What do you do when you can't spend much money?

[Joe]

I am sure this is something we all encounter over the years, something puts a dent in your collecting budget and you have to tone down the spending for a while, just wondered what people do while waiting those periods out?

Personally I have got used to waiting months and months to buy things because a lot of the things I buy don't ever come up for sale but I still read and take part in the forums because watching other peoples buys come in and the limelights etc all helps to keep the buzz going even if I am not buying.

Do any of you continue to buy but really budget yourself to cheaper items just to keep things ticking over? Anyone manage to go cold turkey as the temptation to buy is too big??

 

[Spookedhippie]

I've spent a fair bit so having to cool down for a while... For me as I still have loose to buy I'm limiting myself to a very small budget and will be getting a few loose till I spend again!

 

[fuzzybuzzytoys]

Buy army builders. Drip drip Stormtroopers or Rebel Troopers or Commandos. Need a little bit of a harder fix, a Snowtrooper complete..

That keeps you going

 

[Grant]

One way... Try eating beans and toast for lengthy periods of time and only eat once a day. Make the family if you have one wear the same clothes until they are growing out of them and if you have any energy left man whore yourself out to old ladys kinda like that Jiggalo guy from the movies... :wink: :lol:

If none of the above works for you. Sit back take it easy until better times come along. If you have a character focus like Joe and I and several others then that can save you some cash in the long run because as Joes says items dont tend to pop up for sale to often. This can give you a chance to save and research etc.

 

[Joe]

One way... Try eating beans and toast for lengthy periods of time and only eat once a day. Make the family if you have one wear the same clothes until they are growing out of them and if you have any energy left man whore yourself out to old ladys kinda like that Jiggalo guy from the movies... :wink: :lol:

**** Grant the answer was right there in front of me thanks man! :lol:

Loads of old biddies where I live! Better get cracking :lol:

 

[Grant]

One way... Try eating beans and toast for lengthy periods of time and only eat once a day. Make the family if you have one wear the same clothes until they are growing out of them and if you have any energy left man whore yourself out to old ladys kinda like that Jiggalo guy from the movies... :wink: :lol:

**** Grant the answer was right there in front of me thanks man! :lol:

Loads of old biddies where I live! Better get cracking :lol:

Hey Dude anytime you or anyone else needs some advice just let me know LOL ... Iv heard of a website rich singles.com (iv never been there tho...yet) that you can meet rich single old ladys. If im ever TOO skint im going looking for old ladys with 4 weeks to live that owns a Ferrari. :mrgreen:

 

[edd_jedi]

Sadly money is the sole reason I'm not really collecting any more. It's not because I don't have a job or anything, I'm just trying to save up a deposit for a flat/house. So making multi-hundred pound purchases is just out of the question for the forseeable future.

I used to spend at least 25% of my salary each month on MOCs, some times more, but I was living at home and/or not saving, so it was easy.

I have funded my video game collecting by buying and selling. This is something I could never do with MOCs as whenever I bought anything, I wanted to keep it :lol:

 

[BlueDog]

Since buying our first home I've pretty quickly realised that I can't buy stuff willy nilly like I used to, I've found a good way to stay active is to search for bargains, use you vast knowledge Joe and seek out stuff you can make a little profit on. That way your hobbies not being a burden financially speaking, in fact you may bring in a little extra and you're still getting the buzz from buying items you like.

I've stopped actively adding to my collection bar the odd Yoda item and finding items to flip actually supplements the Yoda focus.

 

[chazb73]

I was the same for a while, spending like there was no tomorrow - I've had to slow down - but I've changed my focus a bit, selling off my doubles and focusing on a budget run of SW carded figures when I can and look out for bargains has been fun also

 

[walkie]

Cry

 

[sith-smith]

My main collection is Palitoy MOC and the pieces I want rarely come up so I just save the money until they eventually do.

I have a small sideline in collecting which is the miscards. They come up quite often and are pretty reasonable in price. That keep me going.

But I have completely shelved the plans to upgrade all boxed vehicles and playsets, to start on the micro stuff, Revenge proofs and buy a couple of 3 packs. Just don't have the money to do it all.

 

[spoons]

I don't buy much these days as since our latest kid my other half has mostly been off work. I still check ebay and the forums and if there's something I really fancy I might sell off something or just treat myself, and live cheaply for a bit - Grant's beans on toast is a fantastic idea :lol:

 

[mr_palitoy]

Have cut back purchases drastically in the last 6 months.

Having as much fun as ever though.

