Starting your doll family while in college?

When I first started college, I was a commuter. I had to travel 26miles (13 miles in both directions) every day - sometimes twice - to school. I had to get gas every week because of all the travel.

Now that I'm not in a commuter school, my new school is much closer, so gas tends to last 2.5 weeks, or so. I always get gas money from my parents, so I keep whatever is left over.

Colleges offer job opportunities on campus, too.

 

I started my doll collecting this year, which happens to be my freshman year of college. I work over the summer, and have been for four years now, and that money always goes into "fun" spending. It's for cosplay, conventions, Vocaloids, and now dolls, too. I also raise money in the dorm by repairing and altering clothes for people, so it's going very slowly, but it is actually working.

Basically I've divided my money into living expenses and fun spending. I keep careful track of all the money I spend as well as the money I earn. It is possible to save up, but it takes a lot of patience and self-control.

 

This is my second year into college and I have decided to start with the hobby. This decision was mostly based off the fact that I just got a job as well. Actually being in college right now I have more money than I've ever had in my life so instead of feeling like I'm in "financial hell" it's more like I'm in financial heaven. Just have to learn how to control my spending now that I actually have money. Noticed that I'm forming bad habbits. -_-

 

Does unversity count as well?

Currently 3rd year fine art student.
I actualy started this time last year, when I retaking part of my second year. I wound about them around the time I started uni, but waited till I got out of halls of residence before I took the plunge.

It helped with saving that I moved to a shoebox and didn't have space to keep alot of things anymore, so selling them went towards the dolls.

I learned to love layaway, taking a massive hit of a full doll cost for my Souldoll boy was very hard. My Euclase/RS girl impulse buy screwed the finances up as well.

Cutting back on 'stuff' was neccecery, prioratising money has been key; shopping and regular nights out had to go.
I did end up distancing myself from some of the people I had made friends with beacause of not being able to go out regularly,
but I got incredibly lucky that my uni town and close surrounding cities had a alot of collectors, so there was alot of meets and what I lost in one way through getting the dolls I gained back in another through getting them.

I'm now in my final year and my dolls have become part of my work, I have at least one with me in the studios everyday, and they have been worth every penny.
They taught me how to buget and manage my money better and gave me a push to get rid of alot of the junk I had accumulated.

 

I'm in college, and yes, starting this hobby has been rather difficult. It's been even harder without a steady job/income. While I do get some college refund money, most of this has to go to school related things be it the $500 worth of books I have to buy a semester, insanely expensive parking passes (train tickets cost even more!), summer courses, a new computer (really necessary for IT majors), etc. A few thousand dollars from a refund doesn't seem like so much anymore once you factor in any "other" school related expenses.

But regardless, I have found ways to enjoy the hobby. Any money that I get from selling old school books usually goes into the doll pot of money. I've also mainly asked for dolls as gifts when asked what I want for Christmas/my birthday. Sometimes it's money, and in one lovely case from my boyfriend, a doll. Since starting this hobby a few years ago, I now have five dolls, including my dream doll Volks Suiseiseki. There are definitely some "sacrifices" to be made. Do I want the doll or an eReader? Or new clothes? You get my idea.

 

I did indeed start in college and I didn't necessarily do it smart.... I used refund money and sometimes credit to buy my dolls. I don't regret it of course, I've gotten immense enjoyment out of it. But if I had it to do over, I might do a little more careful planning since I'm paying UBER INTEREST on the dolls bought on credit. Smart financial planning = win.

 

I got my first doll when I was in 1st year University though I bought her during the summer when I was working more frequently. My second one I bought in the middle of my second school year however. I lived at home and my program(English) didn't require that I spend large amounts of money on textbooks because I could sometimes get the novels from the library ha ha! It was tough despite how lucky I was but it is possible to do. : D Of course you already know that school comes first. No matter how much you want that doll think of how if you buy one now but go broke then you won't get the job you want in order to buy tons later. XD

 

lol 4th year uni gal here! I started collecting BJDs the summer between 2nd and 3rd year (so, collecting for about 1 1/2 years).

My best advice for anyone collecting while going to school is: cut back.

Do you REALLY need that McDonald's/Wendy's/Harvey's/whatever when you know you have perfectly good, already paid for food back at your home? A home that you're already heading to now? Why not get up 1/2 hour earlier to make a lunch when you have class all day, or even make lunch before you go to bed!

It's fun to go out partying at clubs, but does it need to be a weekly, or even bi-weekly occurrence? Why not just buy yourself a bottle or two of something? It's cheaper and will last longer! Ask your parents for alcohol donations! There's bound to be stuff in their cupboards they don't drink!

Layaways are a college/uni student's best friend! Just be reasonable about it!

Done with textbooks? Sell them! You can't honestly believe you're really read them later on... besides... textbooks are revised every few years and then your books will be pretty much useless anyhow!

 

I'm a third year in Uni and I started collecting back in my freshman year. It has definitely been difficult, since I haven't been able to work steadily, and the money I get from home goes straight to things like food... bills... books...eh -__-. But I found a way anyway- mostly through ebay! I sold my copic markers to fund my first boy, and even though I only got like $60 for them > it was still worth it. Ebay is slow going, but if you've got tons of manga you don't want anymore, you can definitely make some money that way. And save your pennies! Literally- the more you save up change wise, the more you'll get in the end! It can definitely start to add up. Its the same with book returns at the end of the year- I got $250 for my books last year! (That brought Aziza and Adrian home ^_^)

 

Lol Life science student here. My transactions look a little like this:
Transportation : 300 per month [4 hours each day]
Textbooks: 1000$ total for ONE year. Yeah. I'm not happy about that one.
Food and Misc: 150 per month
Tuition: well..you should know that we have the highest rates in my entire country. Which blows.

