Money, money, money...

[vhal_x]

I'm just wondering if I'm the only one here who does this...

I have a money plan. For every month of the year.
I put income at the start of the month, and then subtract rent, bills, stuff for my son and food shopping, then do everything I can to see how many CE's I can fit in with the remainder of our money.

It can get quite frustrating, especially when it's a month that's looking to be pretty tight anyway, and there's so much you want to buy.

I often fuck myself up, looooong before the month has even begun, by planning to buy so much, that I'm left wondering if I can jiggle it about to somehow manage it.

It is a fully fledged addiction, and I thrive in it. My mind is always boggling away, trying to find new CE's to buy, or new sites to browse.

It was always my boyfriend who was the addicted one, but he has taken a back seat now, and my mind never turns of CE mode.

I'm only 19 right now, so have many years of collecting ahead of me, and for all the other things I've collected in the past, only to get bored of after a few months, this, is definitely not one of them. I can see this addiction lasting until I die :haha:

I wish I had been more sensible with money at the beginning of last year, saving for the last 6 months of 2011, so that would have helped to cover the cost of a lot of CE's, but of course, I wasn't collecting until March (whereas before I'd only helped my boyfriend find editions) but roughly in June I think, the addiction took hold.

Next year, I have the plan of every month, myself and my boyfriend are going to do our best to save £200 every month, so that by June, if we haven't dipped into it for anything, we'll have £1200 to spend on CE's in the second half of the year. It'll be hard, but will be, oh, so, worth it.

I wish that a list of upcoming CE's would be published at the end of every year, for the following years CE's, but so many aren't even announced until like 2/3 months prior to release.

Sorry I've rambled, I just had to kinda rant at myself and see if anybody else does these things :haha: xx

[john385]

first of all, DON'T take this personally, I don't know who you are or what you do...BUT, I've seen your gaming collection and your post number and activity.

From what I've seen, you're a mother of 19 with a boyfriend.

I don't know what job you have, but from what I've seen, you're shelling out a A TON of money for Limited/Collector's Editions on various games.

If you can manage to buy all of that and still have a comfortable life, then great! Good luck! But, if you're buying CE's somewhat obsessively and, I'll be frank, it seems like you do, then I don't know what to say.
Your money (or lack thereof), your call.

A friendly, human advice: you DON'T have to buy everything. You don't need Limited, Epic and Console edition of Gears 3 for example.

I've been on this forum a while because I occasionally buy some LE/CE and want to see what other people have, but when I've seen some collections...I can't help to think that some people are just swimming in money (considering how much all of this stuff costs) or they've become OCD about this collecting that they've "lost" the big picture ("I need to buy this or that LE/CE, who cares if I've maxed out my credit card").

Again, I meant no disrespect, we're just talking.

Regards,

- John

[vhal_x]

first of all, DON'T take this personally, I don't know who you are or what you do...BUT, I've seen your gaming collection and your post number and activity.

From what I've seen, you're a mother of 19 with a boyfriend.

I don't know what job you have, but from what I've seen, you're shelling out a A TON of money for Limited/Collector's Editions on various games.

If you can manage to buy all of that and still have a comfortable life, then great! Good luck! But, if you're buying CE's somewhat obsessively and, I'll be frank, it seems like you do, then I don't know what to say.
Your money (or lack thereof), your call.

A friendly, human advice: you DON'T have to buy everything. You don't need Limited, Epic and Console edition of Gears 3 for example.

I've been on this forum a while because I occasionally buy some LE/CE and want to see what other people have, but when I've seen some collections...I can't help to think that some people are just swimming in money (considering how much all of this stuff costs) or they've become OCD about this collecting that they've "lost" the big picture ("I need to buy this or that LE/CE, who cares if I've maxed out my credit card").

Again, I meant no disrespect, we're just talking.

Regards,

- John


No disrespect taken, the thread was more a lighthearted review on my collecting, with a hint of ranting in it, sorry if it didn't come off as such :haha:

Believe me, I'm not swimming in money (don't get me wrong, I wish I was!), I just try and get as many of the CE's I'm interested in as possible. I'd never max out my credit card on CE's, matter of fact, I don't even own a credit card (which is definitely a good thing).

I'd hate to get myself into debt over something I love, as the debt would mount, causing my love for collecting to decrease, so it is definitely not something I'd do.

We don't have any outgoings each month other than rent, bills and shopping for ourselves and our son. We have no credit cards to pay off and no debt (other than me owing my mother some money :haha:)

My post count is very high, considering I've only been a member here since June, it's because I love to talk about collecting and discuss different aspects, etc. Now, again, don't get me wrong, I am a member of a baby forum aswell, and have been for over a year, and my post count is less than my post count on here, that by no means at all, doesn't mean I love collecting more than my son :haha: it's just I feel I have more in common on here, and collecting can be almost an anonymous hobby/thing to discuss, whereas I don't really feel comfortable talking about my son on a public forum (especially since there is a lot of fakes on the baby forum trying to steal photos, etc).

