Back at the start of summer, I went on a three week shopping spree to help cope with end of the school year duties and my best friend moving to Oregon.
Now I'm not talking about the kind of shopping spree that has left me with a huge stack of credit card bills. I already experienced that back in the 90's and trust me... the only debt I want is my monthly mortgage.
It was however a very eye opening experience, because I started to reflect on my current hobby expenses, the direction I want to go with my collection, and most importantly... my future finances.
My number one priority is to save up and purchase an investment property within the next few years. That means huge budget cutbacks in regards to card collecting are effective immediately.
I've already cut back my hobby spending since I returned from Portland and Las Vegas. Although two weeks ago... I couldn't pass up this Rickey Henderson card:
2013 Topps Five Star Autographs #FSBA-RH
Sadly... I probably won't be adding any new Rickey Henderson autographs to my collection in the near future. But that's okay. We all have to have our priorities in life.
This doesn't mean I'm going to pack up and leave the hobby. I'm still going to collect. It just means changes are in store and I'm going to be more conscientious about making purchases.
I kicked things off by deleting more than 70% of my saved eBay searches. The less auctions I bid on... the less money I spend. I have also decided to reduce my monthly card budget to $50. This should prove quite challenging... however it's a necessity.
The good news is that I've been actively adding to my collection non-stop for the past nine years. It's time to sift through my non-PC stuff and decide on what I want to keep and what I can sell to help supplement this budget.
I also decided months ago to focus on quality over quantity... so I think I'll try to target one or two nice cards each month, instead of fifty $1 cards.
As for the blog... my finances shouldn't really affect things. Like I said... I've been collecting non-stop for nearly ten years, so I should have enough cards laying around to keep myself and you guys interested.
Well that's it for now. Let the changes begin...
Happy Wednesday and sayonara!
15 comments:
I wish you well friend, I have tried to set a budget but have been unsuccessful but I like your idea of deleting those searches I am going to do that too.
Never a bad idea to refocus. One thing that I do to help with spending is that I always take December off. I also usually focus on my WVU collection during the baseball offseason which is always much cheaper than the Pirates stuff.
That is a beautiful Rickey card, congrats on adding it to your collection. Good luck on your budget cuts, been through that myself. I like the idea of deleting eBay searches.
I wish I had a $50 monthly budget for cards. It's been $20 every other month or under for most of the past few years. Sometimes it's nothing. Usually I do a blaster every other month or sometimes I can get two. I usually save up and have fun at the Black Friday sales on COMC and Dave and Adam's though.
I'm considering setting aside the hobby and saving for my lifelong dream of a classic car. It will take me several years and will pretty much mean I don't get any new cards. I still have some 40,000 NBA cards and several thousand everything else needing scans so it's not like I won't be involved in the hobby anyway.
Good luck with the new strategy Fuji! I set myself a budget of $75 per paycheck (2 checks per month) and shipping charges have to be included in that. Sure I go over once in a while, but most months I actually come in perfect and it's kind of a fun challenge to see what you can squeeze out of the budget!
Grappling with a budget is always a challenge. Now and then I'll have months where I'll look back and say -- "Did I really spend THAT much on cards?" But then I'll have months (like this one) where I've spent next to nothing on the hobby. I try to keep my extravagant purchases to the four or five card shows I'm able to hit per year.
Only $50 per month to buy quality cards? Good luck.
Budgets are good.
I've been on a minuscule budget for the past five months and have still managed to have fun and add some cool items to my collection. It's all relative. The Rickey is outstanding BTW.
I've never been on a true budget but I am fiscally conservative. I have been tracking my hobby spending since the beginning of 2016 and find that I've been averaging about $42/month. I'm not at all unhappy with where I'm at. I think if you gain focus on what you really want and eliminate most of the impulse buys, you'll be just fine.
Budgets are definitely helpful and I've found that there is still plenty of fun to be had in this hobby even on a smaller budget.
Focus is so important. I'm lucky at the moment that I still have very cheap gaps to fill e.g. Topps base sets from certain years. (I have no 1982 cards!)
Also, living in the UK helps because impulse purchases can't happen! Shops don't sell baseball cards over here. But even so, I'm concentrating on Topps for team sets and one player in particular so anything that doesn't fit those criteria is an easy pass.
Focus is so important. I'm lucky at the moment that I still have very cheap gaps to fill e.g. Topps base sets from certain years. (I have no 1982 cards!)
Also, living in the UK helps because impulse purchases can't happen! Shops don't sell baseball cards over here. But even so, I'm concentrating on Topps for team sets and one player in particular so anything that doesn't fit those criteria is an easy pass.
Most of my budget goes to shipping now. It makes collecting really tough sometimes
b man - in terms of saving money, it was the best decision i could have made short of closing my eBay account
matthew scott - i remember trying to take some time off when kenny (zippy) did it a while back. i just couldn't do it. then again... i didn't have a goal in mind back then.
arpsmith - thanks. i just couldn't pass up that card even if it meant blowing an entire month's budget on one card.
billy kingsley - i say go for it. the hobby will always be here.
shoeboxlegends - thanks. now that i'm passed the three week mark, it's been pretty easy. most of the items i had on my watch list have closed, so i made it through the rough period. next up is making it through the upcoming card show.
nick - i'll spare the embarrassment, but june was definitely one of those "did i really spend THAT much on cards" kind of months. but i don't have any regrets. i love the cards i purchased... and i'm already getting used to the cutbacks
sg488 - lol. thanks. it might mean one autograph or graded vintage card a month... or who knows... maybe one every other month.
collecting cutch - my father would agree
hackenbush - agree 100%. who knows maybe i'll learn to appreciate what i already have a little more
shlabotnikreport - getting rid of all of those saved searches really helped me cut down on the impulse buys. so far so good. don't think i've made a single eBay purchase in over 2 weeks
paul - i hope so. it'll also be fun writing posts based on the cards i already own, but never shared.
jongudmund - sounds like you have a solid plan. i hate spending a lot of money on shipping, so if i lived across the atlantic, i'd probably be able to make even larger cutbacks
sport card collectors - yeah, i hate wasting money on shipping. i don't mind pay a few bucks if I'm buying a $20 card. but i refuse to pay $2.99 shipping on a $1 card. i just can't/won't do it.
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