I'm unemployed 8/ A life science student does not have much free time for jobs or play here. If they do, they're not studying hard enough. LOL. I, like tallen, cut back and cheap out on the smaller things. I wake up at 6 am, make lunch, go to school, come back at 12 MIDNIGHT, sleep, and do it all over again. 8\ Not fun. While it isn't possible to save money in the truest sense, it is possible to reduce your losses.

I've put my hobbyings mostly on hold till summer. I don't know if I'll be in summer school or working then, but school takes all precedence. If I can spare a moment, I will do doll things. This is highly unlikely though. I'm ultimately more important than my doll. I will only buy large purchases [<50] if I am stably employed.

 

I'm starting college in January. ^^;; I'm scared of what's going to happen with my doll. Haha. I enjoy spoiling her and its gunna be sad that I can't buy her whatever my heart desires!

 

I'm a college student with no income whatsoever. Not even financial aid, but I'm working on that and employment...My dad gives me money for cleaning the house, so he worked out a payment plan with me so I could get my first doll. I'm lucky enough to live with my dad rent-free. I get free food, and then I get money for cleaning the house that I can spend on gas, junkfood, and/or whatever else I might want. The payment plan restricts my money even more, so I'll have a hard time spoiling my first doll, and I won't be able to even think about getting any more dolls until I get a job or financial aid. Yeah, it's tight, but it just makes me even more grateful that I am getting one at all, and I'll appreciate her so much more knowing that she'll be my one and only for quite a while.

 

I got into BJDs my freshman year. I was fortunate enough to get plenty of scholarships (yay for being an engineering female) and land some great internships, so I made enough money to fund the purchases I was interested in pretty easily. As I've hit grad school, I've begun working as a teaching assistant half time, which covers tuition and living expenses. What college has affected, however, is the amount of extras I buy for my doll. I set a monthly "fun money" budget, and a lot of that has been going towards hanging out with friends and going out. I cut back if there's something I really want for my crew, but ultimately I feel like me and my social life have a little more importance than doll clothes.

 

I'm still in college {a long and different story} and I bought my first one December, last year. My parents and uh... one of those plans where you invest money then you can get it later after completing payments are the ones that supports my college needs. I live in my parents house and can't take part time jobs {ex. working at fast food stores} but I can sell stuff to make money. I'm 21 >.> and still not allowed for part times! I want to do part times to fund my hobbies w/c my parents, particularly my father are 98.00% hesitant to fund. So I just use my allowance and whatever money I can get from them through honest and not evil ways to fund my hobbies. But it's not enough... so i'm gonna start selling stuff that I made. I don't have much of a social life, only got a few selected friends whom I hang out and openly talk about bjds. I almost forgot, I do commute {the fares are not that bad} but sometimes my father takes me to college, saves me a bunch. I also tend to bring my own food to school to save money, been doing it ever since I started school. Anyway, food made at home tastes better so I will only buy if it's really necessary.

 

I bought my first boy in the summer between my first- and second-year of Art School. I had been working all summer, and I have wonderful grandparents who contribute towards my savings account, so purchasing him wasn't a particularly difficult decision, especially because I'd waited years for him.

The thing is, I wanted my Elijah since High School, and my parents kept finding reasons to prevent me. I had enough money to buy him (saving up my lunch moneys, etc), but I didn't feel right buying him without their permission. Plus, they kept bringing up perfectly reasonable discouragements, suggesting I wait until I had a job, and then once I had a job, reminding me how much art materials and uni fees cost.

And true, the money I spent on Elijah could have gone a very long way as far as art materials, clothes, even just the odd coffee with friends goes. But 5 years hasn't stopped me from wanting him, and having him makes me very happy.

It's now that I've decided to buy another girl (and that's IT, no more additions to my family...not including Loki's body...), I'm really looking at how low my funds are, and I'm feeling the pinch. I don't regret my decision though - the two dolls I've wanted are not spur-of-the-moment decisions, I've wanted both Elijah and a Miyu (as yet unamed) for a very long time, and haven't wavered in either decision. I just need to make sure I make wise-spending decisions in the future. :3

 

I bought my first dolls when I was still in college, but throughout the four years I worked to get enough money. Sometimes this was hard, because we didn't have spare time for side-jobs or social activities in particular, but it helped me to gain experience AND money for rent (and dolls).

Now that I'm working things haven't really changed. I'm an artist so not exactly swimming in money. I think I have more money when I was still in college, lol.

 

I began my collection about a year and a half ago, right before I started college. I have a part time job that brings in about $150 a month, so that funds a bit of my collection. The rest comes from my own savings. I live close to campus and I take the bus for free (with my Student ID) instead of drive. I very rarely get clothes for myself and so often, my parents will pay for them. Other than that, I get a lot of my food from my meal plan, at least two meals a day. I buy most of my dolls second-hand and I make a lot of their clothes, or I get them from swaps or the MP here.

 

This is my first year of college, and I have been coping by buying a little at a time. I commute about 11 miles each way, and then also a few miles to work, but even though I have school full time, I also have Work full time. I made the plunge and bought the head, eyes and hair at once, will be getting the rest in another month or two. Scheduling money input and output really helps, at the beginning of each month plan what you need to spend, and save the rest so you have it when the time comes.

 

I got my first doll when I am in grade 11 in high school. My relatives give me the money to spend on my travel. I want a BJD for a long time, so I just use those money to buy a BJD, which is Sharmin. Now I feel like I really spend to much on BJDs during my university life. Living fee is high, but volks is keeping selling new limited items. That's horrible, usually I spend most of my money on shopping limited doll items and find I left zero money on my account. I would like to do split for my Dolpa shopping but somtimes the shopping servicer she said "Why you buy items when you do not have enough money?" Which hurts me... haha...