Forum - View topicYour Monthly/Yearly Expenses
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The King of Harts
 Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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This thread is for people who wish to discuss their spending habits and how they may or may not need to curb them. Did you keep to your budget this month? This year? Do you perhaps plan to increase your budget due to a recent promotion? If so, talk about it.
I usually wait to do my yearly tally until after Christmas, but I'm not buying anything else and I've been wanting a thread like this for a while. Last year was my first year of buying anime and I ended up spending $2,665.10. Now, I don't find that absurd, but I did want to try and knock it down a few pegs. This year, I, surprisingly, spent a LOT less. This year was only $1757.13. I'm actually only half surprised. Most of that money is $250 for my Sakura book and about another $225 for Ranma 1/2. CCS was my biggest order, no other purchase (Rightstuf, DVD Pacific, Amazon, or Ebay) even came close. That's OOP hunting for you. The other, non-surprised half is that I did have a burn out this year. It lasted for about 3 months, and in that period I neither watched nor bought anime. So if we go by my monthly average for 9 months, which came out to about $195/month, and add it to my total, we come to $2342.84, which sounds about right for a full year of purchasing. My budget this year was based on months, and I tried to keep it somewhere between 150 and 200 dollars, as opposed to my $222.09 last year. I met it and I think that's my happy medium and see no reason to change it since that's typically enough to get everything I want for a single month. I may actually increase it since we recently paid off a gas tank which was sucking up about $300 a month. The increase may not kick in for a few months, though, since I also to pay off some doctor bills, but they aren't huge and I get to do small payments. I've got most of my big OOP shows out of the way (half of CCS, all of Sailor Moon), so those shouldn't inflate my spending amount. I may, however, be doing more importing this year, so that could mess with the numbers a bit. Funimation's LEs could have the same effect. Something I'll be doing different is keeping track of my purchases with a spreadsheet. For the last two years I've been doing this based solely on receipts and memory (ebay and marketplace purchases) and I need a better way of doing it. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24171 |
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Unfortunately, I wasn't keeping track of my purchases this year. As I said in a different thread, I think I'm at about $2,500 CDN - it could be more, but I'd be extremely surprised if I was at $3,000 or above. If I had the inclination, I could go back and check my credit card statements since virtually all my relevant purchases are on it, but it wouldn't cover anything. This will be the last year, however, that I won't know to the exact penny what I've spent. Starting in 2011, I will be keeping track of everything and reporting it in this fine thread.
My budget for 2011 is $1,000. Frankly, I don't expect to stick to it, but I'm going to give it the ole college try. I have two outstanding orders from TRSI which won't be shipped until some time in 2011 and one from the Bandai store. The total for those three is roughly $442. I'm almost certainly going to make one more TRSI order before the end of the year that won't ship until 2011. If I order what I think I'm going to order, it will be about $172. So I've already used up $614 of my $1,000 budget and the New Year hasn't even arrived yet! 
Oh, as I also already mentioned in another thread, I'll definitely be selling anime I don't want in 2011. Whatever pittance I make from that will be added to my $1,000 budget. |
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Mylene
 Posts: 2792 Location: Indiana |
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I lump my anime/manga-related purchases into a general Pleasure Expenditures spreadsheet, with categories for different types of expenditures. If I sell something (which is a new thing I'm doing--extra copies of a few things, and finally some stuff I just did not want to keep [Tokyo Mew Mew...]) it is added back into the budget for the month that it sold.
As it stands, 95% of my current pleasure expenditure budget goes to anime or manga-related purchases. The only exception was earlier this year when I bought a new TV and deducted $50 from the budget each month until it was half paid for--the idea being it was half-pleasure, half-functional. This coming year I'm planning on my budget remaining the same, although my husband has suggested that we up it a bit. I'm not allowing myself to do that until I actually catch up on the tremendous backlog I've acquired. I'm very good at buying anime and manga. I'm not very good at watching/reading it.  If I make some real progress, perhaps I'll up the sum a bit as my reward...and then get overwhelmed again, I'm sure.
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asimpson2006
 Posts: 3151 Location: USA |
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Well I guess it's time I do this.
