Yea so you just got lucky, so you're closer to the exception, not the rule. Not saying there's anything wrong with that but not everyone can progress at normal speed with only 1 char. It just comes down to luck. Having more alts is not to funnel mats, it's to provide gold for all the solar mats (at least has been the case for me). My alts are all 1340 so the only thing I've been getting extra of are stones and I used 0 of those extra stones. I am aware I can convert the reg leapstones but it's not worth it at all so I haven't bothered and I never have needed to.
And using the mats from the stuff you get for free isn't really enough to cover every hone (24 solar grace + 4 protection for each hone attempt or another 12 blessing as well).