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How do you afford pins?

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How do you afford pins?

CaptHookFan

Active DPF Member
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Massachusetts
Hey everyone!

so, i know this hobby gets really expensive and i was wondering how everyone saves money to buy pins.I remember there was a posting about this about a month ago, but i couldn't find it. I also remember a few people posting about online surveys( does anyone have any really good survey sites they can recommend ?). If so please pm me. Im sure other dpf members would like to hear about how to save and afford pins. Thanks for the help!

Matt :hsd:
 
Well I'm a student with no source of income (Had to quit my job at the end of my second year for multiple reasons) so I afford pins by selling whatever old stuff I can (I've pretty much run out of things to sell now so...) and/or sacrificing food/trips out etc... >.< haha
I do have my photographs up for sale on Redbubble which I was hoping would get me some income but so far no luck - The link is in my signature if any of you feel like helping a girl out
 
Basically my husband gives me a certain amount of money every month for all household expenses (groceries, health stuffs, gas etc...) and then extra for "miscellaneous" for if we want to go out to dinner or the movies or whatever. I try to budget and trim the fat from everything as much as possible and whatever I save from that amount each month I spend on whatever I want, which is generally pins, lol.

When I still had a job I saved some of it and put it aside for pins but at the moment I am unemployed. =/
 
I haven't been doing this for long, so I think I should follow some suggestions as well. It's easy to get caught up in the excitement at first, but I definitely want to be responsible with my spending!
 
christmas and birthday money. Also the occasional slight mark up pre-sale. Like if I want a pin that is releasing, I will pre-sell a few to dpf members at just enough mark up to make my 1 pin free for me. Thats how i did it with a couple PODM last year. works well, and the mark up is lower than ewbay, plus the added benefit of knowing the person who you sold to.
 
My career provides a paycheck (thank God!), so I can afford to pay for some of the things I want in life.
 
I make enough to buy what I want. I don't go overboard and typically don't spend more than $40 on a pin on eBay if I can't trade for it. I do sell a few pins here and there. I have been keeping a ton of pins lately in preparation for my trip to DLRP in June, I have a feeling whatever I don't trade there I will probably sell off and skinny down what I have for trade. I sold more pins in the beginning of my pin trading days but as I've made friends and got acclimated to pinpics trades and DPF auctions, etc. I find that it is often beneficial to hang on to extras. I know the prices drop and many ask me why I still have some of the pins I do but to me someday at a PTN someone will have something I want that doesn't come up on eBay often and I will need good pins for the trade.
 
We're working on really narrowing down the pin focus and will likely stop buying traders unless we get pre-trades or cash to pickup stuff for other people who can't make a release. The decision to not buy double the amount of pins should cut the expenses in half. Oh yeah. No huge mystery sets anymore! Those 70+ pin sets are killers on the wallet.
 
I have a set pin budget for the year which isn't very much because, as TinyHat, I'm a college student with no funds. However, once I graduate in 2 years I'll get a job that will allow me to afford many more pins (not excessive like $10,000 a year but a good amount haha and then I'm coming for you Designer Princesses/Villains...you are all your little dogs too!) so for right now I make due with what I have, I start off at a set budget and the only way to make the budget go up again is if I sell stuff (which I often don't do, but I sometimes do...)
 
my paycheck always has a bit leftover in it so I always allow myself to spend so much per check on pins, I don't own a single credit card, so when I want a very expensive pin I appreciate the sellers who allow Layaway lol! or I hope they will hold a pin and I work a gang of overtime. And the layaway seems to work i've done it twice now with wonderful sellers who understand, I figure how much per check then keep track theough paypal.
 
For me, i rely on international embezzelment schemes thru a third world bank depository...<ever wonder where those .001 % of a penny goes in most business transactions,now multiply that by the number of transactions per day per business and see how fast it adds up, yup all goes into a Bahamian account, triple encoded with my DNA, >so whenever i need cash for pins, just a quick trip to the islands, pause for a Margaretta on the beach and Im home again with the dead pressies.

If that doesnt work there are other ways,.........taking lunch money from preschoolers, collecting hair from the garbage of Hair cuttery and selling to Hasbro for Barbie hair, the old Tyler Durden bit and "aquire" fat from local plastic surgeons and make soap and candles from the wax,<although the best comes from the Cali ps, they have so many more clients, here in Fl they are all old Nyers on retirement>.
Sometimes I hang out at the local bingo houses and swap cards with the winners< without thier glasses thier legally blind anyway, so they dont miss it>
and maybe the best way .........

I have a night gig as a security agent at every mall in Fla.<no not the Mall of the Americas, thats in Minn, and way to cold to go too>I fish all the change out of every fountain and wishing well in Fla take it to the local wallymart to the coinstar machine. Viola' pin money......

Lets see,.... catnapping,whiplash fruad,Road kill chef,baby lollipop reseller, why the list goes on and on.... Hope this helps?


Hey , Villain here, what did you expect????
 
For me it is my partner who buys my pins mostly, and I buy them when I get money from my custom work since I dont have a proper job right now.
 
I'll buy some pins and then sell some. But i usually save up some money put it in my paypal account and thats my allowance for money on pins lol. Seems to be working pretty good so far!
 
I'm going to add that putting all the projected month's pin into a spreadsheet and actually seeing the total amount, really helps to determine which pins are the must haves and which are not. Stick to the budget. Easier said than done.
 

I am amazed at the awesomeness. I bask in this glorious response. Superman 2 or Office Space?

There's just so much going on here! Well played, well played...
 
Psycho Pixie said:
Oh, I also forgot to mention that I fart rainbow sprinkles that turn into coins on every 5th Thursday of the month.
Click to expand...

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

But seriously, I just ask for pins for Christmas and hope I get some. Also, I save my money for like a year and then spend it all at once. Not sure it's the wisest choice, but it's how I roll. Speaking, of, I have some money I want to spend...
 
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