How do you guys afford this hobby

[surfin4]

I keep a roll of fifties in a bedside drawer it gets thick it gets thin its just short 5 grand as of this evening its my monopoly money as long as its at least 3 inches in diametre i am good to go!

 

[JD18_92]

I build seats for cars as my job,went to high school, graduated,decided to not go to college for various reasons,got a job installing windows for Pella, making good money,but long hrs and 6 days a week,but ended up having a customer who saw i was a hard worker who ended up offering me a better job that could actually be a career if i so choose. I took abit of a pay cut but i still make great money with full benefits but the hrs are brutal, 3 to 12, 6 days a week. There is no time for my friends or even me. It sucks but its nice knowing i can afford a collectible or 2 every month

 

[spindrift]

At 18, no way can you afford this hobby buying HT. Way too expensive. Most of us are quite abit older and have good jobs but also more responsibility financial- wise (family). Money is tight at times because of over-indulgence on this darn figures.
These days with increased output and cost of HT, I've cut back and have to prioritize.
Just bought my second Jack Sparrow from Gohastings Leap Year sale, though!!!

 

[papa-alpha-charlie]

discretionary income-

Discretionary income is money remaining after all bills are paid off. It is income after subtracting taxes and normal expenses (such as rent or mortgage, utilities, insurance, medical, transportation, property maintenance, child support, inflation, food and sundries, etc.) to maintain a certain standard of living. It is the amount of an individual's income available for spending after the essentials (such as food, clothing, and shelter) have been taken care of.

 

[JD18_92]

At 18, no way can you afford this hobby buying HT. Way too expensive. Most of us are quite abit older and have good jobs but also more responsibility financial- wise (family). Money is tight at times because of over-indulgence on this darn figures.
These days with increased output and cost of HT, I've cut back and have to prioritize.
Just bought my second Jack Sparrow from Gohastings Leap Year sale, though!!!

Thats not always the case, im 19 and could spend 1300 in a month on hot toys and still get by just fine, and believe me, i have

 

[nash]

Thats not always the case, im 19 and could spend 1300 in a month on hot toys and still get by just fine, and believe me, i have

yeah, its easy when you have mommy and daddy to feed you, put a roof over your head, pay the bills, and give you money to burn.

 

[jkno]

yeah, its easy when you have mommy and daddy to feed you, put a roof over your head, pay the bills, and give you money to burn.

 

[JD18_92]

I live by myself in an apartment,my dads an alcoholic and me and him dont got along and things built up to a point it shouldnt of. . . so i moved out when i was 16,stayed with my grandma for a yr,finished school,got a full time job,then a better one,and im doing fine now. I was never born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I Have bills that I have to pay just like you,it is cause of my job that I am able to afford what I want cause im a damn hard worker and make the necessary sacrifices

 

[NCC-1701 no bloody ABCorD]

I live by myself in an apartment,my dads an alcoholic and me and him dont got along and things built up to a point it shouldnt of. . . so i moved out when i was 16,stayed with my grandma for a yr,finished school,got a full time job,then a better one,and im doing fine now. I was never born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I Have bills that I have to pay just like you,it is cause of my job that I am able to afford what I want cause im a damn hard worker and make the necessary sacrifices

Good for you! There's nothing more honorable and commands more respect than honest, hard work. Just make sure you're putting some money away; you don't want regrets when you're older that will sour your collection—not to mention your future financial situation. Jobs can be lost and times can get hard, especially in this economy. Sounds like you've had some pretty tough recent years. But you have time on your side so make the best of it by working hard, never burning any bridges, saving and spending with discretion. One other preachy piece of advise: if possible make an effort to make amends with your dad. I'm 53. Years ago I lost my father when we were not on the best of terms. Believe me, no matter how bad things seem you don't want that.

 

[dirichle]

I buy and sell items things.

Infortunately I am doing more buying then selling lately because I am too lazy to list my items on ebay.

 

[Lejuan]

I live by myself in an apartment,my dads an alcoholic and me and him dont got along and things built up to a point it shouldnt of. . . so i moved out when i was 16,stayed with my grandma for a yr,finished school,got a full time job,then a better one,and im doing fine now. I was never born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I Have bills that I have to pay just like you,it is cause of my job that I am able to afford what I want cause im a damn hard worker and make the necessary sacrifices

No no, you are an entitled, spoiled ********* who can only afford nice things at a young age thanks to someone else's hard work. This is the only acceptable explanation.

