Agree with LAsoxfan. Focus on the strop; maybe add a cotton or linen strop to the leather. You can get by for a very long time assuming your blade was shave ready to begin with. And for very little, you can send the blade to any number of honemeisters you'll find lurking about who will put you back in business.

A pasted strop (I'd suggest a dedicated one...maybe leather on wood, paddle strop, or other hanging one) is nice to have but is used very little on any single blade and is not a substitue for a barbers or finishing hone that is used to refresh a blade. Paste polishes and "smoothes" freshly sharpened steel but wont get you too far in terms of refreshing a dulling blade (IMHO).

A barbers hone is a good investment and ultimately you'll want one. The problem is, it works really well if you are good at honing. For a beginner to take a slightly off blade and make it fresh again...well you very well might do it and then again, you might make it worse. You dont get much practice on a barbers stone when you have one blade....every 3 months or so you get to do five laps!!

But, if like sr shaving, you will undoubtedly have more razors, use paste, barbers hones and the rest of the stones. Have more than one blade before you dig in, because there is always the chance that you'll have to send a blade out for professional sharpening.

Keep reading and have fun. J