2008 Spending Ups & Downs
I know everyone has been waiting for it; my 2008 spending report for last year. I don’t know whether I should be proud or ashamed at the final total as using my aniblogging peers for comparison did not help much…
… especially when I ended up spending a little over $10,000USD in goods in 2008 ^^;;
Everyone loves graphs right, even if they suck? The monthly break down of spending where one can obviously see where I spent the most dough. Really doesn’t tell one much without seeing a more detail break down other than that I have the most random spending habits ever.
Break down of spending per month per “category” where I separated my major spending into three groups: figures (blue), media (which includes DVDs, CDs, Bluray, Magazines, etc) (red), and electronics (green).
Beginning of 2008 saw a strong spending in figures but as the months went by this was lessen as my growing interest in seiyuu related goods took over. Plus as the months went on, I was slowly losing the passion for figure collecting due to the cost and space they take up. In no way I am quitting purchasing figures, but really have to start taking a harder look on potential releases so I only buy what I really really really want. I can easily say if I didn’t randomly pull the trigger on some of the figures I got in 2008, I would have been a happier man *cough* Makimoto Misae Fantastica *cough*
Beside figures, last year saw a good decrease in general anime related DVD spending, especially with R2s. Most likely due to the fact a lot of series I’m willing to buy in R2 seems to get eventual R1 releases, I figured it was time to limit myself a bit. Actually the only R2 anime DVDs I ended up getting were Clannad and Minami-ke (first season obviously) where in 2007 I think I ended up following 3-5 series in R2 form. On the R1 front, really not much either other than the occasional buy thanks to TRSI studio or seasonal sales; off the top of my head I can only think of Gurren Lagann, SHUFFLE, and Nanoha though there may be a random disc here or there I picked up to complete a series. Just as I mentioned with figures, going to try to be a little stricter on buying anime DVDs but considering how little I bought last year probably won’t be that much of an issue (thank god) ^^;;
And the real killers last year for me, seiyuu related goods. Don’t know when my interest started to grow towards almost obsession levels but 2008 saw me spending a lot on mostly Nana Mizuki and Minori Chihara DVDs, CDs, magazines, etc. The real killer was easily my insane idea of buying all of Nana Mizuki’s publicly released concert and PV DVDs in one go (and recently, getting 2nd copies of them cause I’m stupid like that). Also randomly buying seiyuu related magazines like Animedia, Pick-Up Voice, etc for photos of said seiyuus probably wasn’t a brilliant move either due to high shipping cost and the weak dollar. I want to say hopefully this year I’ll be a bit better about it but it seems, at least based on 2008, I just decrease the level of spending on other stuff to fuel this hobby instead. Maybe I can just blame folks like j1m0ne, danie and townberry to feel better?
Blame game aside, what I really spent the most last year on were electronics. Basically May and November destroyed me since I got a new plasma and PC. I’ll admit for the plasma, it wasn’t needed at all but I simply could not pass up the offer given the price it was being sold at. It’s been working strong for over six months so far, so no complaints and definitely loving the additional size and quality compared to my old 37″ LCD. For the PC, at least I can say I needed it since my old died and it was about time I upgraded anyway. Had a few issues here and there but everything has mostly been worked out and honestly can’t complain about my new rig with up to four outputs (yes, I plan to do dual monitor for day to day stuff while using one of the other outputs to the plasma). Insane and pointless? You bet! Can’t forget about my new phone either which is pretty pimp… if it wasn’t for the fact I now have to get it fixed/exchanged as I believe there is hardware issues with mine as it barely works as a phone (WTF) 
The overall breakdown by categories with electronics easily over taking figures and media. Funny thing is if I didn’t spend so much on electronics this year, I would have decreased my cost in overall spending by a few hundred dollars from 2007.
So what to say about last year’s spending… well, once again I’m surprised in myself that I could spend so much and still not be broke yet. If I was cocky and didn’t give a crap about finances, I would probably say I’ll try harder to spend more this year but reality set in for me awhile back that I need to start paying back for other stuff that I’ve left in the dark. I don’t see the passion for the hobby dying out anytime soon but I definitely see myself (hopefully) restricting myself a lot since I simply can’t afford going “nuts” like I have the past few years. I think as long as no random spending like buying new monitors (which seems to be the trend EVERY YEAR) or the like happen, I should be good. I can easily see myself cutting back on figures and anime DVD spending as I have over the past several weeks but it’ll probably be seiyuu related merchandise that’ll be the killer (again) in 2009…
… maybe as long as I limit which seiyuus I follow like a stalker dedicated fan , I can save myself somehow ^^;;
counting electronics is unfair no?