My top 7 tips would be:-

1) Pick a focus which has limited pieces you can buy. All mine are pretty maxed out so there's nothing to buy most of the time.
2) Pick a cheap focus. I'm into cardbacks these days which are much cheaper than MOC. Or go for loose.
3) Don't look at ebay. You won't miss what you can't see.
4) Sell to fund buying. We all have stuff we bought early on in our collecting days which we wouldn't buy now, so just move it on and use paypal like a bank account for your hobby
5) it's not all about buying. Research can be fun too. I've had a whale of a time with the palitoy vinyl cape jawa the last few weeks.
6) Make better use of what you have. We all have stuff in boxes in the loft. get them out and have a look. It's like buying all over again.
7) Work on your displays. Just got a load more bookcases and display cases for my man cave, so that should keep me busy for a bit.



Jason

 

[Grant]

Have cut back purchases drastically in the last 6 months.

Having as much fun as ever though.

My top 7 tips would be:-

1) Pick a focus which has limited pieces you can buy. All mine are pretty maxed out so there's nothing to buy most of the time.
2) Pick a cheap focus. I'm into cardbacks these days which are much cheaper than MOC. Or go for loose.
3) Don't look at ebay. You won't miss what you can't see.
4) Sell to fund buying. We all have stuff we bought early on in our collecting days which we wouldn't buy now, so just move it on and use paypal like a bank account for your hobby
5) it's not all about buying. Research can be fun too. I've had a whale of a time with the palitoy vinyl cape jawa the last few weeks.
6) Make better use of what you have. We all have stuff in boxes in the loft. get them out and have a look. It's like buying all over again.
7) Work on your displays. Just got a load more bookcases and display cases for my man cave, so that should keep me busy for a bit.



Jason

All jokes aside, Perfect post Mr P.

Regards

Grant

 

[chazb73]

I'll 2nd that - great post MP :wink:

 

[Dark Sith Lord]

I`ll 3rd that too :lol: :lol:

Great Post mate 8)

 

[Michael Sith]

Don't buy what you can't justify and don't let go anything you know you'll regret
I have done the latter a couple of times and its not good :twisted:

I have a really good restricter that keeps me grounded as far as spending is concerned.....good job I married her :lol:

 

[ToddG]

My collecting is self funded by flipping lots. A salesman in my real life it suites my personality very well. The other nice thing about it is you find spin off things to collect that are often times cheaper. Here is a great example I few years ago I bought a loose figure lot and it had some of the Vintage Topps trading cards, They were cool did not take up much space so I decided to get all of those, it did not take me long as the are plentiful and inexpensive. So the next thing to do was to get the boxes they shipped in a little tougher to find but still inexpensive in the grand scheme of things. I recently found a lot that had quite a few of the boxes I needed plus some extra boxes and other miscellaneous items for pretty cheap. I bought the lot and amongst the misc items were some Sugar Free Wrappers. Very cool items so I decided to go after a set of those as well, tough to find and priced about $5 ea perfect to hunt for and not break the bank. So 6 months later I am obsessed with the little buggers and have only 2 of the 56 total left to collect. Also while searching for those, I ran across the topps sticker books, and another spin off has begun. Also from the topps lots, i got into the wonderbread sets, which lead me to the kellogs cards and stickers, it just keeps going. All in all paper items are fun, cheap, and dont take much space.

Thanks
Todd

 

[Caswellbot]

Hey Joe, great idea for a thread as Im sure most of us can relate to this topic at some point in our collecting. It is a toughie for sure. There has been some great advice here already.

I personally have found it difficult to not spend. I am having a break at the minute from "collecting" and am only interested in buying to sell bits and pieces here and there in order to raise funds. Last year was a big collecting year for me and so this year I have decided to chill out completely and focus on other things more. The urge to buy rarely goes away but at the same time I know what I want and if I cant have it for whatever reason I have decided to wait until things change. :|

You could buy things just to keep your eye in but more often than not you would probably sell these on at a later date. I guess what Im trying to say is, if it is worth having; it is probably worth waiting for. Sit back and enjoy what you have; which is already pretty damn awesome. 8)

 

[Dublinjeff]

Very good idea for a thread, as someone else said I'm sure it's an issue thats hit most if not all collectors at some point.

From my experience, when I Initially got back collecting I went off and bought all I could asap....loose, cheap MOC etc...that dried up funds quickly. Luckily during this time, I picked up some loose figures from a fella called Iain.. who introduced me to this forum...

That led to a very quick education in the joys of collecting with a purpose. I have tried over the last year and a half to concentrate on upgrading figures, moc and loose, completing runs and all that. This has thought me to be a bit more patient when it comes to parting with my cash.

Also, within the last 3 months or so I have entered into the whole game of buying collections/figures to sell on. This has funded purchases I don't think I ever would have made by purely buying alone, it's easy slip a cheap, loose £5 figure by the missus once in a while but she tends to notice a £200 moc purchase fairly quickly.

Flipping some loose collections when I had no cash have allowed me do this and pick up certain items. I echo the sentiment of using your paypal ac as bank ac for your collecting, that's a great point...

Apologies for rambling on, great thread, some excellent posts and very good points made.