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

It's simple for me
I'm always broke, so I can't spend all my money on dolls cause it's not always there to spend ‍♀️ I have to save and budget to make sure I get a doll

 

You can't spend money you don't have, and usually I'm completely broke after paying my bills and buying food. In times when I have had money I usually add dolls to my list, then I'll go back through at a later date and trim out any that I no longer really want, and a chunk of them also tend to go out of stock or be discontinued which makes them harder to impulse buy anyway. There are also quite a few dolls that are higher on my list that are only available in pre-order periods so they're not something I can just jump on, I'd have to have the money, and plan to buy that specific doll, then wait for it to be open for orders, which is a pain when you're ready and waiting to buy a doll, but very helpful when you know you really want a certain doll, but can't buy it at that moment, it also tests how much you really want that doll in a way.

Another thing I've been doing recently is asking myself more practical questions about anything I decide I still want if I'm tempted to try to buy it when I know I shouldn't, like I'll ask myself if I have room for it, or I'll make a budget for the next few months to see how my money is looking, or I'll ask myself if there is something that should be a higher priority either within the hobby or outside of it. My last little technique is setting myself restrictions, for example I'm no longer allowing myself to buy a doll before I get my other dolls looking how I want them to look, or if I'm waiting on a doll arriving I can't buy another one. Sometimes I just have to think about the import fees and that'll be enough to stop me even if the knowledge that I just shouldn't isn't enough.

Sometimes I also just need to take a nap or something, I'm most likely to impulse buy if I'm having a hard time, so I get my Fiance to check in and ask me whether I'm spending money (we don't live together because we can't afford to hence why I also haven't bought anything hobby related in 5 years) because I don't lie and I know it bothers him when I spend irresponsibly because he's just not like that, so often I'll just take a nap because you can't usually buy things in your sleep.

 

If I get attracted by a company BJD, I'll put it on my wish list. After that I'll research a lot before consider to buy this doll. That includes looking for doll owner pictures, too.
Then I put my BJD wish list aside for some time. If I can't forget about a favourite doll, it will go on the top of my wish list. Or I change my mind and I don't want it anymore.
At this high prizes, I can't be an impulsive buyer. I must be really sure if I want a doll or if it's just my temporary mood.

 

You are definitely not the only one. Since you are new, you do not have dolls in hand yet to really start to determine via experience what you like to play with and display, what you like or do not like about individual dolls and their things. What I can say from my own experience is that those things are now huge topics in informing me to purchase (or recently NOT purchase) things that formerly were hot items on my wishlist. Preferences evolve pretty often in this hobby so getting heavily invested quickly may not, in the end, serve your collection and future preferences as well as collecting more slowly and spacing out your purchases.

I’m actually on a successful full doll buying break since mid-2018 (I have bought faceplates for existing dolls and 2 heads to enter a ‘bucket list’ level competition) and I’m re-evaluating my collection of 23 dolls (and all their stuff!) and only making considered and thought-through supporting purchases to improve my current dolls. I also finally admitted to myself that I do not want to devote enough space to display 23 dolls, even on a revolving basis yet I also don’t like to see my own dolls sitting or standing lined up on a shelf, I want them in a pretty display. The photos I love are the ones of dolls either out in nature or dolls in a staged display. I don’t crave a larger space, a doll room or doll wall. I like at max, 6 dolls in a scene ever all at once unless I’m going to take a ‘this is the whole doll collection’ photo.

I’m also making some decisions to cull dolls and items from my current collection and that has done more for my collection overall than adding any one or more dolls would do. I like my existing collection so much better now that I am evaluating myself within the hobby, what do I want to do, how does it serve my creativity, inform my writing, improve my photography and designing/sewing skills, occupy my time? What do I want to get out of the hobby? Ultimately the hobby is about me and my activities, not the dolls, strange as it sounds. So not the numbers, not the types, not the hunt, the shopping, the purchases, much as I enjoy those, it’s very thrilling! I am hoping to be ready to welcome a new one in mid-2021. Which means sorting completely everything in my current collection, trading or selling what needs to go and having each of the remaining dolls at least on their path to becoming what I envision for them. 23 visions is too many, even though they have stories, even though many of them ‘go so well together’, etc.

It’s very exciting and fun and satisfying to shop for and to buy dolls and all the adorable small things for them! And there’s nothing wrong with enjoying that to the fullest...but if those activities becomes the main part of ‘the hobby’ for someone then I don’t see how the hunger for doing it more (and the accompanying financial drain) would ever end because the good feelings from that mainly revolve around the hunt, the purchase, the wait and to a certain extent, the hype...and not mainly around what you do with the dolls once those things are finished and the dolls arrive and become part of your collection.

 

Like many others have said, you can't spend money you don't have. I'm a college student so my money goes to tuition, books, food, rent, utilities, etc. and I barely have any left over. I take whatever is left and put it in my savings, though it's not a lot. Since I'm so pressed for money, that really helps me narrow down what exactly I want. If I had the money, I definitely would impulse buy a bunch of dolls that I don't really care for in the long run. In that regard, I'm kind of glad that I'm pressed for money because it makes the dolls I can buy more special to me.

I've also refused to let limited edition dolls tempt me. They're usually out of my budget financially, I know I won't be able to buy it in time, and so I usually just accept that it's not meant to be and move on. Not having the pressure and panic of "I need to buy this exclusive doll now or I never can again" is a weight off of my shoulders.

