College Place, WA
Really really cheap rent. $140
(Topic ID: 31653)
My neighbor is an extreme coupon lady. It is amazing what she gets for free by spending a couple hours a week paying attention. She saves a ton of money for her entire family spending nearly nothing on groceries. I have started paying a little attention just to the items I buy at the store on a regular basis and it works. That is one way to save for pins.
Quoted from LTG:I wonder how many times I need people to play with the dog to come up with a new pin ?
I like this. I've got 9 dogs... that could add up quick. We've also got birds and guinea pigs, so maybe we need something like a petting zoo admission fee. 
Another way to save money that is hobby related, is don't mod so much. Lots of mods for games when added up could get you another game for the cost.
Quoted from Methos:You a prepper?
I'm a punk. And in today's pro-credit society, saving a little money is a daring act.
Quoted from Toasterdog:I know this sounds wreckless and it is to a degree, but I use my credit card. I have solid credit and always have 18 months, no interest offers. I can usually pay 1/3 or so off right away, then pay the rest over the next few months and avoid any interest.\
It's a little wreckless, but if you got into trouble you could always sell the pin. The trick with those 18 month deals is that on the 19th month if the debt is still on there, you pay ALL the interest that would have accrued, not just on the remaining balance, so it's vital you actually pay it off or you could be facing a penalty of hundreds.
I've borrowed against my 401k before for large sums...basically, it's a 1% fee and 5% APR in interest. But the interest goes BACK into the 401k. At the time, my bonds were making like 2-3%, so technically I was paying back myself and outperforming the market while doing it.
Get a good job. Save. Learn how to fix almost everything yourself. Buy low, sell high. Spend smart. Splurge once in a while.
One thing that helps is to look at every expense for its value and depreciation. That's probably somewhere in an economics textbook, but I think it's common sense.
Weitersburg
Quoted from jayhawkai:Most of us have a bucket of diamonds to fund the habit.
Quoted from doughslingers:I only have buckets of coal around here.
Coal is just diamonds without ambition. 
Not married.....anymore, and work as a contractor in Afghanistan. Long hours, austere conditions, and lots of sacrificing. Damn pinball addiction. 
I'm a rich kid of Instagram.
http://richkidsofinstagram.tumblr.com/
Not really. I click on the 'computer gigs' link on craigslist and write code for people. $90/hr.
Quoted from AbacusMan:Really really cheap rent. $140
What??? Is that your parents basement dollar amount? If I didnt have a stupid mortgage I'd probably be over 20+ pins by now
What??? Is that your parents basement dollar amount? If I didnt have a stupid mortgage I'd probably be over 20+ pins by now
My "small one room apartment" rent is $290 and I have lived here for almost 9 years now. They said as long as I never move, they will never raise the rent. My girlfriend moved in a few months ago and we now split the rent.
Theres a picture of the kitchen and bathroom. I can wash my hands and poop at the same time!
There are different factions of collectors in this hobby. We often hear about the high-end people who buy NIB games and send their games off to be "detailed". But it's also possible to get into the hobby with a very modest budget if you pick up games that need work.
While I've now got some "A-list" games, my first ones were games that even most collectors probably wouldn't care about, and I got them at great prices. There are always deals out there if you keep your eyes open. The big money is only required if you're impatient, or you going for something that's super rare and unlikely to be found outside of knowledgeable collectors.
That's awesome. Love the apartment pics. But if you own an apartment that small, is there room for pins? You might be living cheap, but where is the gameroom? I run my apartments the same way. Used to hate it when I'd be renting and the landlord jacks up the rent, so I run it the same way. As long as you live there, i'll never raise the rent.
Quoted from AbacusMan:They said as long as I never move, they will never raise the rent.
Once you moved, it wouldn't make any difference.
Quoted from Breadfan:Sell crack
Crack is whack.
Quoted from AbacusMan:I can wash my hands and poop at the same time!
Thats a magical image that popped into my head! 
Quoted from riggy469:Crack is whack.
thats because a badger's body rids it so quickly from its system, it has no effect.
We don't have any other expensive hobbies, or care about expensive cars like some of our friends. We also do a lot of ebay selling of things we've collected over the years when we get into a new hobby (DVDs, board games, classic console games, etc.), so the previous hobby helps subsidize the next.
Before pinball, we went out to eat quite a bit actually, that was sort of our "thing". Since entering the hobby, that stopped pretty fast. It's hard to justify going out to a nice restaurant, when that single night would easily pay for the Tron mini arcade mod instead.
