How much do you think you've spent in total on your dolls?

Prolly enough to buy a used car if imma be honest. ;3; I have a hopeless dollchateau addiction, as well as a preference for the larger dolls. And getting my second vic boy secondhand cost a pretty penny. My wallet, she weeps.

 

I have a magical excel list. It has one sheet for dolls, one for accessories (wigs, clothes eyes) and one for companion animals and stuff like stands.
Except for some wigs & clothing items at the very beginning it should be pretty complete. I use it to keep track of the provenances and the collection as a whole. I am not gonna press the button to sum things up. No way! Just count me in somewhere in the 5k region...

 

Limiting it to just BJD's and their clothes and accessories... erm.. multiple thousands over the 15-plus years I've had BJD's but i couldn't say exactly as I don't keep those sorts of records.

But, I don't drink, smoke, drive, watch or follow sports teams, or anything like that so, I don't "waste" my money on that sort of stuff and I reckon I spend less on dolls than pople do on any of that stuff over the years. Cars are a huge expense for a start.

Teddy

 

I own 7 full dolls and two heads, all limited. On dolls, wigs and eyes alone, I've probably spend around $9000. Each doll only has one outfit and some are home-made, so I don't really know how much I've spend on materials for that.

It sounds like a lot, and it is, but considering that I've been in this hobby for 16 years, it suddenly doesn't sound so bad. Only 46 dollars each month. A gym-membership will set you back just as much.

 

I know that if I don't keep track of the big expenses, I would be dishonest with myself and will downplay my expenses. But since I do the majority of my doll shopping with Paypal (and I buy almost nothing else on Internet other than doll related stuff), I have no excuses and have spent the last half hour crying after adding up my numbers. Yeah, keeping a list hurts so much, but I think it's worth it, at least for the things you buy on the Internet, because everything can add up without you noticing so quickly!

On the very worrying side of my internal debate, the dolls themselves (3 SDs) cost around 2'500 USD (Shipping and taxes included, though two of the three were fullsets, the last came nude but with a faceup). After a more or less detailed examination of my accounts, I estimate that I spent around 2'200 USD on "finished items" and "maintenance items" including taxes, paypal, conversion and shipping fees, for wigs (including 2 commissions), clothes, 4 commissioned pair of eyes, a commissioned faceup, shoes, various props, eye putty, elastics, replacement lashes, 2 stands, a medieval chair and an antique sofa set) Which means that I spent far, far more on the ancillary items that I planned to. These aforementionned numbers exclude all crafting stuff, including sewing notions, patterns, knitting stuff, fabric, glue, etc.

On the rejoicing side of my internal debate, I also spent a lot on crafting stuff and I have learned since to embroider, sew, knit and crochet and made a few gifts to friends and family (with various degree of success). Even though I failed or am not good enough yet, I also got a go at sculpting, faceupping and wigmaking, which definitely entertained me for days, as those are very relaxing activities, even if my labor did not bore fruit (yet, I haven't given up on sculpting and I want a go at shoe making). And while they may not have the (admittedly very extensive) wardrobe of my dreams, my dolls have, to me, beautiful faceups and wigs, enough clothes and shoes for a few basic looks and a space to be displayed, so they don't look like incomplete messes XD.

Thankfully, I feel like there is only two more dolls I may want and perhaps a few heads as well as a particular set of props, but the big acquisition phase is over, so spending is bound to go down. Besides, as I am beginning to become halfway decent at sewing (for my pitiful standards, at least), I probably won't spend more on clothes unless I really fall in love with something that I cannot replicate.

Same as @Teddy, I should add that I don't have a lot of other non-necessary expenses. With COVID-19, I drastically restricted myself from doing any social activity since I live with a person at risk for more than a year, so I feel like a lot of my travel and "going out" money for a year went in BJDs. So instead of travelling, going out to eat, to the theater, to the antique markets or swimming for a year, I was cooped up at home, playing with dolls. I don't really regret it, as I got into BJD at a fairly stressful time of my life and with COVID-19, if I didn't have an outlet, I would have probably snapped, and made an even worse financial and life decision.

Still, that number is definitely higher than what I thought. I should probably be a bit more careful from now on especially since the pandemic crisis is thankfully almost over and that I will probably slowly return to my normal life and expenses (So thank you @AidenEsparza for the reality check ).

 

{wince} I dread to think of the figure for my 50+ BJD's then... None fo them are fullsets, but these only include the ones that have stayed, not the tones that have been and gone over the last 15 years or so.

Teddy

 

@Teddy : At that point, I would just avoid thinking about it. Shipping fees and taxes are about a fifth of the doll itself (though there are a lot of variables) but I would be very discouraged to calculate it for 50+ BJDs, + the ones that have gone. Just focus on the fact that you have an amazing collection!

Besides, as you yourself have said, having a more modest lifestyle balance out more hobby expenses, so even if the number itself is scary, it's may still be perfectly be "budgeteable" and reasonnable all considered, especially since you have been collecting since 15 years.

 

I only know the total because I had to make a detailed estimate for our insurance company... But it didn't really surprise me given the small tribe that is my crew these days.

Let's just say that I could have replaced my hybrid car with one of the new all-electric versions if I'd wanted to do that instead of keeping my older model and having a doll collection instead.

 

Counting those I have on order and not those I've sold, on the dolls themselves it'll be $7,500. I haven't kept track of what I've spent on wigs, eyes, or a limited amount clothes and shoes. I've spent more on fabric to make them clothes than on buying clothes and shoes.

 

That's my approach.

Teddy

 

It is an ugly ugly number that I don't like admitting to!
I have been collecting dolls almost my whole life. But if I had to start at when I started buying them with my own money that is 30 years worth of collecting. I have often though how much money I could have saved if I didn't collect dolls, but I have enjoyed the different collections I had at the times I had them. There are worse things I could have done with that money.

 

On my BJDs? Roughly $1,100, counting only the ones I haven’t sold and their wigs. I make their own clothes out of scrap fabric from my human-sized projects, so that definitely helps. But it’s still a lot when counted all at once like that! In practice it’s been three “splurges” over like six years.

(On my OT dolls, especially the antiques...I don’t want to think about it. )

 

it's hard to tell. I once summed up all my spendings on Alice's Collection and it was close to $4'000 but as I say, it's hard to tell, because 1. most of my dolls don't come from there (I usually buy second hand and I shop at AC for bodies/accessories mainly ) 2. I resold lots of those items (clothes, shoes) 3. I got some money off sewing for bjds 4. I usually have the doll money in closed circuit, where I spend on them what I got from selling something else dolly-related So, for the past couple years, I don't have an impression that I'm spending much

 

Just getting started, so within a year of collecting and trying to make smart purchases, I am at around the $2000 range. This will change soon, I have a feeling lol

 

Guesstimating in dolls alone more than $13,000. With clothes/wigs/faceup supplies it would be an additional $3000 or more maybe? I could get a total number easily but I don’t think I want a confirmation of spending $20,000 on dolls, clothes, and supplies LOL. This is what happens when you gravitate towards artist dolls and darker skin tones as well as having an addiction to dressing my favourite characters and making sure they have more than enough clothes via Taobao.

 

On my dolls? Too much lmao

 

oh gosh don't make me do the maths, it makes me feel horribly guilty and paralyzes me. It's easier to NOT think about and just enjoy them lol.