Dolly Math

How much money have you spent on BJDs all together?

About $3000 on dolls alone, give or take. Once you figure in clothes, wigs, materials for making clothes, etc. it probably comes out to $5000 or more total.

Did you realize until now how much, in total, you have spent on this hobby?

Whenever I'm around my father and have more than one of my dolls in one place, he likes to give them a funny look and ask me "So, how much money is sitting on that table/chair/tree stump/cliff edge right now?" I mean, I might lose track of the finer details or the costs of less expensive items, but I've had some idea of how much the hobby has cost me so it's not much of a surprise when I actually sit down and think about it.

ETA: Well hello there, page 5.

 

It in part is to keep track of what I spend, but it also helps me to know where stuff came from and details like item numbers, who I have done business with, and it gives me a guideline of what to ask for should I want to sell something. I like to give a potential buyer as much information as possible.

 

I've only been in the hobby 6 months and am well over the $2000 milestone, half of which was spent on resin. And this doesn't include the "peripherals" surrounding BJDs -- dolly maintenance materials, a new camera, face-up stuff, etc. I came in knowing that this would be an expensive hobby; so far I haven't regretted any major purchases. (It's the small things that I wind up regretting sometimes!)

It's the way I manage all my money, not just BJD expenditures -- since I've never set a budget (and don't have the discipline to), tracking cash flow down to the cent helps keep me accountable, if only to myself. (Buddi is my best buddy! ) And I also have a spreadsheet specifically for BJDs too, which also helps keep track of what I own, as it's starting to get unmanageable...

 

I just realized I've past the $1000 mark. I uh.... oh dear.
Well I'm not poor as dirt and I pay all my bills so its ok right? RIGHT?!?!

 

How much money have you spent on BJDs all together?
What the hey...
Just the ones I own/have right now: (used calculator to add rough prices just for the dolls when I got them)
$18,150.00
That doesn't count the nearly $3,000 more in dolls that are either on their way here, or on lay away, or just waiting to be shipped.
That also doesn't count the many dolls I've already sold since entering this hobby well over three years ago now.
And that also doesn't count the clothes, eyes, wigs, MSC, pencils, pastels, ALL that miscellaneous STUFF. (I have a huge TUB of clothes, plus a few other containers of clothes, shoes, wigs...)

Did you realize until now how much, in total, you have spent on this hobby?
Oh, I knew it would be up there, but not exact numbers. Plunking down over $1000 for a doll (a few times), takes a bit of introspection and determination.

Now, did I have any idea when I entered this hobby that I would end up spending more than that in total?
Not in a million years.
I've never really liked dolls. And I was only going to get one.

Would I do it again, knowing now that I would spend that much?
Well, only if that knowledge also came with the knowledge of how much joy they would bring me.
Then, I'd do it again in an instant.
You do the math.

 

I don't know how much exactly, and not sure I care to know, but I would guess it is less than $3000 more than $2000. I'll probably go up much higher soon enough, but that's ok with me since I budget for my hobbies.

 

I am on the wrong laptop to access my spreadsheets but I used Excel to inventory and keep track of the items. I never was too interested in keeping track but my husband made me do it and I inventoried only physical dolls, nothing more. My husband has his own collections and like having such lists. Also helped in determining homeowners insurance on all our collectible stuff. I am easily over $20K in just dolls alone. I track doll company, mold, year purchased, amount paid, and extra tidbits that may be helpful like LE or fullset, etc.

 

I don't even want to think about what I've spent on dolls & the various stuff to go with them but I'm absolutely certain that I could have bought a car for that much. Still, I'm not one who puts much stock in cars as long as they get me where I'm going so having the dolls is much more fun.

I do try to keep track of the actual price of each doll but as for the clothes, shoes, wigs & general accesories, I simply don't bother. There's WAY too many of those things to even attempt to keep track of them.

 

So far, on all my dolls and their things/face-ups, I only spent somewhere between $2,300-$2500. Not all that bad considering I have 8 dolls XD

Am I surprised? Not really, in truth, I'm more surprised I didn't spend more! Of course when I started out I was one of those dopes who thought she only needed to buy 1. HA!

 

Nope, not me. From the very beginning I was already planning at least two.

 

No, I always knew I'd have several. I've always been a doll collector so "just one" isn't a phrase in my vocabulary I'm afraid.

 

This is a fun thread!
Well, recently my boyfriend, who LOVES my dolls by the way, asked me if I could make a rough estimate of what was actually standing grouped next to the tv set (where I keep them so I can always see them ) just out of sheer curiosity.
I never thought of it, so I started counting... and stopped somewhere around $8000...because I suddenly noticed his face.
I thought he was going to scold me like a lil' girl, really I did.
But he just regained posture and said: "Oh well, if they make you happy, dear."

Then I was like

 

What I've spent on dolls is equal to the cost of my camera. Which somehow makes me feel a bit better.

 

Jeez, over the last 3 (almost 4) years since I started this hobby, I think I've spent easily just around $2000. I'd say the bulk of my money went into buying dolls/doll parts. The clothes, eyes. wigs, and accessories probably totaled only about one-fourth of my money spent on BJDs, overall.

 

How much money have you spent on BJDs all together?
About $1800 on the dolls and....a lot more once you figure in wigs/clothes. My guess would be under $2500 in total?

Did you realize until now how much, in total, you have spent on this hobby?
I guess subconsciously I kind of did? I collected Pullips before I got into BJDs, and over the course of that hobby, I owned as many as 30 dolls at one time. Which at a rough estimate of $100 a doll is about $3000. And I knew when I got into BJDs that they were a more expensive hobby, so yeah, I guess on some level I knew how much it all would cost. But the Pullip sales have funded my BJD purchases, so I'm just about breaking even.

It's kind of amazing to me that I've spent that much, especially considering that I didn't get my first BJD until I was in college, and even then I didn't have a job the first year I was here. But I've managed. Whenever I buy a doll, I ask myself: Can I still pay my bills? Will she make me happy? If the answer is yes to both of those, I find a way to work it out

 

About $550 that I've spent on Valentino, clothes and all. But I'm not worried much; This is money I could be spending much more worthless things such as makeup and the likes.
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.
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Also, this is the only hobby I have, so I don't worry much.

 

Right now I only have one, so it's still tolerable, but I did the math for all the dolls I REALLY WANT to have and it came to 5K, including basic accessories. Realistically, it will take years. I only hope the sculpts I REALLY WANT will be still available as years go by.