Also, most of my collection is not recent purchases, a lot of it is from over a year ago, when it was only my boyfriend who was a collector (and when we had more money to spend as our son hadn't been born yet). The more recent purchases are from saving money each month, and a tonne of them have been nabbed for awesome bargains on eBay (lots of my DVD/BluRay CE's have cost less than a tenner :beach:

I don't own all of the CE's from any series yet, or at least, I don't think I do, and as much as I'd love to own every CE, I know it is just not possible :bunny: And I preorder pretty much everything so as I can secure a copy if I have the money nearer the time, if not, I just cancel it, with the hopes of it either dropping in price or just waiting until I'm better off and picking it up much further down the line :)

Sorry for going on and on, I just felt the need to explain, as I don't want people getting the wrong idea, thinking I am drowning in debt, as I'm not :D xx

[twistedsymphony]

first of all I moved this to the Collecting Chat forum... as, if you read the forum descriptions, "Off Topic" is explicitly for topics that explicitly have nothing to do with collecting. ;)


I have a degree and a well paying job, and while I'm not rich by any stretch of the imagination my income and supporting my hobby isn't something I typically stress about.

-----------

Basically I have 3 bank accounts.
1. a checking account that my wife and I share, we use this account to pay bills
2. a personal savings account
3. a personal checking account

my paycheck is automatically split and deposited into these three accounts.

My wife and I determined how much we should split the monthly bills, and I have the proper amount deposited into the joint checking directly from my paycheck every month with a small buffer to account for fluctuation.

I have a portion of my paycheck automatically deposited into my savings account every month, and the remainder is deposited into my personal checking, and that is my spending account.

All of my bills are automatically paid by the joint checking, so as long as I show up for work I'm confident that my bills are getting paid. I get email notifications whenever a bill is paid and I usually just glance at it to make sure it's what I expect give or take a few $$ (not really necessary for the cell, or cable bill, but services like electricity can fluctuate month to month.) 9 times out of 10 my "buffer" is big enough to account for fluctuation. I review the auto-deposit one a year to account for mortgage and insurance rate changes but for the last few years I haven't had to make any changes.

Stuff like fuel for my car, money for food, etc. I pay out of my personal spending account.

Most people seem puzzled that my wife and I don't share savings and personal spending accounts but we both like the situation. She is free to go shopping/get manicures/etc as much as she likes because it comes out of her own account, and I'm free to buy tools/car parts/and CEs as much as I like because it comes out of my own account. When we want to make a big purchase like new furniture or home repair we discuss it and split the costs paying out of our savings.

Overall this offers pretty much ZERO stress over money, because I could potentially drain my personal checking and not have to worry about bills getting paid (I don't, but I theoretically COULD), not to mention the separation of accounts between my wife and I means that neither of us have to ask approval of the other if we want to buy something for ourselves nor do we ever have any arguments over money or spending habits.

I have a credit card but I don't use it unless I have to (certain things like renting a car require it).

I personally like the 3-account system I have setup and I highly recommend it for easily managing your funds and keeping stress over money low.

[vhal_x]

Strangely, I have three accounts :haha: but for some reason wasn't allowed a card for 2 of the three of them (although when I asked for a card on those two I was under 18, so that may be why).

I think I may take your advice TS, it sounds very clever, and would make life much simpler for me, although - I'll have to wait until after Christmas as all my preorders are on the one card right now and I don't want to edit my billing information for every single one, so I shall definitely use your method once the year is over.

And thanks for moving the thread, I didn't actually mean to post it in there (think I was reading another thread in there prior to posting), so thanks :) will try and remember which section I'm in before posting a new thread from now on :haha: xx

[Ryu Kazama]

My instant thought was for you to ease up on buying CE's and saving that money/investing it for your son's future (games aren't a great investment).

But yes, I save whatever I can for games, comics, figures etc. What others use on tons of clothes, drinking etc, I use on games.

[vhal_x]

I also save for his future (he has his own bank account which money goes into every month, forgot to add that as it does it anyway). And both myself and my boyfriend pay money into it, as does his grandparents and great-grandparents, so he is by no means going to have no future :haha:

Yeah I spend very little on clothes (whereas I used to be a label hound, always in Gucci, etc) but buying designer clothes no longer interests me, my interests have swayed right over to gaming/collecting, whereas before I was wanting to become a fashion designer, but had an interest in gaming, but not collecting, but now I'm not as into fashion, despite getting A's in all my fashion classes at school, and I want to do something in the world of gaming, it's just breaking into it that's my problem.

