Discovering the Price...

I've gotten a few of those "you're spoiled" comments from even my own friends, as two of my dolls were gifts and the third I paid for on my own by selling things.
Even in they ARE joking its a bit hurtful. Right now I just have the extra money to be able to get them, and I damn well WILL get them if I want them. I've become a lot more hesistant with buying things as of late though because of it.

 

*grins* It usually comes down to my money, my bills are currently paid, stuff it ^^;

Thankfully most of my friends are understanding and I don't talk about the price of my dolls around most of my relatives *shrugs*

 

I tend to just not tell anyone about how much my boy cost, no-one knows except my dad, my 2 best friends and younger sister (who's now also saving up for one) people always tend to judge me on something, and I know that if I would tell them, they would probably say that I could have saved it up for later or something like that, even though I'm already saving up money every month, next to saving up for my next dolls (which will probably take a while) the only thing a couple of people know is that I'm in search of a job to be able to get some more bjd's ^^ and I'm not even thinking about telling them anything more.

 

To those on the board either too sick or disabled to work: My heart goes out to you. I feel your pain. I have Cerebral Palsy, I look disabled. I've been jobless for the last four years (bar unpaid positions) purely b/c of nasty employers.

I can't afford BJDs at this moment. I know I can't.

It doesn't stop people pointing it out though.
I have it all planned out in my head, all the pieces I desire, the doll I desire... and I've already started buying things when I have a little left-over money.

I thought about the SD-sized doll and the MSD-sized doll I wanted and mentally agreed with myself that the MSD would be cheaper all round as I plan on adapting the SD to my complete dreams, (so that would, of course suck up money.) So the MSD to be my first purchase and the SD when I'm settled, hopefully working and have more money coming in.

My man sat me down when I first saw the prices of BJDs and told me that maybe I should find ANOTHER interest.
But you know what? Even if I can never afford getting my own BJD. It wouldn't stop me looking at them and thinking they are lovely.

And you know what else? I may not have money but no one can stop me dreaming about how to spend the money I don't have. Because I think if I knew I could never "buy my dreams" I'd go slightly crazy

I would also go slightly crazy if I ranted on anymore LoL

 

Wow, you guys have such negative aquaintances sometimes! Everyone that's ever seen any of my dolls gives me nothing but compliments! (Except those two preps selling makeup at the mall....but they don't count because they don't have souls -_- .) And I'm even prouder to tell them the price (not because I'm trying to say "ha ha, I have more money than you that I can spend on a doll!", but because it shows them that I've worked hard to save up that much money for something that I really wanted)!

Once I tell them the price, all they say is, "Wow, seriously? I'm sure she's worth it then!"

There are doll collectors out there who would pay twice as much for a doll than what they paid for their car...and no one questions them..>_>

People can be such smegheads sometimes. **hugs for everyone**

 

Just recently, one of my best friends pointed out that I still have to save up for a car. And spending that much on a doll, to him, seemed kinda wasteful. And there's still the topic of him wanting me to cosplay. One, I'd rather not drive unless I had to. So not having a car doesn't bother me much. Two, I've wanted one of these for at least six years. But I'm really, really bad with money. So my saving up for one of these does two things really. I get what I want, and I test my resolve on saving up that long to be able to get it. If I can save up, and not spend the money as soon as I get it..I can save up for more expensive things. Like the car and such. >.> And I don't really wanna cosplay til after I get my doll anyway..cause then the doll can join in on the fun.

//edit

Thankfully, Mum's a lil more eased up on the topic. Of course, she's already told me that if she helps me make clothing, she better get half the profits. Still not sure how that happened, to be honest.

 

You know that old saying? With Friends like these, who needs Enemies?

I know they're probably just being really honest, but they could try and be understanding, too. And NICER about it.

If people are being outright mean, I'd try not hang about them and keep hearing all that nastiness.

As long as you aren't spending yourself into thousands of dollars of debt that you don't have much hope of ever getting out of... and really being destructive to yourself--- your money is your money (or your gifts) and you can do what you like with it.

I don't know what it is with some people who seem to really want to tell others what to do all the time!

These dolls ARE very expensive. But as others have said, people spend lots of money on all kinds of odd things.

 

Everyone thinks I'm crazy. Especially when i think 20 bucks for a shirt is way too much, and i go shop in the guys section for cheaper clothes. But, then i go and spend 35 bucks on a pair of doll shoes, which i think are totally worth it, and i can't even wear them, yup, they think I'm crazy.

