How is the hobby affecting you financially? [Poll]

I'm fortunate that the hobby is pretty low impact despite me being a stay-at-home-mum with basically no personal income. The cushion of the few thousand dollars I sank into the hobby over preceding years, occasional sales and a preference for a small collection almost sustains my doll habit on its own. I’m an extremely frugal person, and my husband appreciates the things I do to stretch his paycheque and make his life easier, so he does not begrudge me the occasional frivolitry using general household funds. My collection is at a stage where I don’t really buy new dolls, though—I mostly reshell, paint, sew for and tweak the existing ones—so most expenses pertain to crafting supplies... and being as motherhood has left me with less time to devote to the hobby as a whole, total outgoing costs represent a fairly negligible blip on the scale every few months when inspiration and time magically intersect.

I also don’t really do layaway. I’ve done it twice, I think, when I didn’t have the money yet absolutely knew it was coming, but I really disliked the feeling of it. Transferring money every month felt far more expensive than just dumping the lump sum and forgetting about it until the doll’s arrival. ... And in the back of my head I was always imagining outlandish scenarios (think natural disaster, coma, etc ... ) that might prevent me from meeting the commitment.

We have a friend who was both earning well and spending well but went through a sudden hospitalization a few years back, and the family who came to care for him in his disabled state had no idea about the things he was paying off. He ended up getting some things repo'd even when technically he could easily afford them. His credit was so bad for a while he couldn't even get a cell phone in his own name. You just never know...

 

When I discovered the hobby about 13-14 years ago, I had just graduated from college and had two jobs at the time that paid my cellphone bill, my student loan payments, helping support my parents and brother, and not much else. I got my boyfriend/now husband into the hobby around the same time, but he was still in college and only had enough for paying for school, the room he rented, his own bills, and food. So I guess we went into the hobby practical by making sure we had enough to pay for our personal expenses and then saved up before making any financial decisions as dolls were a lower priority than other things which is reflected in my doll family history.

Also reflected in my doll family history was when we both started working better jobs (yay above minimum wage with hopefully one of us having health insurance!). We still were practical but had more money to spare which went into our savings and/or "fun money" expenses which included eating out or better quality groceries, clothing, gifts for ourselves/family/friends, and other things. Some years were better than other years. Sometimes both of us were working and other times it was maybe one of us barely making anything. Right now, I'm disabled and unemployed while my husband is the only one working so depending on things we save up enough to pay for high priority expenses if something happens to him or other emergencies and then we prioritize downward until there is enough fun money again for dolls.

I like to browse and dream during the times where I know I shouldn't buy a doll or when I know we definitely cannot afford to buy a doll. And yes, when the times were good it was great when we could afford to and actually bought a doll or two. I think going into this hobby with a healthy understanding of your own personal spending habits, that you can show restraint if you need to, and have some financial sense (if income is enough to pay for monthly expenses, if one has enough savings for emergencies, etc) then this hobby can be doable. It takes time though, and patience, and not everyone can do that healthily with any expensive hobby.

 

When I first started, I scrimped and saved for everything, although fabric for clothes was never an issue because mom is a quilter and has accumulated a dragon's trove. At this point though, between the fact that I've managed to advance far enough ahead in my career that I have ready money to spend even while saving up for a house, and the fact that during my scrimping and saving years I was able to buy most of the dolls I wanted, I am at a point where expense doesn't mean much to me.

Finding things I want has become harder (I bought a minifee a few months ago and I still haven't found a wig that suits her! I feel so awful because I wanted to make her clothes and show her previous owner but I can't find a wig that looks right. And shoes, ahhhh, the outfit I want to make her absolutely requires shoes but I can't find good shoes) than actually coming up with the money to pay for them. It helps that the companies I fell in love with when I started have either shifted away from the aesthetic I like, or have seriously reduced the frequencies of their releases, and there isn't really anything that has taken their place, so the chances of me seeing something I desperately need have gone down.

 

As much as I love dolls I've always maintained that other interests of mine will not suffer because of my need to own them, lol.

I only make few bucks above minimum wage and had experiences growing up where my mom had serious debt and bankruptcy issues. Needless to say that has translated into me having a thing about potentially being in severe debt: it terrifies me and my goal is to avoid it at all costs! I'm a big fan of bank account cushions, and only ever buy dolls if my cushions are at a specific level and I can afford the whole doll, exchange rate and all.

I also only buy my dolls if I know it's financially feasible/responsible at the time. There have been many years I haven't bought any dolls because the money above my cushion was earmarked for other things, like eyeglasses, moving expenses or having to buy a new dryer. I've wanted dozens of dolls since joining this forum in 2009, but I've only bought 5, so I like to think I've been doing a pretty good job of not letting this hobby completely consume my finances!