Especially since Rockstar North turned me down :/ xx

[lhurgoyf]

Working in the gaming industry is a horrible idea if you want to be able to afford all these collector's editions ;)

It seems people like to save up for games, but I also hope you all are saving for your own futures-- emergency funds, retirement funds, etc.

[vhal_x]

Haha, of course, I've got a savings account but I never touch it, purely because if I do, there'll be no stopping me :haha:!

But if I work in a big enough company, hopefully I'll get some CE's for free :haha:! Just kidding, nah, I'd love to work in the gaming industry, purely as I have such passion for it, but if I don't get into the gaming industry, I'd like to get back into teaching, as I was doing a course in University for teaching just before I fell pregnant with my son, and stupidly quit, when I should have stuck to it. I know teaching isn't the highest paying occupation, but I love it.

Despite being 19, I've taught for a good while in a few primaries in my area as a teaching assisstant (part of the course I was on) and also taught for a week in my own high school (so f*cking intimidating I tell ya! Especially since I'm only 5foot and most of the pupils were nearly 6foot!) so yeah, either gaming or teaching, either one and I'm happy :) xx

[twistedsymphony]

as someone who works as a programmer... I'm sure I would love working on video games, but with all the horror stories I hear from people I know in the industry I would think it's not worth it.

Most of them make less than I do, work longer hours, with fewer benefits, and have horrible turn over rates (ie: they lay-off most of the work force and rehire nearly every year). Not to mention I get the impression that it completely kills whatever joy they get from actually playing most games.

I'm much happier in a someone less interesting but much much more stable job where i can still enjoy my hobby.

[vhal_x]

Is it really that bad? Wow, yeah I was worried about that whole "losing the buzz of gaming" thing from working with the games 24/7, but other than that, I hadn't realised how bad it was, maybe I'll stick to teaching :haha: xx

[lhurgoyf]

I went to school near where Epic game's studio is. We had an interesting talk one day by the CEO of Epic. One of the words of warning he had for people aspiring to get into the gaming industry is that if you have any reservations about working a 100 hour week for minimum wage then do not bother. Upward mobility in the gaming industry is very hard and is more about who you know than your actual skill sets.

[twistedsymphony]

The thing is, it's one of those jobs where they essentially have people lining up outside the door who want positions... so it's easy for them to overwork and underpay their employees because if anyone doesn't like it and leaves, they have dozens of people waiting in the wings to fill the position.

It's not uncommon that in the last 4-6 months before a game's release they have "crunch time" where they bring in cots and expect people to pretty much sleep in the cubical so they can work super-long days, 7 days a week. and where most employees are salary they don't get paid overtime. (in the programming world there is a common saying: "overtime is free!").

Also I've heard that some developer houses hold getting your name in the credits over people's heads with options like "well we can give you that bonus, or if you forgo the bonus we'll put your name in the credits" basically forcing you to chose between getting credit for your work or getting paid appropriately.

I would recommend you read the legal documentation about West's and Zampella's Law suit against Activision, they pretty much spilled their guts about all the ridiculously abusive and unfair employment practices that they use.

It's also important to note that Activision was FOUNDED by a group of game developers who left Atari because they wanted to form a company that treated it's developers with respect :lol:

[vhal_x]

Bloody hell that's given me a lot to think about, I think I will DEFINITELY stay with teachin :haha: that all seems so ridiculously unfair, I feel pretty thankful now that Rockstar turned me down :haha: !!! xx

[twistedsymphony]

I doubt it's the same everywhere, I don't know much about rockstar but I have more faith in them seeing as they broke ties with the Studio behind LA Noire after they discovered how they treated their employees. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-07-05-rockstars-disdain-for-la-noire-dev

Without a doubt though, it's a job where you get paid substantially less for the work you do simply because it's a job a very large number of people want to have.

EDIT: This is the Activision Lawsuit if you're interested in reading it: http://kotaku.com/5788193/west-and-zampella-vs-activision-cross+complaint/gallery/1

keep in mind that West and Zampella aren't just two programmers, they're the two guys who created Call of Duty, they're a level of developer up there with Cliffy B, Miyamoto, Kojima, etc. maybe not as great, but certainly the same pay-grade and corporate position.

[gu8]

im pretty new here, the way i see it is this

if your not harming anybody, getting into debt/trouble etc, then why not???

you only get one go in this life and when its gone its gone, do what you think is best, wether thats buying £4000+ fortune hunter editions or spending it on other shite. if it makes you happy then go for it

i personally like to save my money but we all have a vice, collectors editions can be pretty expensive but so can daft shite like ciggarettes

yes i am a ex smoker, yes i have been saving my fag money for the last 2.5 years £70 per week and yes i bought a car for £5000 cash but thats my choice

now weres that fortune hunter....... lol even im not that daft

[Onyxia]

I do something rather similar. I have a budget and video games are part of it (CE or not, though let's face it, CE are more expensive, haha). I have a calendar with all release dates. If I don't spend much in one month, I save it for the next. I keep track of all the money spent in a little book so I make sure not to go over it. Of course, sometimes I do, but I try to spend less on clothes and such to make it up for it. Games and clothes are not my priorities, obviously, though I think it's fine to spoil yourself now and then (as long as you're within your budget). I know it makes me happy. Doesn't have to be a CE, though those do make my day (or even week/month).

vhal, I wish you good luck with teaching if you go back to it! :D I think if you love it, that's what matters. It doesn't have to pay THAT much. If it makes you happy, it's a good start! AND it helps you buy CE so it makes you even more happy, hehe.