 

[willocrew]

Well, you don't have to work 80 hour weeks to make lots of money in lucrative careers. I have an engineer friend that does the typical 9-5 and brings in nearly twice what the wife and I bring in combined. Now does he enjoy his work as much as we do? And is he making as worthwhile a contribution to the world? I dunno.

Well the grass is always greener on the other side. These so called lucrative careers/professional careers like lawyers, doctors, accountants, engineers, pharmacist etc aren't as nearly as lucrative as people would think.

For example, the legal career may look like it pays well on paper, but when you consider the number of hours lawyers have to work and the very poor work life balance, that pay cheque doesn't look quite as good anymore.

An associate can work anywhere between 70 to 100 hours a week depending on a number of factors. Working through the weekends either at home or having to go back to the office is very common. In fact, many law firms issue all their lawyers with blackberrys so you cannot escape from work email even on weekends.

And there is also this thing called billable hours (I.e. hours that your activities are actually making money for the firm). There are weekly billable hours that you have to meet and if you don't, questions will be asked during annual review. So you can't exactly slack off. And you can't exactly be despicable about it and pad up your clients bill with work that you didn't actually do, not when you're charging them $500 an hour.

In Australia at least, with our very high wages, it is actually not a bad idea to be a tradesman (e.g. plumber, carpenter, auto electrician etc). After tax, the money you bring home is pretty comparable to the typically labelled professional careers. Also, you get to enjoy trade union protection that allows you to work 9-5, mon to fri without any fear that if you don't put in extra effort someone else will get your business because everyone is restricted to so many working hours they can work.

 

[Moriaman]

I'd crawl across poisonous broken glass for $500 an hour

Like others i have a pretty well paid job,no kids so i can allow myself a piece a month on average,if i want something really expensive i'll save or sell a few things to justify it to myself ,although i have sold expensive stuff before as i couldn't look at it without how much it cost bearing down on me,buyers remorse i suppose,i'm a lot pickier these days before laying down the money for these things

 

[Darth Aidan]

Married
Kid
Mortgage
Collect like a mad man
Broke
Live

Preach brother preach!

 

[spindrift]

yeah, its easy when you have mommy and daddy to feed you, put a roof over your head, pay the bills, and give you money to burn.

Man where have you been?? THAT many posts??wow...

 

[spindrift]

I think everybody in this thread should go play the Lotto this weekend and if one of us scores the millions, we promise everyone on here Hot Toys for life!

No money to throw away on lotto- save it for another figure...
does that sweet smell of a new HT in package get you excited...yeah I'm hooked!!

 

[jenjen]

Guess I'll chime in. I teach high school kids for a living, collect random stuff for funzies. Granted, my teaching position is not full time, I still make enough to have some fun in between grading projects. It just may take me a bit more time than some to get anything accomplished. I'm young, I have time left (I hope).

 

[smiff1989]

Hi TopSnake, first of all welcome to the hobby, or should i say addiction. It's a slippery slope from here lol. I for one, am far from well off, i'm 23, have a job (not a well payed one at that) sadly with the econemy going down hill, i have low hour minimum wage job, but on the bright side it's something. It helps me afford the hobby, pay any outgoing bills and run my car. (I live at home with parents, but this is not to say i don't pull my weight when it comes to outstanding rent, plus the luxuries i have i.e my internet, cable tv, phone bill etc)

All i can say is, it depends on what kind of collector you are, when i first started collecting i had a nice saving's account going for me, i didn't drive and spent minimal going out to cheap events, cheap clubs, mainly house parties, i have always been a tight arse haha.
I started by buying anything going, by all lines, and my money soon started going down, do i regret it>? Hell no!!! It's a hobby where i know i'm sure to get back what i spent, possibly an investment?

I now only stick to figures from the films i like best, the rest i had i sold.

Just be patient when buying pieces, wether it be hot toys, sideshow, enterbay etc. Scope out on various sites, don't rushing into buying things as waiting often pays off, i have scored some serious bargains by being stubborn, simply setting x amount aside and not spending anymore than you plan to.

Remember, people on the forums, youtube etc have been collecting for years, when i first started (around 4 years ago) i never thought my collection would be anything like it is now

Sorry to ramble, i hope i have helped with your question

 

[CyberVillain]

Short answer, I'm a king of the wage bargain

 

[peterparkernypd]

I just sell my body in exchange for Hot Toys.