 

i bring my doll to school sometimes, and it being an msd, my ears still get blasted to the other side of the world
i simply smile and nod o_o
no.. seriously.. i do
unless the comment is really rude towards my boy.. then i go crazy on them
if they're lucky, i just spat a few words like "where do you get off yelling at me about getting a $500 doll when you buy $500 purses?"
most common response "my bag is useful! it CARRIES things! your DOLL doesn't"
most unexpected answer "i have a DOLL carrier, bigger than your PURSE and holds MORE, and it was FREE
HAH! my doll is better cause it's $500 + free bag; yours is just a $500 purse, where's YOUR free item?!"

sorry for the overshare.. it's just amusing
don't do that to your friends though o_o

 

Today my brother was giving me crap because he's the only one in my family I've told about my doll so far and I told him how much they cost. He started with the regular "You spent that much money on a DOLL? You seriously did?" so I went into "I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't drive, I rarely go out, I pay my rent, its my money I'll do with it what I want" spiel. But he wouldn't hear it.

But seeing as he's 17 years old, barely able to hang onto his grades in highschool, and still getting allowance because he refuses to get a job (I work fulltime, do twice or more chores than him, and get no moneys from the PUs) I can understand that he has no concept of truly working for something you love, so I ignore him for the most part. (and yes, I live with my parents still and pay $300 a month for rent essentially...)

My friends all think I'm insane but want one too (and unfortunately I'm the only one not in college and so the only one who can afford one right now ^^; )

 

Aha, well, alas, I'm a very impulsive spender. I never spend so much that I financially cripple myself, but I always think in terms of "Well, if I CAN afford it, why shouldn't I buy it?". This actually makes me the one out of all my friends who spends the most on anything. I spend a lot on anime DVDs, manga and video games, I'm willing to spend $500 on a doll, I bought an Apple laptop (although that purchase DID get delayed because of my doll. ^^; ), I eat out a lot, won't hesitate to see a movie at the theater (more than once sometimes) and will often buy a lot of useless nicknacks. There are times when I wonder how in the world I still manage to save up for both college and put some money in my doll fund every pay. Working full time helps (both in the sense that I have a good pay, and less TIME to spend it), I suppose, but I have no way of comparing my spending habbits to my friends'.

Probably the only thing I can still pick on them about is how much they pay every month for their subscriptions to MMORPGs. You won't catch me paying $30 every month for Everquest or World of Warcraft. I like my nice, free-online-play Guild Wars, thankyouverymuch.

 

mine already knew I was crazy, but most of them are obsessive collectors and admit that at least I play with my collection so it is not that bad

 

I guess I'm fortunate in that I have really accepting friends and family. Oo; The ones who do know the price have either already considered getting their own or just chuckle and write off the price as another one of my whims. My mother doesn't much care for the prices, but I'm an adult now, and I've always been a penny-pincher so she knows I wouldn't just blow the money. I think she also feels bad because we've never been very well-off, and she wants me to have dolls because she knows they make me happy. ^____^ My boyfriend was a little uncomfortable with the price of dolls at first (Once I sat Aidri on his shoulder and he said "Could you take him off? I feel a little uncomfortable with 500 dollars worth of plastic perched precariously next to my head." XD) but now he actually wants a Cyber Bohemian Shiwoo. Hey, if I'm gonna get him into dolls, I may as well get him in on the expensive end.

The few people who HAVE reamed me for my doll hobby did so without even knowing the price, which just means they were jackasses to begin with.. Now that I think about it, I don't really talk to any of those people anymore.

 

I have fibromyalgia too, as well as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), hypoglycemia, and severe allergies and asthma. Because of the MCS I can't even take medication for any of it, I just try using food and herbal supplements as medicine. So I can totally sympathize with you and Ashbet. Maybe we should make our own club - BJD collectors with Auto-immune disorders! hehe

 

It's always helpful to find people that understand. Some people (including doctors) don't believe about fibro. The Lupus is still such a mystery. So I think anything that relaxes you (like these wonderful dolls!) is very helpful. I find myself talking to Izzy! And you know what?...That is just fine!!

I might even incorporate my disease into Izzy's personality. Like people that have their dolls wear glasses, dolls can also have a disability. What do you think? I have done a couple of photostories on Izzy lately, one today.

Alicia...this ws a great thread you started! Thanks!

