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Your Monthly/Yearly Expenses


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archaron



Joined: 10 Oct 2006
Posts: 1024
PostPosted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 5:01 pm Reply with quote
My expenses on anime and manga this year came out to about $3300. Ouch, I thought I had cut back a bit, but it just went into manga instead. Oh well, its not like it wasn't a lot fun and in the end that’s all that matters right? Laughing In all seriousness though, I have really got to set a budget for next years anime & manga spending and stick to it. All well that ends well this year. In at least anime & manga its been fun, other things not so much.
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Mylene



Joined: 07 Feb 2006
Posts: 2792
Location: Indiana
PostPosted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 7:26 pm Reply with quote
archaron wrote:
Ouch, I thought I had cut back a bit, but it just went into manga instead.


How familiar! My anime buying has dried up quite a bit, but suddenly I'm buying tons of manga. I've stayed in my budget for the year though. A sudden $100 windfall (hurray for winning the company fitness challenge) means that I've still got $50 I can spend on the year, even. Wink
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Crisha
Moderator


Joined: 21 Apr 2010
Posts: 4290
PostPosted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 12:56 am Reply with quote
So, here's my spreadsheet:

Google Docs Spreadsheet

If anyone actually wishes to download the Excel spreadsheet I use, can download it here.

I'm not entirely pleased with my Discount column. Originally, I did it to keep track of my Got Anime Discount totals with Right Stuf (to see if the $12 was worth it), but now I've been keeping notes in that column for other discounts I'm getting. I'm also debating on whether or not to remove the Got Anime Discounts from the prices in the "Price" column and let it be representative of the actual price I paid with the Got Anime Discount. I automatically remove all other discounts, so I probably will with the Got Anime one as well.

Anyways, total money spent is in the dark green box with grey lettering (it subtracts the Got Anime Discounts total and adds the tax and shipping totals to the "Price" column total amount, so that I know just exactly how much money was spent overall).

The "Money Saved" column shows where I saved, where I lost money, and where I broke even in comparison with MSRP. I have to keep track of the colors myself, however, because while I'm familiar with the logical formulas in Excel, I haven't looked for a way (if there is any) where the cell automatically changes it's color depending on the values contained within.

It's a work in progress. I'll get it where I like, eventually.

Anyways, you can see I'm big on color-coding. Very Happy

EDIT: Also, to anyone confused about the cells with the 3 dashes '---', that's representative of "ditto" to whatever is above. So for the columns with the dates, any dashes underneath represent that those purchases were made on the same date.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23669
PostPosted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 6:43 am Reply with quote
Oooo, keeping track of how much I save using the Got Anime discount - that's a good idea. I've never bothered with that, because I always knew that the $12 investment probably paid for itself 10x over, but it would be nice to know exactly how much I've saved.
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PetrifiedJello



Joined: 11 Mar 2009
Posts: 3782
PostPosted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 10:43 am Reply with quote
Around six months ago, I made a change in my anime spending habits. Rather than buying any available cheap series, I decided to focus on titles I've seen and figures (my original love).

Aside from a few titles (mostly to meet the free shipping minimum), this self-imposed rule has worked out nicely. Not only has it saved me major coin, but it's also allowed me to appreciate my purchases, something I didn't quite do in 2009/early 2010.

What's my grand total for 2010? Unknown, and it's staying this way because I really don't want to put a price on my collection anymore.

When I first started building my DVD collection, it was impossible not to sit back and go "Damn, this is all I got for $3,000?"

I don't want to be there ever again. I want to sit back, smile, and say to myself "Now this was worth every penny I spent."

I just couldn't get into the "pretty box" appreciation party many of you are members of. To me, the entire collection is a complete waste as each and every single title should be available to me via a streaming service. Unfortunately, in 2010, we're still not there yet, but it's getting close.

Until then, a few titles must be served to me via plastic disk purchases because streaming services don't offer me the option of disabling subtitles or swap between languages. When many of the products I can buy offer me this exact same limitation, it's time to stop spending money on DVDs.

I'm looking forward to rebuilding my figure collection, now consisting mostly of Max Factory figma figures. I've sold most of my older figures because, back then, they weren't made nearly as good as the figures of today are. Sure, a few will pop up in the future and I'll say to myself "I used to have her!", but further inspection will remind me why I no longer do.

I'm also looking forward to taking pictures of the collection, once it meets my display to the public satisfaction. Perhaps Shelf Life will receive them, or I'll throw them up in Community.

Either way, as an anime fan who buys merchandise, I'm very glad to have restored myself into an appreciative purchaser rather than suffer the Hoarder Mentality (which still affects me in gaming, damn it).

See you in 2011 and Happy Bargain Hunting!
Smile
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egoist



Joined: 20 Jun 2008
Posts: 7762
PostPosted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 11:04 am Reply with quote
Quote:
When I first started building my DVD collection, it was impossible not to sit back and go "Damn, this is all I got for $3,000?"

So, it looks like I'm on the right boat since I don't even know in which exact hundred the number of discs I own is at. Much less the amount I've spent; which would be a few Ks away from my guesstimate.
Actually, I don't even have a list of what I own. Hey, someone make one for me. I'll just visit every retail I've been to, copy, and paste past orders, and email it to ya!¬ Wink
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FaytLein



Joined: 21 Jun 2008
Posts: 1260
Location: Williamsburg, VA
PostPosted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 6:18 pm Reply with quote
egoist wrote:
Actually, I don't even have a list of what I own. Hey, someone make one for me. I'll just visit every retail I've been to, copy, and paste past orders, and email it to ya!¬ Wink


http://www.dvdaf.com/

A free and easy site to keep track of your DVD purchases. It won't track cost or anything, but its a very easy tool for making sure your DVD list is up to date!
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Sheleigha



Joined: 09 May 2008
Posts: 1671
PostPosted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 7:35 pm Reply with quote
FaytLein wrote:

http://www.dvdaf.com/

A free and easy site to keep track of your DVD purchases. It won't track cost or anything, but its a very easy tool for making sure your DVD list is up to date!


