How do you budget your toys?

[TheMikeSnyder]

I have been collecting for about 30 years, and while buying toys brings a lot of joy, it's tough sometimes to resist fun stuff because I'm a responsible adult. I'm good with my money and my bills, and never lean on anyone financially, so it's obviously not too bad. But when a marvel legends wave gets announced and I actually want all of them, it's like a "yay" meets "oof" moment.

So I'm wondering. How do you guys go about budgeting your toy collecting. Do you allow yourself a certain amount to spend a week/month? Do you have a credit card specifically for toys? Do you kinda just go for it and worry about it later?

No judgements at all. I'm just curious what other people do so they can have fun and get the figures they want and also make sure they don't overspend.

[K9K1N6]

That is a good question there my friend, well in my case it just turned different, like i have this sort of handicapped credential on mexico (which I'm not sure if other countries have that system) and i am given a certain amount of money every 2 months. Everytime i am given that i usually will go for at least 1000 pesos (which would be around 50 dollars) or less on buying about 1 or 2 figures, it depends really and the rest i save it.

[mako]

As the man said, an interesting question.

Long story short, right now I'm (carefully) fueling my collecting solely with what I have left from my stimulus check, while virtually everything else is going toward straightening out a series of emergencies that reads like a Greek tragedy.

[ghostbogey]

14 hours ago, TheMikeSnyder said:

I have been collecting for about 30 years, and while buying toys brings a lot of joy, it's tough sometimes to resist fun stuff because I'm a responsible adult. I'm good with my money and my bills, and never lean on anyone financially, so it's obviously not too bad. But when a marvel legends wave gets announced and I actually want all of them, it's like a "yay" meets "oof" moment.

So I'm wondering. How do you guys go about budgeting your toy collecting. Do you allow yourself a certain amount to spend a week/month? Do you have a credit card specifically for toys? Do you kinda just go for it and worry about it later?

No judgements at all. I'm just curious what other people do so they can have fun and get the figures they want and also make sure they don't overspend.

What budget???....I steal my toys =^) In all seriousness, I been there before. That lead me to selling toys, check out  "toys of the ghost".....Sorry about the commercial. Well, back to the subject at hand. Budgets are always good and to be honest. Do we need toys???? I know, I know....I can see the "YES" in all your heads out there =^). To "go for it and worry about it later" shows signs of; "TOY CRAZED" syndrome!!!! Sorry, out there....This so much fun to talk about. I'm a Japanese Toy "FREAK". I had the "SYNDROME"!!! For me it was selling some and getting other toys. This is more of a problem then most people will admit, Mike.

What I found out about myself; I like being around the toys (Japanese) more them "collecting the toy". You, get it??? Do I collect???....You Dam Right!!!! You think I'm "CRAZY"???=^)  Toys are cool...

Have fun and get the figures you want. How do you know that you overspent??? When your electric is cut off and you have no food in the refrigerator, that's a pretty good sign =^).........

This is a good thread, Mike

[silverback77346]

I started my collection back when we still had kids in the house. After a while I would trade some of my comics for store credit and purchase figures, then trade in older figures the same way. Now I mostly purchase online and look for deals. I order the stuff I really want online when it first comes out, then wait until the price goes down on others instead of paying full price. And as long as I can show my boss/wife that she is actually spending more than me it keeps her nose out of my business. One day some public hens from her church were over and she showed them my collection. One made a comment that she would not allow me to have so many figures. My wife told her that I didn't drink, smoke or chase women so she was fine with it. I told the public hen that I saved all my drinking an smoking money to spend on action figures and then tried to charge her a dollar for seeing my collection. As long as you can meet living expenses every month you are going to do fine. Collecting is a fun part of life.

[TheMikeSnyder]

All good stuff guys. My wife has absolutely no problem with it and even has some of her own stuff. If anything she's a bit of an enabler. I'll be debating on a thing and she'll always be like "just get it" and I love that, although I think sometimes later maybe I should have waited, haha. 