Quoted from rommy:All about choices . Most things are just "stuff", and someone else already mentioned spending money, big pinball machine type money, on things that end. Pins are a no-brainer for me. I and anyone who comes by get to play them, so they are not just "stuff". They attract people I would not otherwise meet. I can get my money back out of them any time I want. VERY few things have that sort of package. Not cars, not trips, not jewelry (okay maybe jewelry)...but you get the picture. Buy the boat? then you maintain and store that sucker whether you are using it or not. Buy the new AMG Benz? It's gonna lose it's value over time. The Monster Bash will probably hold it's value and so will a No Fear you paid 1300 for. Heck if you wanted to you could put them out on route and they might MAKE money.
To each their own but as much as I love pinball, I love German cars even more. The simpe trick is buying one 2 to 3 years old. Most go for half the price of new and then depreciate at a slower pace. They typically last 15 years from original delivery date so my cost per mile is not bad and they are a blast to drive. Basically I hardly ever resell one. Virtually all of them (except two out of eleven so far) get donated to charity (no, not a girl at the strip club) or they go to a junkyard/automotive recycler.
IMHO, more fun than most pins once you have played the pin for a few weeks.
Quoted from Rabscuttle:We don't have any other expensive hobbies, or care about expensive cars like some of our friends. We also do a lot of ebay selling of things we've collected over the years when we get into a new hobby (DVDs, board games, classic console games, etc.), so the previous hobby helps subsidize the next.
Actually, if you have think about it, an average person could have disposable income of $3,600 each year for a game just by having an older car. Average car payment is $400 per month. If you drive a used car that is paid for, that is $4,800 each year. Subtract $1,200 for additional maintenance on an older car, and there is your $3,600. Not enough for NIB, but it's getting you there.
Quoted from Methos:Subtract $1,200 for additional maintenance on an older car, and there is your $3,600. Not enough for NIB, but it's getting you there.
You can get a damn nice pin for that kind of scratch.
Quoted from playernumber4:I cook at home instead of going out to restaurants, cut my own lawn, paint the house myself and wash the truck instead of going thru a carwash. I take leftovers to work and nuke them for lunch (my cooking is better than fast food anyhow). Little simple things like that add up in the long run. We buy our meat only when it is on sale and use the freezer. Same for the soda pop in the fridge. And we buy our prime steaks at the local market buying the complete side. They slice it and wrap each piece to your desired thickness for nearly $3.00 a lb less than you pay for a steak at the supermarket. If the food does not come out of the freezer we eat what is on sale at the supermarket that week. And we use local coupons whenever they apply to what we normally buy. Little things around the house are bought at slickdeals.net when superdeals show up and we live on the credit card and pay it off every month to get about $600 a year in cash back (american express). I do all the brake replacement work on our cars. That alone is a big figure everytime you do it. Sometimes I even change our own oil if the weather is nice.
Believe it or not none of this affects our lifestyle negatively and it makes a big difference in how much we waste every month. We both prefer the way we cook our own steaks at home over the restaurants with their high prices and waiting lines anyway.
Its nothing out of the ordinary, its just a way of life instead of getting ripped off on buying fountain drinks at the gas station etc. We always have cash in our wallets for anything stupid and we want for nothing. That gives us both extra cash to throw dumb money on pinball stuff or whatever else the wife wants to spend it on.
Whey you can buy a 12 pack of pepsi at Kroger for $3.00 why the heck would you buy a single fountain drink at the gas station or Mcdonalds for $1.69? Beer is cheaper by the case than by the six pack too and it always ends up getting used. Ya just plan ahead and take a can of pop to work with you. It all adds up in the long run. And we are NOT tightwads...I usually have four digits of cash in my pocket in case I trip over something I can buy on the spot and turn over a week later to make a few hundred (or more) bucks on. We dress very well with clothes on sale at Kohl's and drive cars less than three years old that are paid for. We have not paid a penny in credit card interest in at least 7 years.
Sorry...did'nt mean to bore anyone with stupid details. Just sayin that you can save a lot of money by not throwing it away on a daily basis because it all adds up in the long run. We all have our priorities, and we prefer to buy tangible things that we continue to own as opposed to enoying a $100 dinner at a restaurant. Most people don't flinch at such a dinner bill, but we cringe at it. Different strokes for different folks. We all do as we prefer with our hard earned cash. Nothing wrong with however you want to do it, but the difference does add up quickly.
But I'm sure lots of people would talk behind my back that I'm crazy in the head for paying $6500 for a WOZLE pinball game.
Oh well...you asked the question!
^^^^ This!! For YEARS I have not bought lunch downtown and banked the savings...or more correctly, not spent what was yet to come in. I recycle (a lot of work for only about $34 at a time but my kids love the money). When I am out somewhere and I see cans on the ground or being tossed it's all I can do NOT to pick them up and haul them home. Plastics, nah, but cans for sure. I make my own cookies and cakes for my boys and not only are they healthier but yummier and CHEAPER. I do all my own chores around the house (people I know have weekly maids) including most things automotive and home repairs, upgrades, etc. Sadly, despite all of this (and a lot of other cost saving ideas very similar to the quoted post), I have never wanted to buy a NIB pin. I would prefer someone else to apply the patina for me. And when it came to refurbishing an older pin, suddenly it seemed like a much more cost effective proposition to avoid McDonalds and instead buy some new leaf switches for the flippers, etc. It's nice not to think twice about it since I am not hemorrhaging funds into cigarettes, bar tabs, fast food, etc. etc. Oh, I did buy a NIB 2012 Dodge Challenger R/T but with stupidly low interest rates, that monthly payment is the equivalent of my savings from being handy and smart.
