into into RYO so the savings are nominal. With internet sourcing, bulk RYO was costing under $30@mo.

Your point #1 is for me somewhat of a cross between learning curve and a battle, I try to remind myself that smoking was never a hobby so I don't really want vaping to become one either.
 
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MD_Boater

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Your point #1 is for me somewhat of a cross between learning curve and a battle, I try to remind myself that smoking was never a hobby so I don't really want vaping to become one either.
I know what you mean. I got lucky in that all of the gear I bought worked well enough to satisfy my smoking urges until it died and was replaced. Thank God for Kanger, Innokin, and eLeaf.

I switched in 2011 and I log EVERYTHING so one day I'll do the math to see how much less I have spent on vaping that I would have smoking based on the prices at the time I quit.
Whew! I was wondering if I was the only one who bothered to log everything. There have been times where I thought to myself that I might need some sort of therapy to get over my obsession with recording my vaping expenses...

You know the best part? Tax savings. We all know that the States are using smoker's addictions as a revenue stream. Maryland makes more money off of a pack of cigarettes than the company that makes the cigarettes. I order everything online, so the poor state of Maryland has only managed to confiscate $33.41 in vaping related taxes from me over the past 3 years. Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it Peoples Republic of Maryland. You bunch of low life liberal goons.
 
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Carmmond

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
You should add in how cigarettes have went up in price and your savings would go through the roof.... although you may have started making your own via stuffing tubes like I did.... then savings go way down, you may even spend as much vaping. But you will have your health.
 

MD_Boater

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Well... I just messed things up. First, I forgot to add in my order from Liquid Barn on 12/30 and then I went and placed another flavor order with Bull City Flavors just a few minutes ago. Add $127 more to the totals

Vaping cost per month (Including DIY) $34.47
Vaping & DIY cost/mo compared to smoking 0.44 (Vaping costs 44% of what it cost me to smoke)
Cost of vaping for 38.8 months (w/DIY). $1337.55

These numbers are deceiving as they represent a single point in time - now. I'll be making juice for months to come with no additional expense. Every day, the cost per month will go down.
 

Carmmond

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
These numbers are deceiving as they represent a single point in time - now. I'll be making juice for months to come with no additional expense. Every day, the cost per month will go down.
I hear you but I always seem to find a couple new recipes to try and there goes another $40 to $50 to BullCity:)
 

jeeper16

Member For 3 Years
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I definitely agree with the first requirement you stated. I purchased 2 AIO EGO units when I decided to quit and they've done the job. Cheap units, going on 3 months with no issues. Looking at all the hardware that's out there, it can add up very quickly. DIY equipment can, too. As another user stated above - smoking wasn't a hobby for me, vaping won't be either.

If you're able to find a budget juice that you like, you can still save a ton of cash by not mixing your own juice. I have saved about $900 so far not buying cigarettes - and I've invested around $250 in vaping. I'm down to between 3mg and 0mg (switch on and off during the day) now, and would like to be done completely by Spring.

Whatever I have left at that point will go to the PIF section - I really believe this is the best way to get off cigarettes, hopefully someone else will have success too.
 

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
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I definitely failed #1.
I like the way you chose to word this:
"It saved me over %60 over the cost of smoking"
This is the correct way to state it.
Reason; we aren't actually SAVING money, we are simply spending less on vaping v/s smoking.
With you wording it the way you did, it is correct.

I switched in 2011 and I log EVERYTHING so one day I'll do the math to see how much less I have spent on vaping that I would have smoking based on the prices at the time I quit.
I'm sure the number will be rather high.
In my particular case though, I have spent a lot more since switching HOWEVER that is because I failed #1.
I am a vape gear collector.
If I ever find myself thinking I have enough, I'm sure I'll find something else to spend the money on.
One thing is for certain, I would NOT have been able to spend the amount on vape gear if I hadn't quit smoking.
I too have failed number 1 lol

in all reality i used to spend about 1800 bucks give or take on chewing tobacco.
realistically speaking all i need at this point is juice. i have enough hardware and enough DIY stuff and a juice stash to last me all year. so i could go the whole year not buying anything and save 1800 bucks.... but in reality, that isn't going to happen as long as new products keep coming out

all joking aside with DIY it would cost me about 300 bucks a year in juice which is 1/5th what i would have spend on tobacco, but i'm sure prices have gone up in the past 5 years or so since i quit. i used to buy 5 packs of skoal pouches for 25 bucks so 5 dollars a can and go through a can a day. i doubt the liquor store still sells them that cheap. plus the stopped making my favorite flavor even before i quit. i won't have that issue with vaping
 

MD_Boater

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
I'm still at only $34.47 per month and I will still have a little over a gallon and a half of PG, 2 1/3 gallons of VG, 2L of nic, and 866ml of flavorings to use before I would need to buy anything else. No way could I smoke in Maryland for a month for $34.47. Just ain't happening.