[vhal_x]

Yeah, it's always within my budget, I just try to make the most of it as I can :haha:

Thank you, yeah I think I'm gonna try and get back into teaching as I loved it, and as a teacher, you never stop learning yourself, and I don't know if this makes me strange, but I love to learn.

I randomly just buy higher biology (or any other subject) books and read through them to learn the stuff (granted, I did take Higher Biology in school but that was the class I unfortunately refused to pay attention so I failed, despite the fact I love science :S :haha:) xx

[Gemini-Phoenix]

I keep a physical notepad beside my desk containing a list of all the pre-orders I have made, so I always know what I have to reserve cash for that month, and can cross them off as and when I get them. It's a simple process, but seems to work for me

[vhal_x]

I have a word document of all my preorders, well, a Notes document since I'm a MacBook user, (although I much prefer MS Word!) and yeah, I colour things orange once paid for/received. It's not so much the preorders that make me want to jiggle my money around, but all you guys selling things I want at the times I'm skint :haha: xx

[Queen of Mudcrabs]

I am a jobless student that still ives with her parents. I don't have any student loans or scholarships yet and my only income is the 500 NOK that is my monthly allowance. 500 NOK is about 85 dollars/63 EURO/55 GBP.
I really miss my hometown up north. I had two jobs and a total monthly income of about 350 dollars. Those were the days... *Sigh*

Even though I love collecting CEs I got to be very picky about what I buy because of my budget. If I am going to buy a CE it has to be a game that fulfills my criterias.

1. Comes from a franchise that I love. Examples: The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Assassin's Creed, Thief (although that franchise never had a CE :P), Splinter Cell and The Longest Journey.

2. I get my money's worth. Soundtrack stuck on a bonus dvd? 'Exclusive' developer diaries that have already been posted on youtube months before the game is released? No paper manual? Cheap packaging? No thank you :)

3. The price is right. Not to be confused with 2. Sure, the CE can include all the standard stuff, a fullscale replica of an in-game weapon, a duster and a real gold pendant but if the pricetag is way above my budget and will leave me skint for the rest of the year I will have to pass on that.

4. Don't blend in with the crowd. I want my CEs to come with something truly unique that you can't find anywhere else. I want a fullscale (and high quality) replica of an in-game item. Perfect examples are the platinum chip (FO: New Vegas), The Alan Wake Files (Alan Wake), the Codex (AC: Brotherhood) and the dice, coins and letter (The Witcher 2).


How does CE collecting affect other stuff? My parents are really nice and will often invest in my crafting hobbies and pay for my clothes. Not that I do too much shopping anyway :P I don't buy designer clothes, expensive makeup, handbags and other girly stuff so future boyfriends don't have to worry about that ^^

I guess the only major impact on my other purchases are the games I buy that are only standard editions. I haven't bought a new release in months though so that haven't been much of a problem. I tend to buy mostly used games and I am also pretty picky about the games I buy if the prize is above 15 bucks. If I am interested in a game but I don't want to pay for it I just watch playthroughs on youtube or illegally download it.

Nah, just kidding. I don't watch playthroughs on youtube. How silly is that? :haha: ;)

And just a little off topic: Am I the only one who just loves this smiley? -> :haha:

[Anjelaoni]

I am a jobless student

What do you study? *Curiosity kills the cat* :D

[Queen of Mudcrabs]

I am studying game design, though the first year is a lot of general IT knowledge. I'll get a batchelors degree out of it and it will take three years to finish.

[AJLareneg]

My budget fluxuates, really. Well, other than my steady game budget that I use to buy titles releasing. I take $20 out of my bi-weekly paychecks (so $10 a week) and put it into my "game fund" and any domestic releases come out of that..if I don't have enough, I don't get the game! This includes locally released CEs (like Uncharted 3, inFamous 2/etc)

For my online budget, I fill my paypal by selling items or doing commission work for people. If my paypal doesn't have money in it, I can't get the thing.

sometimes my paypal functions as an emergency reservoir fund as well, even though my entire paycheck (other than the $20 i take out) goes into my savings, bills and stuff come up surprisingly sometimes. but then I just have to work harder to get money back in there. :b