 

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I know for me, if there's a doll I'm saving up for, I put a little bit of my income away as "doll fund." It's usually slow going, as most of my money comes from art commissions. But it is nice to sometimes see a doll I want, check the doll fund, and be able to click that purchase button!

 

I have a decent salary and not many bills to pay and am independent. I can definitely afford some doll at a certain budget, but definitely not at the level where I can buy multiple dolls in one year. It's just not wise financially. Always invest in yourself first and then you can invest in many dolls as you want.

 

I just bought my first BJD, and I will admit that I had total sticker shock. Collecting other dolls was a gateway - it wasn't long before i saw the most GORGEOUS BJDs posted on social media doll collecting groups and websites. And then, I found a BJD that I loved and thought "Wow - I'll bet she's like $600!" (I was thinking $600 for EVERYTHING.) Isn't that just precious? $600 for everything, lol...she was over $1000 for everything. She is the full set Angell Studios White Doe.

My first thought was "That's insane!! $1000+!!!" But then, I kept going back to the page to visit her. I kept zooming in on all of the details of her dress and face up. I showed her to my mom and SO who also died at the price but encouraged me "well, if you love her THAT much, save up!." It sounds silly, but every day I would visit her page. I googled to try to find reviews and videos of her. I did not find any reviews, but I did find an unboxing video - not of the girl I loved but of a doll from the same company. And, seeing the quality and beauty in the video made me take the plunge. I started saving for months. I had no clue about layaway at this point; I thought you had to pay every cent up front. In the meantime, I bought some white porcelain deer to display with her which are waiting in their storage box.

So, finally a couple of weeks ago, I had the money! I checked my cart 100 times because I had anxiety from making an online purchase this large. I made my purchase for the full set, paid in full, and the doll company wrote me and said "we are so sorry; we are out of the clothing for this doll." OMG - months of saving and visiting the virtual version of this doll. I was super bummed out. But, a few days later, they let me know they contacted the warehouse, and they have the dress in stock, and now she is being made for me!!!!!! Phew! From now on, I will do layaway - so much easier than trying to save these large amounts and then purchasing something that may or may not be in stock. The blunders of a novice....

 

Thank you so much!!! I do feel like I won the lottery with that lucky save (even though I paid over $1000 for my ticket - lol)!

 

Financially, my husband and I are rather fortunate, but we're aggressively saving up for a down-payment for a new house, so the vast majority of any extra money at the end of the month goes straight into our savings. However, we give ourselves a generous fun money allowance each month. I'm pretty picky about what I buy though, so I don't have very many dolls (just received my 4th after 8 years in the hobby). A lot of that fun money allowance has gone to other hobbies and wants, like dollhouse kits or a new camera.

 

I haven't spent much yet, but I'm only planning on two dolls. I have quite a bit saved up and an expenditure of $200 here and there isn't a big issue.

 

I think I’m one of the lucky few that my budgeting and financial skills has gotten better because of the hobby

I have been a layaway person for the most part having a steady income with limited bills, but am planning on going back to school this spring so am going back to the save and scrimp style. But in making sure I budgeted correctly to be able to afford my dolls and doll things I’ve managed to build a savings account and gotten my actual credit score improved by keeping better track of my bills. In short being able to afford doll stuff has been the motivation I needed to get my finances to a place they don’t stress me out even when emergencies crop up

 

BJDs are how I got into the habit of frugality. I'm uncomfortable spending money I don't already have set aside.

 

I am new to this hobby but I treat it similarly to my passion for lolita clothing (which is only a little less expensive than MSDs).

Admittedly my financial situation has changed a lot in the last few years as I'm finally standing on my own financially. Because of mental health issues my studies took forever and I had a lot of trouble finding a job while studying. I cut a lot of expenses by not having a phone plane (prepaid phone), by not buying new (normal) clothes and by not eating out so I was able to afford some lolita dresses with the little money I made from tutoring.
Also when money was really tight I made weekly grocery shopping lists (+ menu plans) and strictly kept to them. I found this to be extremely efficient in keeping a very(!) frugal lifestyle. Of course during these times I could not afford to buy anything for a hobby. But I dumped this habit again when it wasn't a necessity anymore.

I found rigorous budgeting to be very helpful. Like in general not only for my hobbies.

Luckily I did manage to get a decent paying job after my studies. It even allows me the luxury of working part time. Sure I earn less than I would working full time but I value the free time for hobbies more.

Still I have some spending rules I adhere to:

• No debts! (so no layaways for me)
• No impulse buys over 100 USD
• If it costs more than 100 USD I will wait at least 3 days. Up to two weeks if the price is higher.

Also I do live in a expensive country with high wages. So before having a job I was just facing my country's super high costs of living. But now that I earn a standard Swiss salary this has been partially balanced out.

 

I honestly buy dolls even though I cant afford them its honestly pretty bad....