Welcome to the super cheap shaving club!
I recommend the Leasureguys guide to gourmet shaving,, it's a real deep dive into shaving with a safety razor.
I'd recommend getting yourself a blade trial pack, a few places on the net do them, and try out a selection of blades to see what your preference turns out to. Different combos of blade and razor, skin and hair types will have quite different results
For wet shaving I do 3 passes for a really close shave, with the grain, across and finally against. If I'm short on time I only do the first two and it's presentable.
I just rinse my blade after but I only typically keep a blade for 4 or 5 shaves.
I'd recommend getting a good quality brush and an alum block for after, it will help you improve your technique too as the stingy bits are more irritated so you can focus on that for next time.
