How do you restrain yourself from buying everything on your wish list?

If you’re looking for financial responsibility, try looking at setting aside a specific amount per month that you are willing to spend on or set aside for hobbies. You can also look at investing a portion of your income for that apartment

I’ve also heard of people having separate accounts for savings and hobbies. Having less of your income at your disposal might force you to really pick and choose what to get.

I also agree with sitting on items for several days to decide if its an item you actually want. I’ve been tempted many times by beautiful BJD furniture and DIY tutorials despite knowing I do not want to build a BJD room or display.

 

I have very strict policies when it comes to buying, both dolls and stuff for them, that keeps me from buying almost anything.
For clothing and stuff, I don't let myself do more than I shopping spree a year, so I keep gathering doll items along the year in a "cart-wishlist". When the time of buying comes, I check the list and discard items that may look like a godd idea in their time but I do no longer want or that have come out of stock and so I reduce the amount of both items and money.

 

I do the cart wish list too! Its sometimes fun looking back at what you once wanted to buy and see how your tastes have changed.

 

When I got my first full time summer job and my Paypal account at the same time, I was overwhelmed by the increase in my income and the sudden freedom to shop online. I was still a student living on student grants, so I didn't pay myself for anything else than food (basically my mom bought that too) and suddenly I had a lot of money in use. I too spent about 2000 euros in one month and 1500 the next, but then I realized that I am not saving anything from my salary and that I am never going to be able to get a mortgage at that spending rate.

Nowadays I count what is my expected income for example by the end of this August, then look at my bank account balance and decide on a level that my balance must be on when August ends. Usually I set my goal so that I'll save a bit to my bank account, but also have a bit to use for other things. If something else requires the money, I can't buy doll related things. I have things in my wish list that get pushed back for years as I always want something else more than them, and in the end I don't want all of my wish list things anymore as my tastes change. So my wish list doesn't get longer over time even though I never can buy all of it.

Putting money to shares or funds also makes it harder to spend it impulsively as it is not lying on the bank account just up for grabs. I find a small fund a good place to put savings out of my own reach, as due to some regulations here, I can put it there but taking it back from there would take away my student grants.

 

In my case it’s lack of space... I live in Japan and all my hobbies take “space”, lots of it in fact. I have snowboards everywhere, books and so on. So yeah, I promised myself the next doll will be the last if I don’t get rid of something first.
Also I like the dolls I have sooo much new stuff doesn’t attract me. I always ask myself, “do I like this better than what I have already?”. Usually the answer is no, so I don’t buy.
If I could make things like clothes I would buy material, stay with one and sell the rest. This would also help to make money for more dolls and clothes.

 

Short answer? I haven't.

Longer answer: I haven't... But it's taken me about fifteen years to do. I have a dedicated "fun money" account that all of my hobby-and-fluff spending comes out of, and that account is not infinite. If I can't afford something using what's in there, I hold off buying until I can. That means I've had to have priorities, and that in a lot of cases gratification has not been instant. Since I mostly collect "old school" dolls and what have become harder-to-find sculpts over the years, availability has also been an issue. There are still a few things that I simply haven't found, all money questions aside. I can't buy a Lati Temple Knight K or a Soul Doll Celestyn if no one is selling.

 

I made a savings account specifically for dolls and if I have the money in it for what I want, I can spend it. But it only gets $25 a paycheck autosaved into the account, along with whatever extra money I can spare the day before my next paycheck. So it takes a while to build a decent chunck of change in that account.

 

I don't restrain myself from buying a doll on my wish list.... but it takes a LOT of consideration before a doll makes it onto my wishlist, and at this point my wishlist consists of a few specific dolls that if I see on the secondhand market, I am buying them immediately. They are rare, they are hard to find, and I have been looking for them for years.

I am also in a stable enough financial situation that even if every doll on my wishlist were to go up for sale today, I could buy them all without... too much trouble. My savings would take a hit, and I am trying to save to buy a house, but that's so far away due to the cost of housing in my area that it doesn't really matter.

 

Not enough money.

Hahahaha, I've been collecting for 10 years and my budget hasn't been that wide. This year, I left myself to make more puchases; but I've stop myself even if I have enough money. I don't have any rush to complete the collection, I just enjoy the dolls.

 

I handle it very much the same way you do. I will record my favorite dolls on my list and wait for a year and a half. During this period, I will give up buying most dolls because I lose interest, thus removing them from my wish list. In the end, I often choose to buy the rest of the doll, even if it is very expensive, because it has stood the test of time, I am sure I will continue to like it after I get it!

