Buying dolls on credit?

I would not buy a doll on credit. Simply because I may have to wait a bit longer is not reason for me to spend money I don't have. Now I must confess to getting dolls when I only just had the cash for it. And then really only just. But I paid them, and I the ones I have not finished paying for are on layaway. And I'm slowly but surely paying for them.

 

You should not be buying things you can't afford, you should have an emergency fund, health insurance (or live in a country with good free health care), life insurance (if you have your own family and mortgage) and be funding your retirement before funding hobbies/ buying toys. Unexpected expenses are always bound to pop up; you can lose your job, need new car tires to drive and keep a job, break a leg and need surgery, fall pregnant and need to start buying baby stuff or an abortion, sudden rent increases, tax audit, etc. anything. If you have real life kids you better have a hefty nest egg before you dream of buying a doll else it's really negligence.

IF YOU ARE AN ADULT WITHOUT THOUSANDS SAVED RELATIVE TO YOUR AGE YOU CANNOT AFFORD DOLLS.

 

Wait, what? Please tell me you're being sarcastic. I'll agree that you should be prepared. You should have some kind of savings in case something happens. But a bus could run over my legs tomorrow. Does that mean I should constantly live in fear? Never spend a dime because something bad might happen to me? I don't know about you, but to me that sounds like a horrible way to live. Unless you've spent your entire life savings on a doll I'd hardly call buying one "negligence".

Life is meant to be lived. Be cautious, but don't let caution rule your life.

And don't forget: even if something bad does happen you can sell the dolls. It's not like you're stuck with them forever.

 

Agreed. And isn't that why we have health insurance, life insurance, home owners insurance, and car insurance anyway, so that when something does happen we're prepared. Having a little extra is always a good thing, because our insurance doesn't always cover everything, or may not be able to get to us in a timely manner. But I personally find that when bad things happen that's when I need my hobbies the most. I'd hate to be laid up in the hospital bed and not have a darn thing to comfort myself with.

 

I don't see anything wrong with using a credit card, but I'd never buy a doll with credit and be unable to pay off the balance in full every month, since that would lead to paying interest. Actually, I'd also never buy a doll unless I had a certain amount of money saved up for emergencies. When I still lived with my parents, I didn't worry about saving money, but now that I have rent/bills/etc every month, it would upset me to spend money I don't have on something both expensive and non-essential. I'm kind of a worrier in general, though.

 

You know, I read Nagamaki's post as being about being prepared, not about living in fear. And to be fair, there are people who talk very openly about selling much loved dolls because they need to pay for car repairs, a new fridge, childcare and other such things, so it's not as though it's a situation that's unheard of here! I took it as a reminder that it's better to plan for all of the above rather than picking one versus the other - and what's so strange about that?

 

I don't like to buy anything on credit, but that's my own personal hang-up. Without going into gory details, when I was young, my mother soured me on doing any layaway purchases, so I've never really been comfortable buying on credit. I've done it for major purchases (car/house), but even then, I pay them down quickly. I'm happy to be at a point in my life where I only have month-to-month bills and no long term debts.

 

Based on the limitted availability of certain dolls. I have opend a CC account just for my doll transactions. I find that this helps me with the automatic insurance and also lets me keep my dolly purchases separate from other spending. Think of it like department store card, many of us have them and they are only good at that stor. Well with my dolly purchases they are insured and I can earn points off buying them even if I have the mioney to pay for them in full. One of my dolls fell and shattered on a phtoto shoot and I was able to recover the total loss amount paid for that doll. For me the peice if mind is worth it. Credit is meant to be used and if used responsibly, the possibilities are endless.

 

I am definitely not be sarcastic. My post was aimed more at adults with children being negligent getting into cc debt. Still someone in their mid 20's today will need about $3mil to retire at 65yo with inflation and it's worrying how many aren't on track. Having savings gives you the power and freedom to live a life. The $600 one might spend on a doll today would have grown to $6000 in 30years in a savings account.

 

There's certainly nothing wrong with one wanting to be prepared, however, you're under the assumption of knowing how people want to live there lives. Meaning not everyone is going to need the same amount of money to live what they would consider comfortable. Some people may not need XXX amount of money, and some people might. And some people may just not care at all. Also not everyone using a cc card to buy these dolls is getting into debt. Often times cc's are the best way to establish ones credit, and many credit cards today come with perks for using them. I would like to think that people are doing what they think is best for them, and any family members they may have. And how they do that is really none of my business.

Not to mention I could be dead in 30 years in which case the 6000 I've got in savings for initially saving that 600 won't do me a darn bit of good. That's not to say I'm against saving. I just think each individual is better qualified to decide how much and when based on their circumstances.

 

The world isn't as black and white as you're making it out to be.

1. My brother and SIL have young kids, and I'm pretty sure they have CC debt. That doesn't mean they can't provide for their children. And they certainly have both a normal savings account and a college savings account.
2. Like Cloudedmind said, not everybody needs the same amount of money in life. Maybe somebody wants to travel the world when they retire, forcing their savings to hit $10mil. Or maybe they want to live under a rock, dropping their savings to $10.
3. Along that same line your definition of "living a life" probably isn't the same as my definition of "living a life". What if I want to live in a cardboard box surrounded by Volks dolls? It's my life.
4. Does this mean you can never get yourself involved with larger debt? You can never own a house or buy a car because you're putting yourself in massive debt?

