Going Into Debt For Dolls - are the potential long-term consequences worth it?

I would make sure I have enough cash to pay for the doll or/and doll stuffs before I buy them with cc. I think I"m the rarest one because I pay it off right after the company comfirms the payment...paying at the end of the month is not my way...

 

So I said, and ate my words.

While I didn't put myself into debt, I turned around and bought a volks nasia that put me WAY too uncomfortably tight on things. While I didn't plan to be be out 10 hours of work on week, it happened, and because I spent part of my safety on Brodie, well, I'm still strapped and will be for a few days.

Oh well, good on you guys, I guess? I'll be flooding the market place with cheap goodies the next few days trying to get my safety back up.

 

i use my credit card but theres a limit well maybe? haha

I just spent 430cdn on a doll and i still need a wig, and eyes and the outfit i want (custom) but, some dolls are just too much (one i liked was a luts at 1200us, not that id buy it)

 

So, I've been reading this, and I really could use some advise. There are four dolls I really, really want right now. They are Chung Ryong Lu-Wen, Ivan, Kiril, and Ducan. One of them alone is $1000, and is limited. I fell in love with him the first time I saw him, and the thought of never being able to have him kind of hurts. And there are only seven of him left... The other three I also want, but two of them would have to be bought at the same time.

What I'm really asking is, is it ok to get a credit card in order to pay for these? I'm 20, and this would be my first one. Of course, I'm planning on getting a job first so I can pay the bills if I do get them. I would like to save up normal money, but I'm afraid it will take quite awhile, and the doll I love will be gone by the time I get it.

I'm doing all I can for extra funds: babysitting, selling my blood at plasma centers, etc. It's difficult, though, because I have to pay for a convention for May and it's hotel bill, and I might also be getting an apartment during the summer.

What should I do? TT~TT I want these dolls more than anything right now....

 

Well it depends on who you want first.. some will tell you to get the least expensive one first others will tell you to get the limited.

Since you dont have a job right now you might want to go for the less expensive one just to make sure you can pay him off.

As for the limited you can always tryt o get him on the secondary market later

OR get him first and only and dont buy anything else till he is paid off.

it doesnt work though. I tell myself I wont get another doll till the last one is paid off but opprtunities arise and yo u have to grab them...

(waiting for two dolls to come in )

 

Oh boy. Watch out with those credit cards. They make spending soooo easy (and it could take several years for you to pay it all off.) I'd recommend getting one in case an emergency crops up (and keeping it in a locked box over at your parent's house until it's needed.) I'd recommend buying all luxuries (and dolls ARE luxuries no matter what we might tell ourselves ^_^) with cash, no matter how long it takes to save up. You'll be happier in the long run not using credit for this kind of thing.

 

In my honest opinion, don't risk ever getting in debt over things like dolls. You can't tell what the future might hold moneywise and you can end up in serious problems. You can live without a doll but living with debt can be incredibly difficult.

 

Going into debt for anything = very bad desision!!!

My philosopy is, if you don't have the money, don't go shopping. Don't buy anything. (With the exception of food, and if you don't have food money... why are you online?) I mean, there are many things I'd love to have, but debt is very very bad! A good idea is to slowly save money, and don't impulse buy. Wait a while to spend money. If it's a lot of money, you should wait a while! If you're spending 300 dollars, you should make sure you're buying something worth that much. Make sure you're not just like "ooooh, pretty! *BUY*"

Use your brain kids. We got 'em for a reason!

 

Prioritize expenses: Skip the conventions & the hotels. That'll be a few hundred bucks right there. If you truly want the doll more than the con, then stay home & save.

Also prioritize dolls: Find out which of the dolls you want will truly never be available again, and which ones are likely to show up for sale later (or will be available elsewhere). Regular-stock dolls will wait for you, but Limiteds wait for nobody.

If you aren't in a position to pay off the entire credit-card bill soon after you get it, then do NOT bother getting a card-- you'll just drive yourself fast & deep into debt, like everyone warns. That "minimum monthly payment" on a credit-card is a clever way of racking up finance-charges every month, until you owe more in fees than you paid for the dolls. If you pay off the bill in 1 or 2 payments, then it's definitely more worthwhile (and is the way credit cards really should be used).

But if you have no job, no living arrangements, and don't know where your money will be coming from, I wouldn't advise buying ANYthing. Haven't you seen the news? That economy sux0rz right now.

 

While I agree with others that going into debt for such luxuries like that of dolls is not a good idea, I also won't say that sometimes the thought of a credit card is very tempting, especially for someone like me who's never had one before. And seeing as I've always been good in the past about having payments in on time for other things, it can get easy to fool myself into thinking that a credit card with hundreds of dollars piled on it would be the same. Ha. Right.

I've never felt the need to want any Limiteds myself, but I do get very paranoid about small companies going under. I don't think I've stopped fully thinking about Kliff ever since I saw that News thread about him from the new company the Little Monica. And while he's not a Limited, I worry myself by noticing that everything else on the site ( although, granted, it's not much ) is already sold out. Also seeing that he's probably the most expensive doll I've ever seriously fallen in love with, it gets disheartening to think about trying to save up for him as I won't have a job until January and the thought of dropping that much cash all at once is kind of scary @_@ Added on that worry when I consider that Musedoll ( who carries my second most pined after doll ) is also a pretty small company that could possibly hold those same risks....well..I certainly sympathize with the plight of those who might consider a credit card as a temporary quick fix.