 

My non-collecting friends have hobbies that are just as pricey (game collecting, or multiple online game accounts), or in one case, knits, and is willingly paying me to babysit her kids in knit clothes! She laughs at me for wanting it done that way, but I've always been a weird one to her, so this doll thing is just another quirk.

I'm proud of how much I paid for my Miki. Her clothes may be on the cheap side but actually getting the physical doll was an achievement for me, and my friends know that and don't tease or go insane ^^

Besides, how I get the money is really random. Christmas money and tips from my newspaper route customers paid for Miki, and my income tax is going to pay for Minuet. I pay my father $400 rent and live at home, which helps us keep the house and pay for the basic bills (including house taxes, if he stows it away at all -_-), I have a newspaper route for 'spending money' and VERY random shifts at work otherwise to save for rent payment, and if I want to spend birthday/Christmas/GST cheques/income tax on doll things, video games, or figurines, then I will, just like I've always done. Besides, my father collects anime figurines and die-cast cars, so he very well knows expensive hobbies ($50-100 a car x 200, hello expensive).

 

Un, I haven't told very many of my friends, but one of them I have told... he looked at me like I was nuts for spending all that money, but he said "It's your money, and if it's something you enjoy then it doesn't matter."; He's used to my weird habits.

But we were chatting in a cafe, after I had ordered Scara, and a few things came up that sort of put thinks into perspective for me to - because I feel that it is a lot of money, having spent the last year living on an absolute shoestring in order to balance my lack of work, my boss going bankcrupt, and my evil evil addiction to going to livehouses. My friend asked me "How many times did you go to see your favourite band last year?", and after counting it up, it totalled at 15 (I averaged out my gig-habits and it totalled at at least 1 a week, with a few extras here and there); so he asked me how much that cost... so that's Y2500 - 3000 x 15, plus travelling cost, plus CDs and merch... So really; that's about the same amount of money, and all I've bought since I came back from Japan has been a shirt and a pair of trousers. XD In 6 months. XD So yeah.... I felt justified after that, and I think he could understand a little more too.

I don't smoke, I don't drive, I work pretty much all the hours god sends (about 47 a week, I think); so if any of my friends want to challenge me about it... Well, I earnt every penny of him, and I'll do what I like

... Although... I haven't told my best friend .__.; I won't hide him from her; but I know she will absolutely let loose at me, and I really can't be bothered to deal with it. (But, I think its partly because she's a little jealous, but our situations are very different these days anyway.)

 

I think that's a great idea! I find that, even though I don't have my doll yet, her personality is already more and more like mine. In a way, I think it would be kind of cool if she shared my health problems too, then she'd understand me better! Oh, and don't feel bad about talking to your dolls, I talk to them too. I also talk to animals, plants and bugs... hehe But I think, hey, they're all God's creatures, so why not?

Yeah, the majority of my extended family (aunts & uncles and such) don't believe me when I tell them I have fibro. They treat it like I just have the sniffles from allergies or something and I'm just being wussy about it. It's gotten to the point where I don't even want to talk to them anymore. I love them all, but I just can't deal with the stress.

 

Ha. One of my male friends once told me that my doll wasn't worth it unless she both a) played MP3s and b) had life-like sexual orifices. I grinned real happy and told him that I was actually planning on modifying her to be compatible with both of his conditions -- at which point he started looking scared.

But yes. Every time someone tells me that I'm being ridiculous, I just look them in the eye and list off a bunch of things I COULD be doing.

DAD: You really shouldn't spend that much on your doll.
ME: Alternately I could try heroin.
DAD: ..... so how about that new doll you want...

 

I've had friends who are boggled by how much my boy costs but everytime I explained how I worked and saved for him, how it's a hobby that I really like, how he makes me happy, they usually keep quiet after that. Also, I pointed out that my laptop costs more than Ciaran, which I paid for myself as well. And that I bought several things for myself with my own money and gifts for my parents as well. It's hard for them to find fault after that.

I think you've to tell your friends that you've earned the doll and everyone has different taste. You think it's worth spending on dolls, others think the money is better spent on cars, expensive meals, cigarettes, alcohol, technology stuff. Even if you didn't earn the money, even if your parents bought the dolls for you, it's nothing to be ashamed of. Never let others belittle what makes you happy. Of course, we've to be practical in knowing where's our limits financially, but if it's within our bounds and it keeps us happy, then why not?