I feel like I need to order more when anything gets to under a 1 year supply. Right now I'm more like 3 months on aftershave, but I have about a 1-1/2 years supply on order from TSD Store. Biggest supply is on soaps & creams where I have enough for about three years.
I think I saw that scene on Tales From the Crypt! I have the same problem with blade purchases. First the Personna Labs were found cheap on Ebay, then the Voskhod group buy, then the Ladas & Rapira clearances. Now I'm waiting to try some of the cheap blades I bought from bestshave.net to see if I should buy a few hundred of those.
Yeah, I have that same problem also. I don't like to hoard, but when I find a great sale price I end up clicking the buy button. I figured it out recently that shaving 6 days a week and getting 4 shaves per blade that I have enough to last me 18 years... I have no plans to buy any more blades.
At my current 3 shaves per blade rate, I'm good for nearly 15 years (not counting my 90 vintage blades). BUT...I'm only 45. Until I buy enough blades to last 40 years, I cant' say I won't buy any more if the right deal comes along. Now if I get into shaving with a straight, I'll have to rethink it.
I have to confess ... I realized today that I left off the 2k or so blades that reside in this house ... mostly Voskhods, but others to go along with them. And I looked at my sink ... more SC, ASM, Colognes ... I'm not sure I can account for all of it ... Ever....
I have more blades than I will ever use in my lifetime. I have maybe 30 pucks of soap in storage ,. + 10 in vintage mugs that I'm working on. A kilo of Cella. Around 15 creams, but I only have 1 Tube of Tet-a-Tet left................... I need more Tet-a-Tet. Seriously what will I do when it runs out.
I have way more in terms of blades/creams/soaps than I could probably use in 20 years, but it always seems that there's another product that I want/need or that one of my favorites gets discontinued...which in turn causes me to hoard.
Between DE, SE, and injectors, there is no reason to think I'll ever run out of blades, and I'm pretty well set on twin cartridges as well, for those rare occasions when I still use them. Most of my stock is in sealed containers with desiccant packs, so hopefully it won't corrode before I can get to it. Every time I try to estimate how long my soaps and creams will last, I come up with a different figure, but it would be a very long time before I have to think about buying any more, if that day ever comes. Some of the creams might actually go bad before I get to them. With a dozen brushes, it's not likely that I'll wear them all out, but I do use two much more heavily than the rest. I might eventually have to replace one of those. It would be necessary to break a lot of razors before I actually needed to buy another. I don't use aftershaves, after trying some to see if they enhanced the experience. The same bottle of Nivea sensitive aftershave balm is still not used up after three years. I do have an unopened souvenir glass bottle of Aqua Velva, which I bought out of nostalgia before they went over to the plastic bottles. Fortunately, the urge to buy more consumables is completely gone.
Your posts forced me to count my blade inventory. I estimate it at o/a 1000 blades, which at 3 shaves ea, 2 blades/week, 52 weeks/yr, = 9.6 years. My soap inventory is about 3 yrs. After shaves o/a 3 yrs. I am more likely to buy razors and brushes going forward, but this is rational thinking at its worst I am afraid.
If shaving every day, I would have enough blades for about a year, creams and soaps will last me about 2 years. My wife doesn't let me really hoard, though I do have 2 extra tubs of proraso soap...everything else I use. So my hoard isn't too big.
I am a little lite in the soap dept only enough for about a year , I generally shave 5 days a week or so so about 5 years worth of blades....If you count all the vintage blades and blades im not fond of probibly 7 years.
I examined my stock of blades and creams some time back (maybe a year ago?) and decided to stop buying consumables. At the time I had more than 1 year of blades and more than two years worth of soaps and creams. Well, I succeeded in cutting down my stock of blades. I just finished up my old stock and bought 100 new. I'm thinking of buying another 100 just to keep ahead. But the soaps and creams? They don't get used up as fast. Especially a couple pucks of vintage soaps. Those things last and last and last. So I've still got over two years of soaps and creams.
I'm presently 5 months and 6 days into a successful New Years resolution to buy no new shaving gear in 2012. I have blades and aftershave to last me through the year, but I'll be pretty much out by the end. As far as soaps and creams, I have enough to probably last a couple of years without having to buy anything.
My collection. I've got about 150 blades left of various brands. Then there's a package coming in containing a Dovo 6/8 and some Col. Conk as well as a proper scuttle. Who said wet shaving is cheap?
What I like about it, is that your initial expenses don't have to be a lot. Of course, after that, you're on the road to ruin, but typically one little bit at a time.
If you need to make some room, please feel free to pack up those tubes of Gillette and Palmolive and send them to me. ;-)