When other's were fooled by the housing bubble I saved/invested.
The only vice that I have is caffeine.
No kids, no princess pea girl friends or wives.
I read the book Rich Dad poor dad and cash flow quadrants a looong time ago.
I know the difference between assets and liablities and manage my life.
and on and on, game on!
P.s. I've been a collector operator for a year now and don't have to pay to house my games and they pay me monthly dividends which re-invest into making the games look/play better. Winning!
It's really a personal budgeting question.
The principles of good money management are the same at all income levels. It's simply a matter of how many zeros behind the numbers you are discussing. I know plenty of people with large incomes that live paycheck to paycheck. I'm pretty good a managing a budget so I will throw in some advice.
There is probably only one mandatory rule.
-Don't spend beyond your means (aka don't spend more than your income).
I like to throw in these other principles.
-Pay off your debts regularly until they are paid. Using a simple example. If you owe 4 people various amounts for a total of $100 dollars, keep paying every month until the money is paid off. So when one is paid off, use that money to pay down the others faster.
-Include in your budget, regular retirement payments . Choose your own. My wife and I stated at 22 and we are now 42. When we were 22, the payments were very small, but they add up.
-when and if you have kids, start saving for college when they are young.
-when you buy a luxury item/toy, buy it with money you have.
Two good ones to add when things are going as planned.
-If your income goes up, increase the amount you put away and pay off debts with along with increasing the amount you spend for fun.
-when you do pay off your debts, take that monthly amount you were using to pay it and put it towards savings.
Quoted from Methos:Actually, if you have think about it, an average person could have disposable income of $3,600 each year for a game just by having an older car. Average car payment is $400 per month. If you drive a used car that is paid for, that is $4,800 each year. Subtract $1,200 for additional maintenance on an older car, and there is your $3,600. Not enough for NIB, but it's getting you there.
That is SOOOO true. I had wanted a Murano for a long time. Was very close to getting one, then pinball came along. That desire went out the window pretty quick, and I found myself perfectly happy with my hail-damaged older Accord. 
We're eating a lot more macaroni and cheese these days, too. The kids aren't complaining...
Quoted from Richthofen:I'm a rich kid of Instagram.
http://richkidsofinstagram.tumblr.com/
Not really. I click on the 'computer gigs' link on craigslist and write code for people. $90/hr.
Want some more work? PM me.
Quoted from AbacusMan:My "small one room apartment" rent is $290 and I have lived here for almost 9 years now. They said as long as I never move, they will never raise the rent. My girlfriend moved in a few months ago and we now split the rent.
Theres a picture of the kitchen and bathroom. I can wash my hands and poop at the same time!
Where do you and your girlfriend sleep...the cupboard? 
Quoted from pinballwizardz:How do you afford your NIB Pin's it seems like with the insane prices only doctors or powerball winners can afford them. I mean I only own one NIB And it's Spider-Man and I've had it since the game first came out.
My GF hooks on the side 2-3 nights a weeks, occasionaly on a weekend here and there...
Bout every 6 months we got enough for a NIB...
I think the answer to this is pretty simple.
A lot of people have just been in the hobby for a while & just slowly work their way up. I want a TZ right now, but since I haven't even been a pin owner for even 5 years, I just figure my day will come eventually, I'm still somewhat young, as is my collection. I'm still learning how to better fix games, might get into learning how to do some restoration but I need the work space to do it.
But slowly over time I'm gathering more tools (both physical & mental), more spare parts around, stuff like that. Finally got a proper soldering station last xmas, & that sure makes life easier working on boards.
Unfortunately I live in a somewhat rural area, & so there isn't a ton of selling/buying going on. That makes it a bit tougher to make $ through pinball.
Yeah I'm hoping one day soon I'll get a better space for my pins or at least to work on them, then once I have all the resources I need at my disposal, it will be easier to work my way up into getting those expensive games. Besides, if I'm gonna own an A+ title, I want to be good at taking care of it. So maybe it will all happen when it should.
Quoted from pinballwizardz:How do you afford your NIB Pin's it seems like with the insane prices only doctors or powerball winners can afford them. I mean I only own one NIB And it's Spider-Man and I've had it since the game first came out.
Quoted from Wolfmarsh:Pics? If she is cute, I'll contribute.
Careful...Niki Haley might want to pick you as Senator.
Uk
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