How do you budget collecting?

[AK11]

This question can be asked in any of the sport's forums, but the majority of my collection is hockey right now and that also is my only player collection. My question revolves around the anguish of collecting cards (and for me comics as well) all on a monthly budget. Most collectors have budget constraints on their collecting habits, but my biggest problem is I dabble in all 4 major sports and after I pickup a few mid-end cards which can easily be at the beginning of a month, I am tapped out financially. I have been able to pickup every Kopitar card I wanted for the last 6-7 months and still manage to pickup some nice baseball, basketball, and a little football on top of select comic books. I know I cannot keep this pace up as their is a significant chance my budget will start decreasing in the future, possibly near future. How do you guys out there pick and choose so wisely what to grab for your pc's? I am so afraid to just invest all of my precious collecting funds into one player, but at the same time, my Kopitar collection has come so far with so many nice cards and a player I can afford if it was all I collected. My budget has leeway at this moment, but time can change that fact. Sorry for venting, but I have been collecting for 17 solid years since 1993 and I want to continue my hobby since it's my life passion in some sense. For the truly budget collectors here, what are some tips you have? Any comments are welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Andrew

 

[gonzagacubs]

I don't really have a set budget monthly sort of speak on my collecting, but I always know not to over do it. If I think that it gets to a point that I have felt that I over-spent, then I decide to start selling some stuff off. The hardest thing for me has been getting some sort of collecting goals in place, and stop buying cards that I think are nice looking, but don't necessarily need. Another thing I would suggest that has helped me is when I see something I want for my PC that I have a certain price in mind that I am willing to spend, and I also ask myself if I think I can find another copy cheaper. That has really helped me out the last couple of months. Sometimes I pays to be a little patient. I will also say this, there is no right or wrong way to collect. You decide that for yourself, and that is what makes this hobby fun.

 

[G $MONEY$]

You sound like me about 5-6 years ago :lol: . I, like you, was dabbling in all 4 sports and had multi-player collection going in all 4 sports. Also, a number of the players i was collecting weren't scrubs either, they were some of the most collected players in the Hobby, meaning that they cost big buck$. The thing also was, that i was trying to get every high-end card that came out for all these different player collections i had going on. It was just too much and i knew i had to slow down. Back then i treated this hobby like a "race", as in i had to have every new release card of my players and i had to have them right now. Nowadays, i treat the hobby more like a marathon (If i dont get the card now, i can wait and get it next week, month, year) and i had to cut back on the number of players i was collecting. My main player collection these days is Marc Andre Fleury. Back in the 03/04 season when all of MAF's RCs were coming out, i managed to obtain every single one of his rookie cards and back then i was gonna attempt to get at least one copy of all his future cards there on out. I then realized that it was just too hard and way too costly to try and get a copy of every single card, so i have just decided to get the cards that i find the most aesthetically pleasing to myself and find that i am very, very content with my collection for it. Before that, i was buying cards that i didn't even care for, just because i "needed it" and what would happen was that i would look at the card for 30 seconds and put it away in a box never to see the light of day again. To this day i still have a couple player collections in the other sports (Eli Manning, Carmelo Anthony and Vlad Guerrero) but i only add to these collections once and awhile when i truly find that amazing card that i know i will enjoy.

 

[Groat]

I then realized that it was just too hard and way too costly to try and get a copy of every single card, so i have just decided to get the cards that i find the most aesthetically pleasing to myself and find that i am very, very content with my collection for it. Before that, i was buying cards that i didn't even care for, just because i "needed it" and what would happen was that i would look at the card for 30 seconds and put it away in a box never to see the light of day again.

Bingo. If you want to get the absolute most out of your collecting money, simply don't buy anything that you wouldn't display.

 

[lumm0x]

Budget ::facepalm::

 

[pghbuccos]

Budget ::facepalm::

THIS