 

I normally can't afford to buy more than one doll at a time, so that helps keep me from ordering too many at once. The one time I did order two together from a company, I had sold several off topic dolls to have the money. There have been times when there were several limiteds from different companies available at once that I liked, but I just ordered my favorite. I've also gotten more particular about what I want in new dolls based on what I prefer in those I have. There's also the factor that every doll I'd like to have isn't available all the time. At least Bluefairy has their doll order periods in rotation, while with other companies I have to wait and hope they'll have another order period for the dolls I want.

 

it's easy, i grew up poor and i still need to save for ages to afford something as expensive as a bjd, couple that with having very very limited space and being incredibly picky about what dolls i actually want.
if you have problems with impulse buying i'd suggest getting two different savings account, a main one for important future things and another for hobbies.

 

I find that I've been eyeing a lot of dolls lately, but I don't exactly have that kind of money to spend right now. I've decided to tell myself that I won't buy anything new until I finish practicing faceups on my floating head, and get a body for him. It should take a bit of time for me to be 100% satisfied with my painting work, so it's been a good strategy so far.

 

For everything I buy, I put it all on a list. I wait at least a month, three if its expensive and I can resist that long, and then make a decision. I always use layaway where I can and don't do layaway on more than one item per hobby at a time. If you can't find a place to do layaway for an item I use Klarna to spread it out at least two months. That way I budget better and know how much is going out when. BJDivas has 12 month layaways and keeps you at monthly payments but allows you to pay the outstanding balance all together once the doll arrives.

 

It is hard, because I want everything, but I also don't. I don't like having a lot of dolls, but not being able to see them in person first I find that dolls I love in a million photos I may not like as much in person. It can be disappointing, so I make myself sleep on it. I also stop looking at photos completely because the more I look at them the more I talk myself into it. If I step back for several days or weeks and still want it without having looked at the photos at all then I usually cave. If I have to look at the pics again to decide then I know I should probably move on. Lack of funds definitely helps.

 

I rarely wait, because I most often buy accessories that get sold out pretty fast. So, I buy fast, but once I have bought a few items, I go through my dolly items and see what I can part with. Recently, I bought about 3 new pairs of shoes. Yesterday I looked through my dolly shoe box, tried on my doll all of them and took out 5 to be sold. Same with everything else.

So no, I can't resist some things, but the 'one in-one out' rule works awesome.

Besides, I try not too spend too much time on ebay/other bjd shopping sites. When I go to sale places, I only post my things, but not look at any other sales items, so as not to feel tempted. And if already, I learnt that it's okay to admire things others have without the necessity to own it by myself. So, I admire huge collections, but I'm happy with my smaller bunch. I love many other dolls, but the ones I have are enough. Also, any new doll needs a faceup, a wig, at least an outfit and time. I can't give it to all the dolls I could have, so other people online do the hard work and I just do the looking, admiring, etc.

 

My roughened finances. My ongoing battle with the debt my grandchildren will inherit. As my dear friend puts it, when I buy too many dolls. The only restraint I have is no money to play around with. Otherwise, I turn myself inside out to get what I want. I won't live another life. I won't have another youth. That's the way I see it.

 

By not having any money lol

 

I find myself buying more dolls when I browse the internet looking at dolls and accessories. Here are what I’ve been doing, and they seem to be effective so far:

1. Don’t browse the internet to look at dolls!

2. If you’re addicted to your phone like me, browse on DoA and read about helpful info as well as help answer questions, which you have knowledge about.

3. Narrow down to 1 or 2 favorite doll companies at a time and only look on their websites to see their new dolls.

4. Make sure to play with ALL of your dolls for quite some time before you decide to purchase a new one.

5. Fullsets are definitely limited, but they come out very often. If you can’t get this set, maybe it’s fate to get a cooler set down the road?

Hope my experience helps!

 

I have a friend who is also In the hobby, when I first started to get dolls properly during lockdown I had so many things I wanted but I was told by my. Friend to stop till I had actually received something before buying anything else xD and it worked.... Now my lack of money helps too

 

What I do is give myself a rule if if I come back to it more than 3 times over the next month then I’ll buy it. Impulse buying is the worst, as a lot of time it can leave you with buyers guilt. I know it’s not always that easy, but giving an item time to process in your head before buying it is always good.

 

My lack of desire to get into crazy debt is the strongest thing keeping me from buying everything on my wishlist. Even if I won the lottery, I have things like a house I'd want to spend that on before dolls.
Also the fact that the dolls on there are not readily available for the most part and also that dolls go from "want" to "would like to look at but not necessarily own" from time to time.

 

I don't know if this helps, but I've actually started making spreadsheets of the stuff I want. I can come up with 100+ lines of purchases, come back to the sheet a week later, and realize that I don't really want any of the stuff anymore. The act of putting it in my "cart" gives me the same dopamine hit as actually buying it.

 

We sound similar, I have a habit of stress shopping especially if what I'm buying doesn't give me immediate gratification (i.e. dolls taking months to arrive) and Im definitely doing something similar on a smaller scale. Mentally I've been holding myself back by converting doll prices to hours worked whether that be past or present. 'This doll is $588, that would be 49 hours of work before tax last year" that way even though my jobs improved it doesnt mean I can go too crazy.

 

It's super easy for me, I don't have the money, literally up until recently I couldn't talk myself into spending over $40 for a wig, it's been a huge point of frustration for me in this hobby seeing people buy doll after doll and spending hundreds on clothes and I'm sitting here like WHERE DO YOU WORK?! I want to work there!! But it's also very possible most people are much better at saving money than me lol.