Has doll collecting stopped you from reaching your potential financially?

I don't think so. I know I make enough to be able to afford this hobby, but since I don't really come from money, I still budget and save up my "fun fund" to make sure that I don't overspend more than the "fun share" just because I can.

Financial security is important to me. It's even more so now that the financial situation isn't the greatest for everybody. I don't think I'd ever be able to bring myself to indulge in a hobby that would harm myself financially.

 

What means full potential ? Save every penny don't do anything about yourself so someone else in your family can spend it on beers , concerts or cigarettes ?
When I made enough money I bought some bjd . Now I minimize the ones I'm going to sell will bring some money back not all of them but some.
I also am buying dolls all my life fashion dolls/toddler like dolls miscelangeous most are selling in 75- 130% of the retail price , as I usually buy my new dolls from stores that are closing and selleverything out or in discount , I got them in a better price than the retail. When I sell something it brought me joy and then even money back , If I die tomorrow the dolls can be sold and make a profit what any other enjoyment can bring back ? When someone spends money on trips or concerts those money will never come back not a penny. I now am not buying any more dolls I prefer treating myself with a nice fancy sweet or some nice quality cider in weekends guess what I like it a lot but it costs more than my fashion doll budget (30euro the month was the doll budget , 45-50euro the month to have pizza nice sweet treats and cider the weekends) do you know what people will get back from this if I die tomorrow 0 nada miden!!! Now imagine if I went to holidays , concerts and stuff .... this is a bjd in 2 months calculate it.
A person needs some entairtainment I have the dolls I already bought back in time , now I have some small joys which because of the prices and economy are not cheap , I am selling some of my dolls for convenience and groom nicely my collection but I am not regret buying something I got used and now can sell if I want and If I don't I can sell 2-5 or whatever years from now when I never broke the bank to get it and got it responsibly.
People who bring this are either completely ingorant of the cost of life versus doll , or believe you spend on dolls on top and not by saving through abstaining partly or completely from other forms of recreational spending , or just want you to live like a homeless person spend on nothing stink starve and save every penny you get or sometimes give it to them so they can spend it "wisely" and by wisely they mean on themselves and their own pleasure.
So short answer no it didn't.

 

There are many reasons I'm not rich and dolls aren't one of them

 

For me my full potential is being able to afford to cover my bills and have money left over for the things I enjoy - one of which happens to be dolls.

Teddy

 

Yeah, I'm in a similar situation. (My cap is a bit bigger than that, but still not enough to save for anything serious.)

What gets me in trouble with my monthly budget is giving too much money to GoFundMe's. I usually do that first, when my monthly paycheck comes, and then I don't have anything left to spend on doll stuff

 

Even if I sold all my dolls and their stuff for the money I bought them for (incl shipping and customs fees), it wouldn't be a substantial-enough of an amount to properly aid any super serious financial goals (I also chose a terrible career path for any kind of financial uh... potential anyway) I'm happy that I have them, even if I could have used the money to invest into something that could make a return or be more practical. Moving stressful amounts of money would make the hobby unfun for me, anyway. I don't have a lot but I also have no debt of any kind and I have some things that bring me joy, I'm pretty happy with that.

 

Lol definitely not. BJDs are expensive in comparison to say, play line dolls, but in terms of rent? Mortgages? Student loans? Heck, groceries for a family of four? Concert tickets? The money I have spent on BJDs would barely be a drop in the bucket. I personally invest money into the stock market. The amount spent on 1 doll would barely earn me any returns. A few dollars at most.

As long as your bills are paid and you can afford food, it's fine to spend money on the things that bring you joy.

 

EVERY hobby impacts you financially unless you're careful! It's never just a focus item, but you end up either buying supplies or storage items, related things like books, instructionals, accessories, or just plain more of the focus items.

 

Yes; I spent most of my summer job earnings on dolls, but I don't mind (I'm a student and I'm being paid for by the school, so I'm not really in financial trouble). Looking at them makes me so happy. My compromise is that this is the first job I've had that pays nicely, so I let myself spend a lot. I'll budget properly as I work through my degree and get better jobs.

 

No. I'm on disability. I have a limit as to what resources I'm allowed to have in the bank anyway. I really have to budget and I almost always buy used stuff, including used dolls, but I do have my little doll collection and I'm pretty happy with that. Dolls are therapy for me. They pay for themselves.

