awesome good luck. I to have stopped buying in order to save for the next. I have 2 dennis nordman titles for now and want to sell the special force and get a scared stiff.

save up for my next pin? I'm still saving up to pay for my last pin!!..

I think quite a few people use their tax return or bonuses from work. After awhile, you'll get to a point where you can do some trading or sell one to fund another. All depends on how big of a collection you get to first though!

Lessee
50..take the 2..plus 12..

2067

Building pin equity definitely helps. I have room for 8. Getting to 8 was difficult, but now that I have my full house number, it's easier to buy a new pin because I have equity returned on the pin I have to sell to free the space. Granted, of course, I'd prefer having more space and keeping them all , but this space problem does help the wallet when a new game comes on the radar.

When will my life insurance pay? I'd say a few weeks after I'm cremated I should have enough for the next big purchase...

Start listening to Dave Ramsey http://www.daveramsey.com/show/stations/

Sounds to me like you need to save for more important things than pinball machines. College? Emergency fund? A house? A car? Not to be a downer, but it takes time for most people to be able to afford these high-end toys. That's exactly what they are, unless you're an operator. Good luck to you!

It took me 3 months to save $5000 for a nice Guns n' Roses. That was pretty hard saving though. I don't make a lot of money, but I do live pretty cheaply. I think I can budget about $15000/year for pins for now. I am hoping for a bonus at work at the end of the year. That would help a lot.

In a few years, we plan on buying a bigger house, so pinball money will be a lot less. I am taking advantage of the low monthly expenses until then though.

I'll be in exactly the opposite board in a couple of months...my daycare bill will just be starting =)

My problem is I set my sights on a machine..usually a higher dollar machine...say 5~7K plus.

Then something will come along and and I'll buy a 2k machine.

What I found is if you buy a lower dollar machine...and buy it right and not over pay. You can play that machine for months while your still saving...then just sell it. Even if you take a little hit...like $100 or so at least you had something to play during the wait

As long as you're happy and taking care of yourself and your family. That's all that really matters. And if you can fit in a pinball machine here and there...more power to you. Good luck with your A+ and comedy careers too!

At this point i usually buy/sell/trade and dont tap into money elsewhere. Being able to work on pins helps that fact as well i suppose.

I am really thinking of using the bill me later option from ebay to buy a NIB game then pay it off for the next few years. That all depends on the monthly payment. I asked if my limit would go up, they said that its determined upon purchase. I really cant hit the buy it now option and wait to see if i get accepted or declined. If they gave me a straight answer I would use it.

Saved for 3 years for a tz, and within one summer, price doubled.

How much they give you will depend on your total available unsecured credit, percent utilization, credit history (lates, etc.) and income.

I saved up for my first pin by selling a bunch of stuff I didn't want anymore and doing a few extra jobs on the side. From that point on I haven't added any more money to the 'pinball fund', instead adding equity by tired pins that I can do up and sell for more than I paid.

Starting with just a Jurassic Park a year ago, I sold that for a Judge Dredd and have since sold that for a Doctor Who and a Dr Dude and money to spare to restore them well. So I've gone from one pin to two, and hopefully within a year I'll be at three pins (or one awesome one, if I ever come by one) without ever having spent more than that first JP purchase.

Saving $350/month is huge. I mean, that's nearly a NIB stern pro every year (or 1/3 of every pin they release). What kills us all is pricing constantly going up (it's a constantly moving target).

I haven't really ever stopped and saved for specifically one thing. I just try to save in general and I've always got a decent sum of money to live off if an emergency came up which I've dipped into for my pins. My most expensive was under 4k though so I guess I've never had to dump for a 10k pin or anything. For my 5th pin I've just raised some funds not because I need that cash to afford it but it helps me justify to myself spending the money. I sold off one of my guitar amps and a bunch of warhammer stuff I had laying around so now I'm on the look out for the right pin for me.