I definitely love to get a deal, and lately I'm trying to think twice before buying. I try to think if I even have the shelf space for what I'm buying or if it's something I'll be fine missing out on. I went for the kickstarter spawn because it would only go up in price on second market and it'll be a centerpiece. I got the power-con MOTU set too for the same reasons. But I've been holding off on more black series storm troopers and starting the the GI Joe lines because I should have no issue getting them later.

We are trying to start saving for a house and so I try and think about that whenever I spend on non essentials, but I also want stuff in said house, so it's a balancing act for sure.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts everyone.

[Asterix]

I don't have a specific budget . I just try not to let things get out of control. I generally won't pay over $100 for a single item though. I will make some exceptions though, like Earthrise Scorponok. Scorponok is my favorite Transformer and I must have him

[Galeb_G2]

My income
+Wife's income
=Total income
-bills
-food
-preparing for taxes
-monthly "emergency" budget (should I go to the doctor, replace a pair of torn jeans...)
-Money set aside for small projects (buying a new lamp, a set of glasses...)
-money set aside for the next big project (right now, buying a house) 
=disposable income. The wife and I both get half of it.

If we get some extra income due to a bonus or some unexpected extra task that got paid (recently, for example, I've done a report on this Munich investment property), it's shared between the big project budget and disposable income. 

And that's how I buy my toys, my plastic models, my books and my guitar lessons!

[Ghostmaverick13]

A question I always ask myself, I go through up and down I’m very specific in what I’ll put money into. Some things are cool but I won’t get into then stuff from my childhood I just can’t pass up when it’s done right I’ll go months without buying then go nuts and kill my extra cash lol. Just started getting Neca tmnts at targets near me so kinda been going crazy since I don’t know when I’ll see them again but yeh I’m happy everybody has something if it’s figures better than other addictions lol. Acceptance is the key 

[80force]

Me and the wife have separate accounts, we are both good at handling money. We have individual savings, that too me is so much easier to track spending. I can buy whatever I want haha, but my rule for any spending is that as long as I'm contributing to my savings after paying bills then I have cash to play with. If not then I cut back on fun money and wait until it's back to normal. It's all about priorities.

[ToyGodOriginal]

As long as bills come first. The rest goes to figures. What was really hard was trying to manage a toy addiction while having a drug addiction.

[deecee4]

My spending has gotten out of control last couple of months with the only real saving grace being that I'm just about maxed out for display space. 

[mako]

Up until mid-Dec. I had been supplementing the ole' toy budget by selling on Ebay. Unfortunately, the post office kinda went nuts for a bit, and after several close calls, and having to refund one guy for a lost order, I decided to take a break.

Fortunately, my area is still in the throws of the post-holiday dry-spell so it isn't really an issue yet. Still, when the IRS finally deposits my 600 bucks I, and my toy retailers, will be very happy to get it.

[ThomasSt]

You have a cool wife. My wife thinks that toys are a waste of time, and when I get new toys,e she gets mad. I don't know why that keeps happening because I never had problems with her buying anything she wants.
I have a perfect system. I found an article about financial advisors on yourmoneygeek.com, and since then, I use one on my phone.
There is a big difference between now and before. I always have money left to get all the stuff I want to. Planning ahead and sticking to that plan is everything. If you do that, you will be able to keep your finances in order.

[Badgerwulf]

I use a second bank account where a portion of my pay is direct deposited.  Right now it is more of a "Way Too Many Pre-Orders" Account.  BBTS finally received a couple of my Mythic Legions pre-orders, so I am bracing for a tidal wave of other product soon.

 

[NightWolf]

I dont have a budget BUT i do have my collecting rules which keeps my collection size (somewhat) manageable.

1. no superheros or villians (DC & marvel)
2. no wrestling figures
3. no vehicles
4. no army building
5. no disney (main) figures (mickey, donald etc.)