i dont look at weed as if it were money.
what i do, about halfway through flowering, my plants are usually fine to smoke, so i take advantage of the fact that buds regenerate, if you leave some budstructure when you cut a bud.
so i cut a bit when i need, the few times ive had to do this, was because of some break in growing.
its fine, lessens the final harvest somewhat, but if i run out then, i just do the same and about the third grow i dont need to do that again.
selfsufficient again.
its just a plant i grow. lets say im growing a new strain, then im gonna cut a sample every few days anyway. just to see when is the best time to harvest.