Ah man, Dragon's Lair. I used to play the hell out of the C64 version of that game. Love the theme music

Paypal Slush fund is a good way to save some dough,

Im trying to pay off our student loans. And then start saving for my first DMD

It's going to be tough. I haven't done the math yet. Not sure when I'll be able to instapay on a nib. Maybe sometime next year or in 2015 if I start saving now. I keep looking for a part-time job. But it's hard finding one with hours that would fit around my full-time job. I'm already putting away a couple hundred every month into savings. But that is not my fun money, it's my don't-touch-until needed money.

I can't save any "regular" money through the year, due to a heavy mortgage and kids (by the way, don't expect they will cost you less when they get older... quite the opposite !). My wife is working as well.

Fortunately I also have a (lousy) part-time side job and an end-of-year bonus. This is my bonus money I can dedicate to this hobby! I expect to be able to pay the balance due for Predator that way.

started saving at the start of the year did mega, mega overtime . literally had a lord of the rings flyer on the wall and had a money box under it and sometimes I would get side tracked because it seemed like I will never come up with enough scratch, and I would contemplate getting a cheaper game just so I can have a new game, lucky my girlfriend was on my case saying "you want the lord of the rings, keep saving for the lord of the rings, don't get something you don't want, because its cheaper, be patient." It was hard but thank god I did it, because I picked up a mint huo lotr about 3 weeks ago and im totally stoked. Think it will be a couple of years before I can do that again, but I did prove to myself that if I put my mind to it ,I can get what I want, an im very greatful for that!!!!

Good one Whisper. Nice post !

cheers chalkup, I drove to Sydney to grab it .Meet another pinsider/aussie arcade member, real cool guy. It was a mission but well worth it..Go Kangas!!!! ..Nah, I go for geelong!!!!!

Just put in an application for a second savings account, dubbed "my NIB savings account". Whether I actually get a NIB or have to use it for something else, at least I'm saving.

That's some impressive wishlist you have there going
Good luck in saving for one

I really like the flyer idea. I REALLY want an Iron Man right now, but I need to save the dough. Tax return season isn't far off.

Man, that will be a big game's room when pin'ed out

It's just my wishlist. As in: I wish...!

Is any of your material on Youtube or elsewhere?

I don't save perse, I usually will buy if I have the money at the time when I want to buy. For the last couple I did sell some playfields, pins, and some arcade cabs to help pay for them. I don't buy very often so I don't usually think about saving for the next one.

I have a friend who has a cool side lil side business where the funds are strictly used for buying pins. He is up to about 12 ish over the past few years so definitely pays off. Won't saw what it is so market isn't flooded since not overly complex, but such a creative idea selling small items. Anyways, was more blown away by the fact he pays for pins like that lol

I've been out of collecting pins for a year or two and I just started putting money away to get back into it. I run a few small businesses based around other hobbies I have and it can be quite the income machine if you're persistent and good at what you know.

I always sell a game to get another. I am @ max capacity and its an expensive hobby

Plus its not over once you get the game even NIB there is all that bling that needs to go on the game!

Sold Spider-Man (had for 5 years) for Hobbit LE
Sold Fish Tales and Judge Dredd for Star Trek LE loot!

Once you have a collection of games you can rotate it makes it not so painful. But new collectors getting into the hobby must have a hard time now due to increase prices. Glad I got in when I did!

You have fifty pins and are going to sell two of them and then buy twelve more?

That's the plan: fake my death, collect the insurance money, then buy more pins!

Forget buying the pins and just collect the flyers. Much cheaper that way.

Not bad, considering that your whole approach is rather accidental.

So true. Every year I take both the Federal and State tax refunds plus any bonus I get at work and apply it all towards my real estate taxes.

I admire the dedication to your craft

Maybe you can start hunting around the house for unused things to sell and dedicate that money for a pin fund? One time a pinsider started a thread about the random stuff he was selling on ebay or craigslist to buy a pin and he was going to keep track of it all, but I don't recall how that went