 

I am in the extremely lucky position that, as we are saving up to pay off something major even earlier than the loan completing time, we do have some spare cash on one side that can be manipulated some. My first doll was bought due to a sale thus the cash was needed and I spent weeks putting a proportion of my weekly "allowance" to one side to pay her back. As it happened, I managed to save £150 towards my second doll, fully expecting to have weeks to pay her off but through sheer good luck, a week later the doll was shipped and is expected to appear tomorrow, fingers crossed.

In the meanwhile, the first doll which I had paid off before it arrived was the wrong doll sent so, luckily my supplier refunded me and I have used the money from that purchase to mostly pay off the second (now first) doll and start again with another, third (now second). Thing is, Cherie my soon-to-arrive doll was to have a large chunk paid off her at Xmas and she would have gone on one side until then, now the new doll will fulfill that role with perhaps completion of payment in the new year.

In the meanwhile, I have been selling a mere trifle of my prodigious yarn stash which will swell the paybacks some more so my yaaay! moment is selling yarn and attempting to reclaim one of the back rooms so my new ladies can have appropriate accomodation! Being a mad collector of many crafty things in the past I can also sell them once I get into the swing.

Plan is to be more sensible next year and actually save up, at least I'll have an idea of events etc. and be able to save up towards it. At least being new to the game, I'm not tempted by special editions...yet!

 

Hehe, I am used to hear things like that from non-doll people, when they try to argue that my hobby is silly... Reading it on a doll-forum is new. ^^

The inflation is actually working for the people who buy the dolls. Because the dolls won't lose their value - but the money you save will. The $600 today might only be worth $60 in 30 years. A doll, even more so if limited or discontinued, might be worth at least ten times as much.

I love the idea of living in a cardboard box surrounded by Volks dolls. No, wait, make it Soom dolls. ^^

 

The key words in that last sentence there are "might be" - they might just as easily drop in value. The idea that dolls will never drop gets floated around all the time, but it's just not true. There are no guarantees in the collectibles game!

Given that Nagamaki specified people with children, it's not just your life anymore at that point. Hyperbole aside, I think most people believe it's better not to raise your children on the street if you can avoid it, y'know?

I totally agree with you that it's not our business at an individual level, but if people bring it up in discussion (or take it to an extreme wherein it effects their dependants) then it's worth talking about. And in the specific post you quoted, Nagamaki specifically referred to cc debt, not cc use in general, and since those are two separate issues it doesn't seem like an extreme position at all.

I'm a little baffled that what reads to me as "spend less than you earn, avoid consumer debt" seems like such an extreme position to so many people! That just looks like the basic rules of personal finance from here.

 

I believe that this statement isn't neccesarily unreasonable, yet the matter of which it is said sounds O_o a bit to extremist to me, especially with all the capitals and the word selection... instead of sounding like an opinion it sounds like an order and most people don't like to be given orders.

That said yes, it is not wise to spend more than you earn, and I am extremely afraid of debt so I prefer to save up money then purchase a doll, clothes, etc; just because for me it seems the most practical.

 

I have no problem with the idea of spend less then you earn to avoid personal debt if that's what someone so chooses to do. I however, do think it's a little silly to tell someone that they clearly can't afford dolls if they don't have some imaginary sum of money saved up, even if this person isn't in debt, and has the spare change, and their families aren't wanting for anything.

 

It certainly didn't read that way to me, but more along the lines of "If you don't save and invest every cent you earn that does not go towards keeping you alive, you are foolish and shouldn't own dolls, or anything else that makes you happy." And while that might be fine for that person, it's not a life I would want to live. Why bother living at all if you can't enjoy it?

 

Amen to that.

I have bought two dolls at this point with my credit card, and then I turned right around and made payments on both of them. I still have more to pay off, but I can do that within a paycheck or two. I don't see the problem with using credit to get something like this, provided you can pay it off. People get so uptight about credit, but it's really not that bad as long as you are responsible enough to keep up on your payments.

 

But they (sorry, don't know if they're he or she) actually said "savings before dolls" and not "savings=everything" and even specified that they were talking people with kids, so I'm still not getting the negativity towards the sentiment. If they'd said "don't buy a doll, build the biggest possible emergency fund" then I'd understand the eyerolls, but they didn't. And "build an emergency fund, then buy a doll" doesn't sound in any way like "live a miserable life" to me - I just don't seen the connection between that and being a miserable miser.

It's all about balance, no?

 

I think part of the issue is all the "you shoulding" going on in the post. Even just putting it as "I think that people shouldn't do x" isn't going to ruffle as many feathers.

And it really isn't that black and white. There are people with kids who are managing to balance *gasp* cc debt, savings, retirement savings, education funds, and even have hobbies. That's far from negligent. And I've never heard even once of somebody in BJDs letting their kid go hungry or without clothes because they have too much doll-related cc debt, so I think it really is just hyperbole. Honestly, there are people who make dollie purchases on credit card even when they probably shouldn't and their family does not promptly keel over from starvation.