You may be able to extend your blade’s life with something you probably already have-heavy duty aluminum foil!  I first found this tip from here and tried it out myself.  I used non-heavy and doubled it up twice, but I can’t recommend it.  I don’t know for sure that it works as well as heavy duty.

Tear out your heavy-duty aluminum foil big enough to cover your cutting mat’s sticky area twice over, fold it in half, and apply to the cutting mat.  In Silhouette Studio or Make-The-Cut, use large letters or simple shapes like flowers to be cut.  Ratchet your blade to 1 and in the program, set the speed to 1 and the thickness/force to 1.  Do this at least 2-3 times before trying to cut out a test design with paper.  The more you use your blade, the more often you would want to do this to keep your blade sharp.

Alternately, you can do this by hand yourself so there is no danger of ruining your cutting mat.  Use a hard surface like a clipboard under your foil and doodle some shapes.

Let me know how this works for you!