I think shaving is pretty important. That's the reason I got into double edge razors. So I can have a shave everyday, whereas with a cartridge, the blades would feel worn quickly, and I'd only shave like 2-3x a week, simply because I'd run out of blades too quickly. Whereas a double edge blade costs like 10-15c, and you can just chuck it after 3-4 shaves, once it feels a hair less sharp, rather than dealing with a not sharp blade for a month like a cartridge. I also got into the habit of using aftershave, too. I use a Family Dollar Old Spice knockoff which is actually closer to original Old Spice because Proctor and Gamble changed the formula in like 1994. I got a few aftershaves I use, but I do like Old Spice, despite it being an "old man" scent. I do have a bottle of the new Old Spice, it definitely does not smell as good as the Family Dollar knockoff. I have a few Avon aftershaves, too, and somewhere I have a bottle of Adidas aftershave that's only got like 1/5 left. If I'm feeling up to it, I use shave soap (Van Der Hagen from Walmart) and a brush, it does give a slightly better shave. Oddly, good old Barbasol in the can for a dollar and change is great stuff. Much better in my opinion than the fancy more expensive gels and whatnot. Lastly, for the razor, I'm finding going with the grain, BUT, using a more aggressive razor is better on the skin and makes very little discernable difference in smoothness compared to against the grain.
But yeah, buy a double edge razor, or some kind of razor you can afford to regularly change the blades to (Dorco has Dollar Shave Club for this purpose, too, with cartridge razors.) Another option if you can't handle the DE is to look into a Trac-II. The first cartridge razor, 2 blades, non-rotating head. The patent ran out on the Trac-II, so cartridges are really cheap. Walmart has the Wilkinson's Sword carts for like $3 for 10, and Family Dollar has Personna carts for it for $2 for 10.