And wouldn't you know it? I heard all of these wonderful stories about Bull City's lightning fast shipping, and they go and order a snowstorm in NC the weekend that I decide to do it. Them southerners can't drive worth a spit in the snow. I had a lot of fun watching the carnage during the occasional snow & ice storms during the 4.5 years I spent in Atlanta. :)
 
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Carmmond

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
No way could I smoke in Maryland for a month for $34.47. Just ain't happening.
See in WI I could if I wanted to.... I used to stuff tubes and 1lb of tobacco (4 cartons) was $19.99 and tubes are $2.97 (one carton) so it was just under $32 + tax but I feel way better health wise now and don't stink like shit.
 

MD_Boater

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
I rolled my own using plain top papers, filters, and a cheesy rolling "machine" for a couple of years before I switched to vaping, but that 1lb can off tobacco cost over $40 In Maryland. When I calculated the cost, it was almost the same as buying commercial cigarettes. Maryland's government just sucks. Badly.
 

MrScaryZ

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See in WI I could if I wanted to.... I used to stuff tubes and 1lb of tobacco (4 cartons) was $19.99 and tubes are $2.97 (one carton) so it was just under $32 + tax but I feel way better health wise now and don't stink like shit.
you might some vape ejuice is nastier smelling then cigs or as bad
 

Roundhouse

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And wouldn't you know it? I heard all of these wonderful stories about Bull City's lightning fast shipping, and they go and order a snowstorm in NC the weekend that I decide to do it. Them southerners can't drive worth a spit in the snow. I had a lot of fun watching the carnage during the occasional snow & ice storms during the 4.5 years I spent in Atlanta. :)
You're a 100% right about a little snow and ice down here, the whole state shuts down :facepalm:. I'm very sorry for the delays in shipping, we put a big dent in the backlog today and should be back to full speed tomorrow
 

MD_Boater

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
You're a 100% right about a little snow and ice down here, the whole state shuts down :facepalm:. I'm very sorry for the delays in shipping, we put a big dent in the backlog today and should be back to full speed tomorrow
LOL... That's okay. I won't hold it against ya. I've got my tracking number, and I see that my stuff is on it's way. I hope none of your folks had any problems in the storm. NC just isn't equipped to handle it.
 

AndriaD

Yes, I DO wear a mask! I'm vaccinated, too!
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Well... I have 10 mods that I use with some regularity. I've probably bought 20 or maybe more; some have been stashed in a drawer for a couple years now (4 vv3's), some have broken, some have been sold, but still got the 10 in fairly regular use, and 4 others which are in the drawer as Vapocalypse backup. I've bought 4 Kayfuns, don't use them anymore; 3 Achilles, 2 Magmas... only the Achilles are still in use. Had a half dozen clearos which have either been sold or given away or PIFed. I wouldn't say I'm a "hardware collector," I'm much too tightfisted with money for that, but I wanted to have a gracious plenty, just because sometimes Shit Happens, especially with electronics, and shit seems to happen to vape gear with alarming frequency and regularity. I just wanted to make sure that it would always be easier to find something to vape with than to go out to a store for cigarettes.

But DIY... yes, that's where the biggest savings lies. I use expensive flavors (Inawera Shisha Strawberry), and I use a hellacious amount of it (still using about 14.5% of that, plus another 10% of creams/vanillas/sweetener, in the same recipe!). BUT... I only vape about 5ml per day, so my 1.65 for a 30ml bottle of it goes a long way; when I started, I was buying 10ml bottles for $5, and I'm saving CONSIDERABLY over that.

But I reiterate: FIVE MILLILITERS PER DAY. THAT is where you save money, not making juice cheaply just so you can blast thru 30ml a day.

I've NOT SPENT ON CIGARETTES a buttload of money since I quit buying cigarettes; some has gone for vape stuff, but the biggest part has gone for other stuff, which I couldn't afford till I quit wasting all that money on poisoning myself.

Andria
 
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gbalkam

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Last time I checked, for the 'budget' brand cigarettes, it was about $13.00 a pack. Times 7 (packaday for a week) $91. $390.00 per month.
$390 is one hell of a lot of shinies!!!! Even on my most cloud infused, chain vaping week, I go through maybe 150ml at 2x 50ml for $34.50 or 3 for about $51.00 and change. Easily saves me $160 a month, even on my wildest vape binges.
 

MD_Boater

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Member For 4 Years
You're a 100% right about a little snow and ice down here, the whole state shuts down :facepalm:. I'm very sorry for the delays in shipping, we put a big dent in the backlog today and should be back to full speed tomorrow
I got it! :vapemail: Everything looks perfect. Thank you very much!

If you ever want to send some of your folks up for a weekend, we'll be glad to teach them how to drive on the slippery stuff and then send them back to you. No "excuses" next time. :p
 

AndriaD

Yes, I DO wear a mask! I'm vaccinated, too!
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I got it! :vapemail: Everything looks perfect. Thank you very much!

If you ever want to send some of your folks up for a weekend, we'll be glad to teach them how to drive on the slippery stuff and then send them back to you. No "excuses" next time. :p

Even the people who know how, can't do it down here: no plows, no salt trucks -- nobody goes anywhere once the stuff refreezes -- it's like trying to drive on a hockey rink. Bumper cars on ice! Wheee!!! :giggle:

I'm from GA, but I lived in MI for 5 yrs, and definitely learned to drive on snow and ice. But now that I'm back in GA... I just wait for it to melt, like the rest of the sane people. It rarely takes very long. :)

Andria
 

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