 

I hate credit cards. I've seen what they have done to people buying pointless crap they could live without and be in thousands of dollars in debt because of it.

So, I'm withholding myself from said credit cards as long as humanly possible.

I only buy dolls when I can afford them. As in, pay right upfront with either cold hard cash or my debit card. On top of that, I only use my tip money I get from my job to do so, since I have student loans to pay off....(1/10 down, 9/10 to go....x.x) Sure, there was the one instance when I was low on cash, just out of school with no job, and I really wanted Sanne, so my friend Sammi (Sammichan-71914) and I went 50/50 and I've been paying her back with my tip money since. (I love her so much. Thankies, Sammi! Expect the rest this Sunday!)

It irks me when people just charge a $700+ doll on a credit card and can't even afford to buy food for themselves. It's like, dude, priorities. Gotta eat before getting a doll.

So, when it comes right down to it...if you can't afford the doll or won't be able to afford it in the future, don't charge it. Save up your money or ask a really good friend of yours if they can go 50/50 with it and pay them back (in cash) ASAP.

 

Yeah I'm so with you on that one!

Well, I'd love to be shocked at the idea of going into debt, but I got into the hobby last year when i was in a bad place at work, and yeah, I spent a little more on my credit card than I should've, cause it just cheered me up at the time.

However I realised it was getting a bit out of hand earlier this year, so I'm now paying it off, and am selling lots of things (not just dollie stuff) so I'll definitely be back in the clear in a few months.

Do I regret buying my dolls? Not one bit. But i know it's time to get real with my money now and clear the debt. Would I sell one of my dolls? If i had no money for food or rent, yes definitely, but it's not that bad for me at the moment, I always make sure there's money in my account for that.

Once my card is clear, I think I'll take AmethystAngel's advice and give it to my parents for safekeeping - they live 30 miles away so my card would be very safe there!! Or maybe i'll just cut it up

 

I am very iffy about credit cards. They're basically a glorified loan sharking service. The only reason they exist is so that banks can make insane sums of money out of the people who rack up interest. There isn't any profit in a customer who pays their bills on time.

Credit cards have their uses, but I'd never use one for dolls. Direct debit works just fine.

 

Credit cards as a means to acquire dolls (or most anything) that you do not have the money for /now/ = bad idea. Take a look at this, for example:

http://www.calculatorweb.com/calculators/creditcardcalc.shtml

This is a credit card calculator which will show you how long it will take you to pay something off making those "minimum monthly payments" (the credit card company's favorite word, because that's how they make their money).

For example, let's say that the Lu-wen is $1200. $1200 at an interest rate of 15% (which is probably on the low side for someone with no previous credit history) with a 3% minimum payment percentage and minimum monthly payments of $10...yields a total of 116 payments over nearly ten years and paying an additional $720 in interest. So you've paid $720 extra for this limited doll, who probably isn't even worth his original purchase price ten years later.

You may want this doll "more than anything right now", but by the time you've paid for it, "right now" will be long passed and leaving only debt behind.

Get a job and figure out what your expenses are first. Prioritize. And be disciplined. It's all worth it.

 

And so we learn to live with pain. Look around you - for instance, children died in China because the schools they were in weren't built properly due to corruption. There is pain all around us - we need to keep our wants in perspective. Wanting something doesn't mean we should have it.

I have been watching the unfolding financial crisis - and it's a big one. It's world wide now - and the money experts who are honest state clearly that it developed because of a greedy banking system and spoiled consumers. The credit culture has come back to bite us big time. Experts such as Suze Orman say what the people need to do is to budget, spend wisely and stop using credit cards. She also says people hate hearing that.

My advice is to watch the news - I prefer BBC myself although I am not British - and tune into to what is happening out there - and your part in the scheme of things. Be informed - be aware. We can still love and support our hobby, but a wider angle is needed - and in the longer run, it's a better way to go through life.

 

I could never go into debt for a doll. I'm one of those people in a "not enough money for food" situation right now, going to college and living off financial aid, and although I really, really want a DOT Sha for my first doll, I just can't afford to buy anything extra right now.

It's very tempting to take out student loans this year so I can have a better quality of life and buy my doll, but it would be a very stupid decision to do so. I'm going to have to wait until I'm able to hold down a job and do well in my classes at the same time to be able to start saving for him, and unfortunately, I'm one of those people who can only really do one thing at a time.

 

Funny, but I think I'm the only one here who's in debt to oneself. o_O

I set a certain price rate of how much I can spend within one month but sometimes I tend to go over that and end up using some from my savings. =_= Which is not really good for someone saving for college and paying part of the house bills.

Is there anybody else who is doing that?? xD;

 

Ahhh, don't feel too bad. You're not the only one. Sometimes I get a little over zealous with my spending as well.

Generally I am able to stop myself from spending way too much though. For instance, instead of buying Loa two $50 dresses, I only buy her one. XD

 

Yah, normally I wouldn't be so overzealous with spending either. D:

But when it's dolls, eh... purchases only being available through the e-net and I can never tell what's what unless it's in my hands, you know?

I was poor from the moment I entered this hobby, haha... (but aren't most of us? lol )