 

If I weren't in the doll hobby, I probably would have a lot more in savings. But really, what is the point of life if you never do anything you enjoy? I don't want to exist just to work and save money. I have no debt, no kids, no pets, no one dependent on me. It's just me and my husband. We have set a weekly "allowance" for fun stuff. As long as I stay within that amount, I can get whatever I want, or save up for something bigger. That keeps me from going overboard and spending all the savings or or going debt for dolls while still allowing me to stay active in the hobby. It's actually helped me budget better, because I used to be so bad with money, living paycheck to paycheck not because of necessity but because I was just so bad at moderating my spending. Wanting to afford anything in the hobby required me to do better!

 

I think if I wasn't buying dolls I'd just be spending the money on something else. I do save money as well, for a rainy day or whatever, but it's nice to have an amount set aside to enjoy and spend on anything I want. Like others have said, what's the point in saving if I'm not enjoying life?

I sometimes go through phases where I'm less interested in the dolls, but then I end up wanting to buy things for other hobbies, like art materials or Lego or yarn or even just nice clothes for myself. There's always going to be something I'm looking forward to spending that money on every month!

I would say dolls are a better investment than most other things I buy anyway. They tend to hold their value pretty well, and there have been times when I have sold off a lot of my collection to help fund life things. I've also managed to make a significant profit on some of the rarer dolls I've owned and sold on.

 

dave ramsey coded thread!
Before the pandemic, sure the money not spent on dolls would go a very long way. Now?! anything that doesnt bring me joy or is totally non-essential (like junk food, scrap booking, knick-knack type junk, buying every little thing at ikea and ross) its out of here. And yes that money goes to what I really enjoy - which is dolls. Thank goodness no one is depending on me. The tight purse strings may be the thing this country needed honestly. less junk.

 

If you have car insurance, health insurance, home owner insurance, within 30 days of payment that money is gone. I just took all that insurance money, l redistributed and bought dolls! Dropped home insurance, health insurance, car insurance to the lowest possible to me, the dolls make me happier then giving my money to the mafia…… lol

Some of the funds went to savings If needed for health, car, home…… I’d rather save my money and spend my money and enjoy my money then give it away for what, in case…… (So no, it made me happier in the end!) I feel it taught me to manage money better!

 

We're still in what I call the "sowing" phase of our lives, as in we're laying the groundwork that we will later "reap" the financial benefits from. At this point in our lives, who we know and where we've lived has had far more influence over our relative financial success than what we buy. My dolls no more prevent us from reaching our "full potential" than my husband's Legos or our kids' toys.

I think the idea of living (or not living) up to your "potential" is a pretty limited and unrealistic way to consider your socioeconomic life outcomes regardless.

 

Hahaha. I think the doll hobby forced me to really think about my finances, work on saving up, work on being more financially savvy, work on upgrading my career to be able to afford dolls, and ultimately forced me to think about buying a house to house my dolls. Obviously, I had a lot of things going for me like being able to recognize that I had the potential to have an addictive personality and to really reign in any chance of impulse buying and stopping any enabling behaviors. And having a boyfriend-now-husband that also was sensible and financially responsible and savvy helped. But after being in the hobby for 20 years, you learn a lot to actually reach your financial potential.

Like, when I first got into the hobby, I just graduated from college and was making barely above minimum wage. I wanted a doll so I had to learn to budget. Budgeting included calculating my monthly expenses versus my monthly income, and figuring out a pattern over time of my usual firm monthly costs (bills, utilities, student loans), inconsistent but necessary costs (food money, gas money), emergency funds (something breaks and needs fixing, medical emergencies), and fun money (gifts for family and friends, eating out, travelling for fun, hobby money, etc). Saving up for a first doll ended up becoming emergency funds as I did a better job of saving up for a doll than even retirement money. Haha.

After getting our first doll and recognizing realistic costs for get more dolls, clothing, wigs, shoes, and accessories, I had to budget the average cost of one whole doll (thinking fullset level whole doll between the $500-$1500 range) and limit myself to saving up for one doll per year or every two years potentially as I had to prioritize other costs in my life. My husband and I would joke in terms of "Man...that's the cost of one or two fullset Volks dolls" (if it was in the few hundred dollar range), "that's the cost of a limited edition doll" ($1000+ range), or "that's the cost of a Grail doll right there" (in excess of $3000 range). Budgeting for a wedding? Cheaper than a Volks Mana doll on the secondhand market (I think one sold for over $30,000 around the time we got married). Saving for a down payment for a house? Cheaper than some of those Volks Charity Auction dolls have gone for.

