When I read the OP he joined here in Sept. 2011 so I'm assuming that's when he started with a straight. He has 6 he bought from SRD, so I don't know why he would need to use stones at all at this point. I use one razor and I have no desire to purchase stones at all, as I don't need them. My maintenance is with a barber's hone once a month that takes about 2 minutes to use, and I use a CROX pasted balsa once a week and that is about 5 minutes of my time. With stropping pre and post shave that adds about 5-10 minutes to my daily routine, so long story short maintaining a razor takes all of 20-30 minutes a week. You seriously need to cut back on some other stuff in your life if that is too much time for you. I think the word "novelty" is key in the post, as he was just trying it out of curiosity instead of making a commitment to master the shave with the blade.

I used a DE for a year and a half before I made the jump to straights and it took less than 20 shaves to end up with closer and smoother shaves than I ever got with the safety razor. The actual shave time is shorter for me with a straight also.