Topic: How Much Money Have You Spent Buying Star Wars Things?

[CommandoClone76]

If there is ONE on the streets you are lying.

[Tamer]

Hilarious some of your answers are. I know I have spent thousands on this hobby since when I got started. They say don't do the math because you won't like it and I believe it. Still, is there any hobby out there that doesn't cost thousands to pursue actively? As long as a person is spending in their means and is not depriving themselves or their family, is having fun, and doesn't get obsessive about it spend as much as you want!

[Buried Egg]

Am I the only one here who keeps a spreadsheet of everything I buy for my collection? I was mortified when I watched FlyGuy's Panel Podcast and they all said they had no records, no idea, and no desire to know how much they've spent. It's very easy to do and very necessary. Especially when you need to dig into your storage crates for a specific figure or vehicle for a quick photo shoot or something!

[Tamer]

Well, I used to have over 40 of the largest size rummbermaid containers they sold, but after realizing the chances of me ever getting into it to find that one figure or every getting any of it out I decided I needed to narrow my focus and truly try to have a collection that was on display. If I couldn't enjoy it openly then what was the use. Now I do have things set back to create some dioramas and a few of the harder or more memorable prequel figures that I still have stored, but I am not down to just a few rubbermaid totes and what is in them.

I do agree knowing what you have is paramount if you have been in this awhile or you will never be able to remember the line or character. I would also recommend buying a good action figure guide (check out the one by Paul and Dan and Steve) so that can help you identify things if you are not sure which line it came from.

[Buried Egg]

Well, I used to have over 40 of the largest size rummbermaid containers they sold, but after realizing the chances of me ever getting into it to find that one figure or every getting any of it out I decided I needed to narrow my focus and truly try to have a collection that was on display. If I couldn't enjoy it openly then what was the use. Now I do have things set back to create some dioramas and a few of the harder or more memorable prequel figures that I still have stored, but I am not down to just a few rubbermaid totes and what is in them.

I do agree knowing what you have is paramount if you have been in this awhile or you will never be able to remember the line or character. I would also recommend buying a good action figure guide (check out the one by Paul and Dan and Steve) so that can help you identify things if you are not sure which line it came from.

Yes, good point. I currently rotate my collection on a 3 month basis. The spreadsheet is invaluable for me. Even still, I catch myself (only rarely) buying things I already have but forgot about. Grabbed the McFarlane Masterchief for $6 at TJ Maxx the other day. All proud of my score. Went home to enter it into the Excell sheet and it autofilled "Masterchief". Realized I already had one from Tuesday Morning months ago! The only downside to having the spreadsheet is that my wife knows exactly how much I spend too! ;-)

[Hand So Low]

Unfortunately my collection is in bins. Two years ago I moved into a house from an apartment. The basement needs a serious update. So that has been my project during the winter months. I've also got an almost 3 year old, so she gets a lot of time I could be spending on my basement. And as anyone who's remodeled their house knows, these things take time. Took me three months to redo my kid's bedroom. My basement is shaped like a "L", so I have an area for all my figures and ships. I had built shelves and I had some of my figures displayed, but I had to take them down and rethink how I'm going to display them because my F'n cats are A-holes and they ate B'omarr Monk's legs. I plan to have them all behind thin sheets of plexi-glass I got from work.

I couldn't tell you how much $ I've spent on SW, though. I've got probably 800 figures, and most of the OT vehicles. Since I open my guys, I've never been too picky about where I get them and I get a fair amount of loose figures. Offhand, I would say $3000 to $4000, though. Maybe less, probably more.

[zedhatch]

I have a spreadsheet but that won't account for things I got on clearance, things lost as a child (rare but happened) or things I paid extra for.  I never kept track of costs because to me that wasn't the important part of collecting (Granted I have limits that I will spend for something, but beside the point). 

That said, It would be near impossible for me to estimate how much I have spent since 1978, I might be able to calculate it but it would be a highly labor intensive task.  I know at one point I had over 2,000 figures (Note that includes GI Joe, Marvel, Star Wars, and just about any 1:18th scale line you can imagine) but I have cleared some of that out (Last calculation it was down to 1,200 but I have bought quite a few since then).  Just a guess-tamite puts that around $8,000 (That's at $7 a figure which I think is a good average).   Which does not include Vehicles.  Of that number around 620 are Star Wars which makes the tally of SW figures $4,300.  Again Vehicles are a bit more labor intensive and that doesn't include other items like Statues, larger scale figs, Posters, ect (granted there are very few of those). 

[Buried Egg]

My entire collection (Star Wars, NECA, Hot Toys, Sideshow, LEGO sets, SW Replicas and Cosplay, GI Joe, Transformers, and all the vintage stuff) comes to exactly $19013.27. This means I have spent exactly $19013.27 on my entire collection of collectibles and Sci-Fi hobby stuff ...and um, one "Audrey Hepburn" Barbie Doll but that was just for the clothing and accessories for my Hot Toys, I swear!

Tempted to post up the spreadsheet just to show how its organized but I think it might look kind of 'douchy' of me. It -is- really important to have a system, though. At least, it helped me a lot.

[Tamer]

I don't think it would be douchy at all. It might help someone get a start; especially if you have a template they could use or modify.

[jkno]

If you look at my collection you can make the calculus 

[Tamer]

If you look at my collection you can make the calculus 

LOL. Just add a few zeros!

[Buried Egg]

I don't think it would be douchy at all. It might help someone get a start; especially if you have a template they could use or modify.

Okay, lemme see when I can find some time, next week, to write up a description to go with it so the shorthand I use in my spreadsheets can be understood. I have methods of listing items in my collection so that I know where I bought it/how much/condition/etc.

[Tamer]

Sounds great.

[Buried Egg]

Okay, sorry it took so long to post this. Summer vacation family stuff. Never was this busy before I had kids!

So, the list is in MS Excel format (See Attached) and is divided into categories: eBay, Amazon, Store (meaning physical retail store-bought), etc. Each category was created early on when I started collecting and you can see, as each category progresses downward toward the present, the details regarding each item get more descriptive and helpful (MOMC or Loose, TVC, Saga, Black Series, etc) as I got better at doing this. If there was one thing I wish I had done from the start it would be listing the purchase dates. I don't know how I would go back and figure all that out though. If you look closely at the loose vintage figures, you can see that I started listing even what accessories were included/missing so I would know what repros or replacements to go back and purchase later. I actually now have a separate spreadsheet for this!

All categories below the "Store" category are physical store-bought. So, the "NECA", "Lego", "Star Wars" categories below the "Store" heading were all bought at a physical store. You may see individual Lego or NECA or Star Wars items under "eBay" or "Amazon" or "Craigslist". That just means it was bought at those secondary market venues.

Additionally, in the eBay Category, you will notice that I started listing multiple items all in one cell divided by "/" symbols. This means I bought them all from the same Seller and got free shipping.
Sometimes you'll also see a string of multiple items listed all in red or all in green but, each in their own individual cells. This means I bought them all from the same Seller but paid a shipping fee. Usually I use this color coded method for multiple loose figures that I won in quick succession in auctions. Wanted to track what price I won each figure at but wanted to make sure the shipping was listed separately in parenthesis.

Please ask me anything that comes to mind and I'll be happy to explain. It's not easy to read my shorthand, so I understand!

[CommandoClone76]

All i'm able to get out from this is spreadsheets, big collections, and calculus... LOL