I don't remember what I spent last year, but roughly for this year I've spent $2536.24 * on anime/manga, and . Now I don't remember what I paid for my volumes of Chibi Vampire I bought when some of the Borders near me closed, and there was some Ebay orders that I don't remember what they cost me, but if I take a guess at what it would have been added to my total I would have been close to $2600. With as much as I spent this year in anime, I could used that cash to pay off one of my credit cards and reduce the amount owed on a another. * I do plan on one or two more purchases this year Well since there is a lot of stuff I would like to get, next year I may spend more or I may spend less. Since less taxes will be taken out of my check next year and since I should be getting a raise I could use that to help buy me more of what I want, however this might not be the case. For one, I want to put more back in my 401K if I get a decent raise. Second, I need to get my credit card debt down which one of my goals next years is to get that either all paid off, or just about paid off. I also want to lower my school loan debt and the money I owe my mother, which I want pay back along with potentially saving up to get my own place/rainy day money. This also will depend on if I have any more surgery next year and if I have to be off or not. If I don't have any surgeries next year it would the first time since 2006 that I would get full paycheck every week. If I have some surgeries next year, then I won't buy as much or just go after the low priced stuff to add to my already massive collection. |
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luffypirate
 Posts: 3187 |
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Can't really tell because I fluctuate between hobbies so much. I wish I could afford both at once but the income from my job isn't the best right now. I've been spending a steady $400 a month for the last couple months and see myself doing so until March (December to February preorders easily exceed $1000) Gotta tone it down though because I'm searching for a house and want to travel out of the country with my girlfriend next year. Sucks because there are a couple of imports I'm eying
Last edited by luffypirate on Sat Dec 18, 2010 11:37 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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FaytLein
 Posts: 1260 Location: Williamsburg, VA |
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My budget? Why its INFINITE my good man. Growing up the way I did, I didn't have very much growing up. So now, I'm making sure I enjoy every minute of my CRAAZY purchases. And no, I don't spend every cent on things of an otaku persuasion, I just look around, wait and buy en masse when the money is right.
I make about $3300 a month at my job, without overtime. I divvy up my funds into three brackets. First tier, is bills, which come up t around 800 per month. I try to get all the bills finished by the second week of the month, meaning I have around 2500 to play with. Each week, after a bill is paid, I divide the money up, and half goes into savings, the other half is free money, with which I can do what I want. As the weeks go by, the amount increases, so I get more to play with. After losing this job due to office politics earlier in the year and having to take one at severely reduced pay, I patiently waited until the job was returned to me, meaning I make crazy money again! And since that time, I've been making HUGE orders to make up for the lean summer months. I use the great trifecta of online merchants for my purchases. RACS, Rightstuf, and Amazon for those little hard to find gems. People might rag on RACS for being more expensive since Rightstuf does weekly sales, but I find RACS to be less expensive than TRSI's normal prices, unless a sale is on. Add to the fact RACS is a Virginia business, I support local peeps pretty well as long as they don't screw me over. And since RACS is in VA, my orders take 2 days MAX to reach me. And I love it. And, without further ado, the breakdown of purchases I made this year! (Note: I do not divide it up into months, or even product. Why? It would take forever to list it like that! In order from highest to lowest they are: 1. RACS with $6537.38 2. TRSI with $3736.32 3. Amazon with $3301.70 4. Bandai Store with $308.97 5. Ebay with $118.41 TRSI might get a slight jump, if 99% of my TRSI 12 Day sale goes through. Ranma boxes aren't even LISTED anymore....Here's hoping! So the grand total is $14002.78! |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24171 |
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Hate to be nosy, FaytLein, but I'm curious: is that $3300 a month before or after taxes?
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FaytLein
Posts: 1260 Location: Williamsburg, VA |
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After. Without overtime, I bring in about 60K before taxes, with my actual take home being somewhere in the 40's. And over the past two years, I've been playing catchup with all the titles I missed so as of right now, almost everything I buy is brand new releases with an increased focus on figures and the like.
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batou37
 Posts: 455 |
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I was in pretty close to the same situation you are in Faytlein for most of the year so after bills of about $950 (luckily I don't have a house payment) I had a good bit to spend. Well that was up until last month when I got laid off due to downsizing in my company. For most of the year I was in a position where I'd see that something was coming out, or read about something in forums that seemed like it would interest me and I'd just head on over to amazon or another site to find the best price and buy it. I was pretty indiscriminate with my spending and didn't really keep records but looking over to my shelf at how the collection has grown I'd say it was in the $1500 to $2000 range. I'm also guilty in that I probably blew a lot of money eating out and going to movies etc...usually about $200 a week on that type of entertainment. Now I'm having to get used to not buying everything that catches my eye, and that Garden of Sinners collection is really killing me!
 Maybe Ill be able to get some tax money back to buy it. As of right now I plan on going back to college in the spring, and I'm considering getting a part-time job in order to fund my collecting habit during that time....so I guess next years budget will just depend on what type of job I find.
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The King of Harts
Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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I don't get why you're low-balling it so much. Two years ago was 5k, this year was less than 3k, but now you're taking a huge leap to just 1k. I would've thought you'd look at that and settle at $2000, which breaks down to only about $170 a month. See, this is why it's probably easier to break it down by months instead of years, because you could spend half your yearly budget in a few months (like you already have), and not have much for the back half of the year, when all the best sales happen.
Is it weird I remember what I paid for almost everything? When I was trying to figure out my ebay purchases, I just scanned my shelves and went, "Yea, Chrono Crusade $25, ef - a tale of memories art box $21, etc...". The only purchases I don't remember are GoHastings ones since the prices vary so much. For the small marketplace orders I don't remember, I just looked them up with the Search Function since I share the prices here.