But still an impressive figure :p
Don’t blame me, we’re in the same boat! ^^; It’s just instead of gadgets, I chose to see my goddesses live.
Props to this post, I don’t even dare to count exactly how much I have spent in 2008.
I choose to live in denial and do not add these things up.
Still, I’m sure you’ve got me beat…I hope. ^^;
Holy hell 10K. :\
I’ve spent maybe a fifth of you this year and I refuse to track it…
I didn’t account for electronics in my calculations since a I focused mainly on anime goods, but I would say it would’ve been a lot higher overall. Still I look forward to seeing your expenditure throughout 2009.
tsk tsk man. Glad you’re not from Canada or else I’d beat you for spending that much =P
Happy new year my friend. Hope your new year’s resolution is to spend less and to keep your readers entertained!
Discounting electronics, that’s a hefty 50 times my expenditure. Including it, that’s my spending a hundredfold.
GOOD JOB.
Oh whoops, I accidentally left a zero out in my calculations. It’s just 5 and 10 times mine >_>
Even then, ten grand is… quite incredible.
Oh wow. One day your passion will make you poor :p
Haha…moi? I refuse to total up what I’ve spent – it’d kill me to see how much I wasted on shipping costs. Here’s a suggestion – stop liking Nana and Minorin & your seiyuu goods expenditure for 2009 will probably go down by 80%
Wow.. I wouldn’t try to even count my expenses since, I imagine it would be the same range as yours over $10,000. Still it’s things you enjoy right?
omo, well the electronics play into the hobby so I figured it was okay? Plus on my previous years “financial reports” I included them as well, so…
danie~, you’re probably doing what I *should* do but am too lazy to try. And yes, looking at the totals one spends on a hobby is a scary thing no doubt ^^;;
super rats, that’s the way to be I tells you LOL. But yea, rest assure I’m pretty positive I’ve spent more than you since you’re actually selective about purchases versus me hehe
Panther, exactly what I said.
Link, trust me it’s better that way. The less you know the better you’re off.
Adun, see my comment to omo and yea probably based on your job. And yea, I hope to see nothing special for 2009; heck I hope you beat me
ajt, well I hope to spend less if anything else…
Zeroblade, gotcha and yea that’s a lot no matter how I think about it.
kyouray, yes I know thus why I need to cut down!
j1m0ne, very true but I think I would find another way to spend the money. At least this way, I’m supporting artists I like right? ^^;;
miz, yea for the most part until I totally forget about them LOL
if you look it from the other side it’s still $30 per day, it’s okay
Wow 10K you sure are lucky to be able to spend that much and get away with it. Come to think of it our economy depends on financial irresponsibility, after all if you spend more this recession thing will pass right?
I bow my head to your spending abilities. I´m nowhere near it. Biggest buy this year was my new comp and well… it costed a bit, but nowhere near how much you spended on everything.
Simply wow. But here´s to a happy new spending year
Keep em comming.
roflmaoooo, omfg Moy-kun you are insane
please be my master in 2009, and teach me the ways of otaku pride!
Wow… how can you bring yourself to buy that much? To me, there’s not enough things that I want in this world… my room is practically empty.
ron~, haha thanks for making feel better by thinking like that!
Crusader, LOL I guess so or at least if it helps make me feel better bout spending then…
manga, LMAO
Zanza, nah man. You chose the right way of quitting while ahead
Olivia, *shrugs* I don’t know and wonder so myself
I salute you XDXD
But.. how can you?! we’re in recession
… unless you’re filthy rich :p
Recession has nothing to do with feeding a need….
lawl… buy more seiyuu animedia, seigura and pick up voice.
All hail Moyism!
Late to the party but no less awed. Indeed we all need to be more prudent in our figure/dvd purchases. That said, PVC figures (less figma/nendroids) aren’t getting that many decent releases nowadays. I get the feeling it wouldn’t be hard to contain our figure expenditure for 2009… your seiyuu-passion on the other hand.. just wow!