I used to use it, until I found out about https://www.billmonk.com/
It was nice keeping track of stuff I leant out, AND it recorded CDs, books, and games!
...then one day, the search funtion failed and stopped working :/
Anyone know if it's been fixed since?
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Alan45
Village Elder



Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 9812
Location: Virginia
PostPosted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 10:00 pm Reply with quote
Here are this years figures, so far:

Anime: $2722.51
Manga: $3039.14
Novels: $138.11
Figures: $747.80
Magazines: $138.49
Misc: $196.04
Shipping & Handling: $390.79
Va. Sales Tax: $348.45
Total: $7721.33

I think all catagories are down from previous years, but I'm not about to dig out the last 12 years of records to verify this. I know I bought less figures this year, prices went up and at least three that I wanted were cancelled.

Vendors:
B&D Comic Shop: $3410.45
Roberts Anime Corner Store: $3736.49
Barnes & Nobel: $291.68
Best Buy: $256.63
Amazon.com: $26.08

I still have all the receipts for this year, so this is fairly accurate. I may have missed one or two items.

I have two comic deliveries to go, not sure how much manga they will include. I don't anitcipate any additional anime purchases this year.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23669
PostPosted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 10:18 pm Reply with quote
Alan45 - do you have a list of your anime titles somewhere (i.e. DVDAF?) I'd love to check out your collection.
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OldCharlieStoletheHandle



Joined: 12 Dec 2009
Posts: 1288
Location: Mastic Beach, NY
PostPosted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 4:08 am Reply with quote
I haven't counted up my anime/manga expenses yet for this year but I will do so before the end of the year.

As for my "budget" for next year, it is impossible for me to come up with that since it depends on how much overtime (if any) I get. Without overtime I will be struggling to keep up with bills. For comparison, my income is a bit less than FaytLein's but my living expenses as a homeowner are much higher:

House payment=$1520 per month (includes tax and insurance).
Heating oil=$207 per month (budget plan).
Cable/phone/internet=$198 per month.
Car payment=$363 per month.
Electricity averages about $70/month in winter and about $160/month in summer.
Water is about $20-25/month.
Car insurance is $711 every 6 months (I save a few bucks paying it off all at once rather than in instrallments).
With gas being over $3/gallon, I don't have much left for food or luxuries, especially since I can count on the occasional large car maintenance/repair bill. I also spend $70-100 per month on co-pays for medicine (sucks to get old).

Last year I was able to make about an extra $600/month for most of the spring & summer on overtime but rumor has it we won't get much, if any, in the coming year, so I'll have to play it by ear as to how much I can spend on anime/manga.
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The King of Harts



Joined: 05 May 2009
Posts: 6712
Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia
PostPosted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 4:53 am Reply with quote
Quote:
Va. Sales Tax: $348.45

Is that from RACS? I've never ordered from there before, but I should've known there'd be a sales tax.
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PetrifiedJello



Joined: 11 Mar 2009
Posts: 3782
PostPosted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 7:06 am Reply with quote
The King of Harts wrote:
Is that from RACS? I've never ordered from there before, but I should've known there'd be a sales tax.

Yep. RACS is in VA.

FYI: If you're ordering from an online store which has a presence in the same state as your residence, you'll be paying a state sales tax.

It's why I pay tax on Amazon.com, all thanks to the processing center in Kokomo. It's also why I don't use the site unless absolutely necessary.
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Alan45
Village Elder



Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 9812
Location: Virginia
PostPosted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 9:09 pm Reply with quote
@ KofH
That is 5% of everything except the two novels from Amazon. RACS is just up the valley from you in Winchester. I don't think they have a Brick and Morter store unfortunately. They used to be in Charlestown WVa but moved a couple of years ago for larger wherehous space.I realize that I'm paying extra for stuff from them, but the price is otherwise similar to TRSI on current titles. The service is the difference though. Usually when I order today, the anime is shipped tomorrow and (if I use UPS) I get it the day after. On the few occasions I have had a problem, I emailed and got a reply the following day with a quick solution of the problem. RACS has an extensive offering of figures, probably because Robert is a figure collector himself.

I did use TRSI extensively to take advantage of sale prices to replace my individual discs with slim pack sets, but from my records that must have been last year. I have ordered from TRSI on several occasions over the last decade or so, but they usually manage to irritate me to the point I look for another source.

At one point I used Anime Nation for a while, (after the first time I got irritated with TRSI) but their prices are bad. They do have (or did have)a B&M store in the St. Petersburg FL area which I checked out while visiting inlaws a couple of times.

@Blood-
I don't currently have a list of my Anime collection anywhere. I am in the process of (slowly) cataloging it currently in an Excel spread sheet. If you are still interested when I'm through, I'll send you a copy. It may be a couple of weeks though. We are having some work done on the house and things are a bit upside down. Let me know if you can't use an Excel sheet and we can work on a format you can use. I'm not likely to post it on an internet site, if for no other reason it would be too much data entry. The manga inventory is done (except for the individual comics). I just hit 600 series.

Which brings up anothe issue. Today was (as Wednesday always is) comic book day. I picked up an additional $60.81 in manga and $111.98 in figures. And, Oh yeah, another $8.64 in sales tax. I'll post the individal items in the other thread.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23669
PostPosted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 10:21 pm Reply with quote
@ Alan45 - Excel is fine; I may not be proficient in its use, but I have juuuuuuust enough know-how to be able to open an Excel file.
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