Now that I'm disabled and unemployed, I still feel those financial habits I learned for budgeting to buy a doll in the early days still help me now. It took years to get here, but I don't think this hobby hurt my financial potential. It actually helped me.

 

Definitely, especially when I had the chance to jump into the stock market and bitcoin before they blew up and opted to buy dolls instead heh. Comparision is the killer of joy however, so I don't dwell on it too much.

 

You can sell them anytime, I do and spend the money in every day needs

 

It's the opposite. Dolls (and the rest of my hobbies) encouraged me to work harder. I'm super proud of my career, and it's always nice to be able to reply with the "You spend that much on a doll?" comments with "Just because it's expensive for you doesn't mean it's expensive for me."

 

I've saved money all of my life and didn't even imagine going on vacation, buying nice things or well, anything. I was pretty much raised that way and I still worry that there will be some huge emergency and we'll end up with nothing. So when I started showing interest in dolls, my husband was really encouraging. He even goes to doll shows with me. I'm still a big penny pincher in every other way. Anyway, I would say it hasn't had much of an impact. But of course, any money spent could have been saved/invested.

No one can predict the future. I had friend die young and I'm grateful that he went on vacations, indulged his interests, collected his favorite things and lived a fun life. I often wish I had a crystal ball and knew what I actually needed.

 

I can't because I'm on disability, but I try to limit the amount of money I get every month when spending it on dolls, layaway helps a lot, I'm not rich and it's hard to drop a lot of money on a doll in one go.

 

Jokes on you, I never had any financial potential in the first place

To be honest, dolls aren't that prohibitevely expensive. Surely there's an investment, but you don't have to buy a million dolls and be a "collector". It's a hobby that can be rewarding even without constant spending.

 

I use to pay on layaway my dolls so I can earn my own money at the same time. In fact I only buy a doll when I aerned at least half of the cost because, sadly, I've lived with just the exact money for the month so I will never commit the mistake of waste money like I did on my 20's.

 

Yes the reality is that especially nowadays one can find sd dolls with less than 350$ new and even 200 in marketplace second hand smaller sizes for even less for God's sake all that when even playline fashion doll prices go higher and higher p.e. a barbie extra may cost 35-40 euro in my country and they are meant for kids if one buys through events or second hand may snug a 1/6 bjd with 120euro including shipping so 3-4barbie extra playline for a kid= a small used bjd it's expensive but not like diamond ring expensive or Gucci expensive people just freaking because they are dolls and adults collect them.

 

Doll collecting is a hobby for me and the hobby budget is the last priority. After bills, savings, investments, and necessities are paid I set aside money for hobbies and entertainment. My doll budget definitely does not affect my financial potential.

 

This is how I handle it as well.

I always thought that the biggest hurdle that kept me from reaching "my potential" was never money to begin with - it was/is my health. It used to make me angry and sad, but I don't look at it that way anymore.
Because in a few decades (could also be tomorrow - you never know), I'll be dead. So I decided to just steadily work on reaching my goals while I do things that make me happy. No stress. All in time. There's no guarantee that I'll ever make it there, anyway.

That said, in the past there were times when collecting dolls (not BJDs at the time) affected my life to a dangerous point.
Spending money over my limits on things that I thought would make me feel better only doubled the stress I had to begin with.
So I learned the hard way that budgeting is one of the most important life skills.

 

Yes it has. I have already spent thousands of dollars which could have gone towards investment for retirement someday, or paying off our house. But it doesn't stop me!

 

Also wanted to explain what I have already shared when I was buying actively I was making a good salary and also saving my savings though was taken in one day from a common account by a person whom I trusted it was more than 10000 in one day,persons I am in familial relations also here and there take away of my current income for their needs anything I sell off from my collection or my jewelry goes to fill those holes. Someday I will have nothing to sell and when this happens I will be nothing to those people that is why I laugh at the cost I am not spending on me or dolls anymore but it never destroyed me the fact I can't have boundaries with people destroys me and I don't think I ll get better on that cause I am a loser by nature.

 

The dolls obviously are not cheap for what they are - entertainment. On the other hand if a once in a while expense of a few hundred to few thousand can wreck the whole financial landscape then the problem is not the dolls. As others already have said there are many socially better accepted hobbies that drain finances much worse.