How fast will I need a hone?

So, I'm new to this and trying to get a budget together. I'm buying a new and professionally honed dovo, but am wondering how fast I will be in need of a good stone to keep it, well, razor sharp. Sending it out to hone is not really an option for me. How fast does a sharp edge become somewhat dull? Provided that I have the budget to buy only one stone, what stone would that be?

Based on my own limited experience, I've managed to keep my first shave ready straight good for 3 months with just a strop. I have three other blades now all shave ready so i have a comparison and the first one is definitely getting tired although comfortable shaving can still be achieved. Am going to be buy a new strop soon with a linen component and repurposin the original with CrO2 to refresh tired edges

It depends on how often you shave and how hard your beard hair is etc.

That said, if you buy a razor in good condition, all you need to keep it sharp indefinitely is a pasted strop.
If you regularly strop on paste, then the razor will stay sharp. 2 colleagues of mine have been doing this for years. One of them has extremely heavy beard growth so I am confident that with a minimal investement in a strop + pasted strop, you are set.

I am sure it is true that a person can keep an edge for months or years on a strop and pasted strops but this does not allow for the learning curve most beginners put there razors through. Poor stropping technique and day to day abuse will shorten the life of that edge.

My first shave ready razor lasted me about 3 weeks before i started to noticed a decline in performance.

The learning curve thing is fair enough, you will dull the blade, however, if you're meticulous and careful take it slow and steady, you shouldn't do anything bad enough to the razor that a good stropping won't fix. and that means extra stropping practice :)

Like i said, i've kept my first decent for 3 months. Am not going to pretend that i didn't nick the strop, put too much pressure on the edge, and on one occasion strop the wrong way (for a stroke lol). but i was always able to bring it back. I'm also not going to pretend that it was anything like a sharp as the others when they arrived, but it was still good enough to do the job at a pinch.

So the bottom line is it's variable and unpredictable. I would probably get a strop and paste it and then you'll be prepared.

SRP seems to be a predominately hone based forum, but many straight razor shavers don't use hones that is why there are progressions of pastes available to us.
If you want to hone you could get by perfectly fine with a barber's hone with no trouble; they are inexpensive and still readily available. Some people utilize a series of pasted strops to keep their razor keen; this process seems to work for them.
As for how long to needing a honing, that varies greatly on mistakes and other variables mentioned previously. You would do fine to start with one straight, then as it starts to dull slightly you may want to pick up a second. This would allow you to learn your honing while still having a sharp razor to compare it to.
Might I ask why sending off a razor is not an option?
If it is your country of origin, you must realize that SRP is big and we have members all over the world.

Sending it in would be an option maybe once or twice, but I don't like the idea of not being able to do it myself. I'd rather invest in time and material to learn than having to send in my razor every time it needs freshening up...

I guess this also depends on how much you get into this great hobby of ours. Like you, I first started with one razor that had been honed, and a cheap strop. I wanted to learn how to hone properly, so I watched the videos and read the wiki. I soon got a 1000/6000K water stone at a woodcraft store and got a Franz Swaty hone on ebay. I think the combo stone was about $50. I would advise getting an inexpensive razor to learn on, and practice stropping. I since have gotten a couple more strops, and this seems to be all I need to keep my razors sharp or if I get one that is dull. Besides, I enjoy honing and keeping my razors in top shape!