You know, I recently did a mock purchase of a Funimation order I plan on doing once a sale pops up on TRSI, and I can get all my orders for both February and March on that order for about $250. That means since I wouldn't have new purchases those two months, I could, technically, afford to get that set with those savings. Oh gosh, I shouldn't of done that. @Faytlein I'm gonna be little a bit nosier, so feel free not to answer. What's your house situation? With the size of your collection I always assumed you lived in a house, but I have a hard time believing you could find a nice sized house for less than $800. Not to mention the fact that you're only 30, so it's not like you've been spending decades paying for a house already. After reading about your income and expenses, and coupled with the actual size of your collection, I've just always been a little curious. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24171 |
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Well, to a certain extent, I did sort of just pull that figure out of my butt. But the method to my madness, if you will, was that since I had spent about $8,000 in the past two years, if I could limit my purchases to $1,000 a year for the next four years, that would mean that at the end of that six year period, I would have spent a total of $12,000 - an average of $2,000 per year (roughly where I should have been in the first place). Don't be fooled by that $5,500 the first year - that was a dumb noob going nuts and spending way more than he should have. Unlike FaytLein, I'm not comfortable giving out my salary, but it is far from immense and I live in an expensive city. Really, if I had been smart, I would have set a $1,500 yearly budget and stuck to it. If I could do it all over again, I would live by these simple purchasing rules: 1) No blind buys - ever (even on supah-cheap titles). Always sample enough to be reasonably sure you really want the series. Sure, $10 is a small investment, but do that four times with titles you discover you don't like and suddenly, there's $40 you don't have for a series you do. 2) Order - then watch to completion everything you've ordered before placing the next order. Yes, this means passing up some sales, but sales have a way of coming back around. Or if this rule is too stringent, then at least have a rule that your backlog can never exceed 10 unwatched titles. Letting time go by almost always means getting want you want more cheaply (with the exception of titles that go OOP, of course). Ah, the wisdom of hindsight... |
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FaytLein
Posts: 1260 Location: Williamsburg, VA |
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I have a modest apartment I share with my younger brother. Rents about 850 which we split, and due to the fact we are hardly at home for most of the day, and the county we live in, electricity and auto insurance is below 100 bucks. As for how I can store my stuff, the bulk of my manga is packed away in our balcony storage, and my anime is strewn around my room either in shelves or broken into smaller piles which would come up thigh high if it was in one location. And since I put away a good bit every week into savings which only seems to get touched around the holidays, I hope to get a house in another year or so.
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egoist
 Posts: 7762 |
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Hmm, my budget, huh. This past year it was around £200+ (200 guaranteed, plus some after bills). But then I stayed a few months without making any significant order besides a few UK releases, and the damn thing accumulated; I lost track of my bank account numbers as this is an ongoing busy phase at work, until it settles down in the beginning of the year (see, end of the year/Christmas has a direct negative effect on my job, and no, the company itself doesn't get busier).
So, for the upcoming year I'm aiming for £300+, given my "promotion" [/irony] and company car (which saves me over 300). Yeah, the much I'm saving now doesn't really match the slightly increased budget, but I think if I increase it even more I'll be tempted to import from Japan... and then things will get ugly. Monthly. And everything goes to anime. I've never bought another merchandise before, but I may do so this year. I'm primarily interested in an anime wallet, and perhaps lighter. No figures... I'm not a big fan of it. And no manga, since I don't read any.
Start with Regios because its quality sinks later on. Too much teen angst and almost no sexual thrill. 
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zawa113
 Posts: 7358 |
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I kept a list of how much I spent for about half a year until I became too depressed with the numbers to do it more. Which, compared to what you guys spent, isn't even all that bad, except for Otakon month (which I just lumped all into July despite having bought a couple of things on the last day of Otakon which was the first day of August) and January was a bit high too due to having Xmas+Birthday funds. I also included shipping costs I did specifically for trades. I also subtracted money if I sold something straight up
January: $132.51 February: $78.25+ $23.20 March: $106.03 April: $100.25 May: $183.46 ($47.52 on non anime/manga) June: $95.21 July: $472* *July is an estimate due to inexact Otakon spending amounts. So yeah, I need to budget about $100 a month, May was also abnormally high due to selling textbooks then blowing money on manga too  I also need to budget more or around the holidays but that doesn't surprise me seeing how I just got $150 from my uncle for birthday+xmas so it's also a lot easier to do. June was actually my least expensive month because a $65 Otakon pre-order ticket sent that number sky high, so I fast during June then go insane during July. August is also likely to be light for similar reasons to June, Otakon aftershock. I'm going to assume September, October, and November to all be similar to the other months (though probably less, not having a car to go to Borders really hinders things here ) And this December I've probably already spent a good $300 on myself for birthday and xmas. It's a time of the year I spoil myself.
And I thought $100 a month budget was a bit much, not compared to some of you guys, sheesh! |
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egoist
Posts: 7762 |
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Agreed. These people spend too much money on kids stuff!
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