DIY Cost Saving Tips

Mix by Weight: Mixing eliquid by using weight (using a scale) rather than mixing by volume (with syringes) is one of the best ways to minimize costs. Reason number one, you're not worrying about purchasing new syringes, beakers, cylinders, all the time anymore. These aromas we use stain the plastic that these syringes are made of, and this means that unless you purchase a separate designated syringe for each flavoring you will buy, you will have to purchase new syringes all the time. Mixing by weight only costs a small $25 up front price, and from there you will save hundreds. Another reason is mixing by weight eliminates waste. When you use syringes, you're constantly leaving behind residue or material left from each pull. This material adds up and ends up wasting your ingredients at a quick rate. Mixing by weight completely eliminates this problem, making sure every drop you drip is put to use and accounted for. Last, clean up is a non issue. Mixing by weight allows you to just drip directly into your bottle you'll be vaping from, allowing ZERO clean up. This means no money on cleaning supplies and paper towels. These are just a small few reason to mix by weight, and if that wasn't enough, mixing by weight is literally thousands of times quicker than mixing by syringe. This allows you to stay focused on crafting recipe, and creating great flavors, and less focused on the actual process. Go here to purchase the LB-501 American Weigh scale. This is the gold standard in DIY mixing, tried and true, all for only $25. Trust me, this is the first step you should take in your mixing career, if you haven't done so already. 

Purchase all in one place: One of the other huge costs in mixing is shipping and taxes. Whether we realize it or not, every time we make an order we pay a shipping price which is usually quite high because they are shipping a liquid to us. This is why it's always best to load up at one place rather than order from 4 different vendors on one order. Usually what I do is order my flavorings from Ecigexpress.com or BullCityVapor.com, and if one place is out of a flavoring, instead of ordering that one flavoring at the other vendor, I just make my entire order over there. I will also pick up any supplies I need within this one order. I also purchase my VG/PG/Nic and supplies at liquidbarn.com. Another great idea is also to try and order enough flavorings to reach that "Free Shipping" price. At ecigexpress.com, if you order more than $60 worth of ingredients, you will get free shipping. So take advantage of that, and try to wait until you need to make a large order. Unless you're a professional mixer who needs ingredients when they need them for clients, I always recommend people to make a large order every month, making sure they get everything they need at one place, to keep the unnecessary costs as minimal as possible

Purchasing Bulk VG/PG: This is another great cost saving tip I wish I knew when I first started. Do not purchase small amounts of base, period. VG/PG/NIC is what we call a "constant" cost in DIY. It's the stuff you use every single time you mix up a batch. This means it's something you always need on hand. So if you're purchasing your first order for DIY, or you're stocking up, do not go for anything under a liter. Spend the money to get a large amount because it will end up saving you money and time in the long run. Anytime I see someone buying less than a liter of base, I do my best to tell them it's a waste of time and money. They will be done with it in less than a couple weeks, and will have to not only re-purchase the base, but the high shipping, and taxes on it as well. This adds up quite quickly. So head over to LiquidBarn.com or Essential Depot or Bulk Apothecary, and purchase yourself a large amount. If anything, it ensure you're ALWAYS stocked with something to vape. 

Stay Stocked on your All Day Vape Recipe: One mistake I've made as a newer mixer is not keeping stocked on my All Day Vape recipes. What would happen is that if I ran out of my favorite recipes, I'd either try to use other flavorings to compensate for the ones I was out of, resulting in bad and wasted eliquids. Or I'd end up doing the absolute worst thing you can do in DIY, and that's end up purchasing the insanely overpriced commercial eliquids either online or at a B&M. The best way to solve this is to constantly keep inventory of the few recipe you love to vape everyday. Make sure when you're running low, that you make a a point to refill those ingredients. What I also like to tell people, is to get wholesale accounts at these flavoring companies, and order the flavorings you need for your All Day Vapes in bulk. This cuts your costs down even further and ensures you're getting the most bang for buck. The last thing you want is to be out of something to vape and have to roll the dice at your B&M to purchase an overpriced eliquid that you won't even enjoy. Using Excel to keep track of inventory is a great idea, or you can use alltheflavors.com to do so as well. The last thing you can do is purchase concentrates, or one shots, of your favorite DIYorDIE recipes (or here if you're in the UK). Other companies sell one shots as well (not many though), but DIYorDIE offers them for a small price of $9.99 for 30ml's which will mix up 200-300mls. Keep a couple in your cabinet for those days you don't feel like mixing, or are out of that vital ingredient for your recipe, and ensure you get the best bang for your buck. It's so much cheaper to have these concentrates on hand, than purchasing eliquids online or at a shop. Whatever you choose, just make sure you stay stocked on those recipes you love to vape.