Weed can be expensive for frequent consumers, but luckily there are several ways you can maximize your stash and stretch your hard-earned cash.

Below, discover our top tips and tricks for saving money on cannabis.

What's the average price of weed?

The price of cannabis varies by market, as each state and country has its own cost based on supply and demand. For the most part in the US, an eighth of some good-quality weed will hit your pockets between $35 and $50. For a one-time purchase, that's not too bad; but when you continuously purchase weed throughout the week or month, that cost can really add up. 

How to save money when buying weed

Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to reduce your monthly spend on weed. 

Check dispensary deals

Most dispensaries run weekly deals for each consumption method. For example,  on Mondays, discounts on ounces of flower, and on Tuesdays, discounts on edibles, and so on. Across the industry, it's popular to discount shatter on Saturday, otherwise known as “Shatterday.” These are the best times to shop because your dollar can go a lot further, and the purchases will feel guilt-free. 

Use our dispensary finder to search for your favorite shops, then go to the “Details” or “Deals” page to discover current weekly and daily dispensary discounts.

Check regional deals

If you don't already have a dispensary in mind or are open to trying something new, search for limited-time offers in your area. Often, there are special promotions related to holidays, seasons, and inventory. 

Simply go to Weedmaps' Deals page and explore the deals happening in your neighborhood to save a chunk of change.

Gina Coleman/Weedmaps

Buy in bulk

When shopping dispensary deals, buy in bulk — it'll slash your prices even more, and in the end, you're going to smoke that weed regardless. Whether you buy one quarter today or one-gram pre-rolls each day for a week, you're still buying that seven grams, fam. Buy in bulk, get greater discounts, and your wallet will thank you.

Grow your own weed

Growing your own weed is the best way to save money. It's like eating out every night versus cooking your own meals. You get to choose strains specifically, not just based on whatever the store has in stock. You'll also know and control what materials were used to produce the plant and cut out harvesting, shipping, and marketing costs. You could easily save hundreds of dollars on weed in the long run.

Search for cannabis clones in your area to get a jump start on your home grow. 

Ways to conserve and stretch your weed

Reducing the number of trips to the store might greatly reduce your spend on weed. Here's how to stretch your weed as far as it can go. 

Change your consumption methods

Rolling weed uses so much weed. Even the skimpiest joint or blunt will require half a gram at least. Add that up throughout the day's sessions and it's easy to smoke an eighth a day. Going by the numbers above, that's at the very least $30 per day, or more than $900 a month. 

Switching to a more economical way of smoking, like using small pipes and bowls, will do wonders for your wallet. Additionally, if you consider potency, it may be better to dab concentrates instead of smoking flower since a single pinpoint-sized portion of oil can get you stoned for hours at a time. 

Search for concentrates in your area to get the most bang for your buck. 

One-hitters and chillums 

One-hitters — also known as chillums or dugouts — are one of the most underrated cannabis consumption methods out there. One-hitters are little steamrollers that you can fill with a small amount of cannabis and get dumb stoned. 

You can save a lot of weed and money using one-hitters because they essentially only require crumbs. It's why every stoner that sees someone pull out a dugout responds, “Ahhh, great idea.”

Use that kief

Kief is the gift that keeps on giving. It's like recycling weed: You take some fresh buds, grind them up, smoke that flower, and in the process, you collect fallen trichomes (the kief) at the bottom of your grinder that can be smoked later. 

In addition to smoking straight kief bowls, you can also add the kief to your bowls or joints to increase potency. This will create a longer-lasting experience and reduce the frequency of your sessions throughout the day. You can also use less flower because you're getting added trichomes from the kief. 

The higher you get, the less you need to smoke; the less weed you smoke, the less money you'll spend on it.

Gina Coleman/Weedmaps

Consider store-bought and homemade edibles 

Edibles are pretty cheap. You can usually buy 10 servings of any edible, or a total of 100 milligrams of THC, for around $20 to $25. If you want to skip the purchase altogether, making your own edibles by whipping up some cannabutter and applying it to virtually any food is another cost-efficient method of reducing your dispensary trips.

Search for edibles in your area to up the potency and your savings. 

Limit your consumption and add tolerance breaks

My daily schedule includes smoking in the morning, at lunch, after lunch, after work, before dinner, after dinner, and right before bed — and I smoke blunts and joints every time. Because of this, I smoke about an ounce a week. If that sounds like you, then it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that spacing out these sessions will greatly conserve the weed in our jars. 

Smoking as a reward, not just as a habit, is the best way to do this. Instead of hitting that wake 'n bake, get up and lock into whatever tasks you have for the day, then light up afterward. It'll make your high feel way better because your mind will be clear and the session will be guiltless. If this sounds impossible, then it may be time for a tolerance break. 

As Lorena Cupcake explained in their Ask a Budtender column, a break of just a few days can help you get the reset you need to lower your tolerance and save money on weed. 

Featured image by Gina Coleman/Weedmaps