Shopping impulse is indeed a very common thing. In the first half of the year, I had to stay at home all the time because of COVID-19, which made me feel a little depressed, so I always wanted to go shopping urgently. I spent a lot of money for this, although I did buy a lot of things I like. But I also began to realize that I had to make a financial plan so that I could have a good distribution of my money so that I could no longer spend as much as I wanted.

 

I completely understand. Stress buying is tough. Especially if you are financially able to afford it, who's to stop you right?? I think what helped for me is actually starting to receive the dolls. (I'm only 7 months into the hobby!) It took time for me to realize which dolls are dolls Id prefer to just see from afar rather than adopting. If you don't bond with the doll or you don't think they fit in with your collection, you can let it go to a new owner as well I probably purchased the most dolls in the first few months into the hobby but ended up not spending as much afterwards as I started finding my tastes.

Oh oh I do recommend keeping a journal! Just keeping track of all the incoming dolls, your current purchase plans, your grails... Strange enough, after starting the journal I felt like it helped me reduce my spendings (or at least keep track of them!).

 

I got a kick out of all the responses. The one thing I keep hearing is the joy and pleasure these dolls bring. They are also very therapeutic, an innocent pleasure in a complex world. The upfront buying is high, but it smooths out. You can always add a bit here and a bit there in clothes and accessories. It’s just so much fun.

 

When I first started working a well paying job I really struggled with instant gratification, I ended up being short on bills because I was bad at budgeting. I've found that looking at different sculpts and outfits for my doll plans helps scratch the itch. Wishlists are a godsend because I can always come back to dolls that I am sweet on when I have a little extra. Also layaway options really help.

 

I definitely also do the "I'm stressed out/not feeling good, so I'll buy a doll, which will be fun and make me feel good" thing, and I try to be cognizant of that fact about myself so I don't go too far with it ^^;; Everyone's different, so I don't know if this will work for you, but I'd second @AmariGem's suggestion about having a set monthly Fun Stuff budget? For example, if your budget is $200/month (for some people this wouldn't be that much, for some people it would be huge, so only you can figure out what works for you), then you can indulge yourself by buying some clothes/accessories or an less expensive doll, but if you want something more expensive you have to be willing to save up for it for a bit.

...that being said, if the monthly budget is an arbitrary number and not something necessitated by bills, it can be hard to make yourself stick to it. I have trouble with that as well, because I think "well, going over by $20 or $30 isn't a big deal, so who cares?" or "I'll just go over this month, but I won't spend any money next month to make up for it, so it's fine" and then not actually sticking with it.

While buying dolls is fun, I feel that it ends up becoming less fun if you make yourself feel guilty about what you spent your money on, even if you can technically afford it without going broke. Good luck finding whatever balance/strategy works for you! I hope the rough times improve.

 

I budget everything, including a monthly budget for hobbies. Never go over my monthly hobby fund, in any circumstances. I can spend less or not at all for a month and spend the excess it the following month, but I don't allow myself to go over a month and make it up the next month. Having a separate bank account or an envelope with cash destined to your hobbies is definitely useful.

The disadvantage of this method can appear if you run out of your hobby fund when you see your grail...well too bad, but that's life and it was not meant to be.

 

Coming back to this thread and realizing that all three of my dolls were purchased in the year after I graduated uni...
So yeah a spike in spending upon entry into FT employment was a thing for me too.

For me I think adding up the total of all the doll expenses I had + insufficient time to work on the dolls I had really put me off from purchasing anything doll related for a few years.

 

For me, it is lack of money, the fact that I move a lot and need to fit my life in my car (and before that, my suitcases), and that as time has gone on, I've gotten pickier. When I first started, I felt an explosion of things I wanted to buy. But I learned to really look and see what I actually wanted, to really dwell on potential purchases. My current wish list has three dolls and that is the longest it's been in a while.

 

The struggle is real!

I’ve found that writing pro/con essays helps a lot. I also collect all the info/links/Pics/prices in a document to visualize everything at once and really decide what I want most.

 

I can’t hahaha Still trying.

 

I am the absolute worst with this, especially while manic (I have bipolar disorder.) my only advice is don’t start getting credit cards and using them all on doll purchases, because it’s a dangerous, slippery slope, and I’ve learned that the hard way.