Author Topic: How do you fund your hobby?  (Read 2893 times)
HomeBrewLamps
Administrator
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery


SodiumVapor 105843202020668111118 UCpGClK_9OH8N4QkD1fp-jNw majorpayne1226 187567902@N04/
How do you fund your hobby? « on: March 12, 2023, 06:05:03 AM » Author: HomeBrewLamps
I have basically blown off buying bulbs and what not due to Financials. But I don't want to miss out on this Era of collection. Since it is only gonna get worse from here on. I am wondering how you all budget out your money. Do you set aside a little bit each check ? Or do you go on a binge every now and then? Have you stopped completely almost like me?
Logged

~Owen

:colorbulb: Scavenger, Urban Explorer, Lighting Enthusiast and Creator of homebrewlamps 8) :colorbulb:

Rommie
Administrator
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Female
View Posts
View Gallery

Andromeda Ascendant


Re: How do you fund your hobby? « Reply #1 on: March 12, 2023, 07:37:19 AM » Author: Rommie
We use a program called Ace Money. It lets us keep track of every penny in all our bank accounts, and even how much cash we have. It helped us a lot to get out of debt, and now we don't owe anybody anything, it helps us stay that way.

It's only available for Windoze or Mac, but the Win version runs fine under Wine on our Linux installations.
Logged

Ria (aka Rommie) in Aberdeen
Administrator, UK & European time zones. Any questions or problems, please feel free to get in touch :love:

"What greater gift than the love of a cat..?" - Charles Dickens
*** No smiley-only replies, please ***

Cole D.
Member
*****
Offline

View Posts
View Gallery

123 V 60 CPS


Dk944Mr-jX4jbnoUUj7xAw
Re: How do you fund your hobby? « Reply #2 on: March 12, 2023, 09:21:17 AM » Author: Cole D.
I’m not in any debt (just paid off my car) and I’m not a big spender on other things, so my collecting, at least lighting wise, I don’t consider a major expense.

The most I’ve spent on lighting $80 for a streetlight once, and I paid $30 for a floor lamp.

I do hope to buy a property in the future so I may have to get more conservative then, but as I said I don’t usually spend more than a few dollars on anything.

Most of my bulbs and fixtures I only buy on clearance or at habitat so they’re just $5 at most, usually $1 or so. Yard sales and estate sales can also find things cheaply.

But that said, I don’t really collect anything rare or valuable, I’d rather have stuff I don’t feel bad for using.
Logged

Collect vintage incandescent and fluorescent fixtures. Also like HID lighting and streetlights.

fluorescent lover 40
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

Re: How do you fund your hobby? « Reply #3 on: March 12, 2023, 02:56:19 PM » Author: fluorescent lover 40
I wanted to get every light possible a few years ago, but my thinking has changed now.

Seeing where I am now, I'm just checking out local thrift stores for goodies. I only get what I can use nowadays for the most part.

eBay is an absolute last resort if I need something that I can't find for things I'm using. I almost had to use it when I had a ballast fail on me and didn't have a spare, but luckily I found one (the last one too, there was no price sticker on the shelf for it anymore) at an Ace Hardware.

I suppose if I move to a bigger, better property, then I can continue collecting what I want. But for now, I'm dialing it down.
« Last Edit: March 12, 2023, 06:16:28 PM by fluorescent lover 40 » Logged
Roi_hartmann
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery


Re: How do you fund your hobby? « Reply #4 on: March 12, 2023, 03:21:33 PM » Author: Roi_hartmann
I haven't really bought much of lighting stuff lately... well in recent years. My apartment was renovated recently and as I had to first move out and after few months back in that made me really think how much lighting stuff do I really wanna have. Especially one that I'm probably never going to use.

Logged

Aamulla aurinko, illalla AIRAM

joseph_125
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery


GoL
Re: How do you fund your hobby? « Reply #5 on: March 12, 2023, 03:26:43 PM » Author: joseph_125
To be honest, inflation and the relative value of the local currency to the USD has dissuaded me from buying a lot off eBay recently. Instead I just pick up stuff I find neat at the Restore, Kijiji, and Value Village. Plus I don't have to deal with shipping.

The other thing is I already a pretty big collection with most of the items on my want list already filled so I don't feel as compelled to grab stuff compared to the younger members.
« Last Edit: March 12, 2023, 03:33:36 PM by joseph_125 » Logged
xmaslightguy
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

Somewhere There Is Light(ning)


GoL ATL
Re: How do you fund your hobby? « Reply #6 on: March 12, 2023, 04:31:17 PM » Author: xmaslightguy
I'm not a big spender just in general anyway.

Most of my light & stuff were bought on clearance or garage-sales or thrift/ReStore type places (and some on ebay, again looking for cheap/deals)
Lately I buy very little, there's not much of interest in the normal stores, and I don't go to the ReStore or thrift stores much anymore (pretty much nothing there of interest anyway), and rarely go to garage-sales.. .. ..plus there's a couple other big factors: I'm pretty much out of storage space. And the fact I'm old too, and "what am I truly going to do with this stuff?"

In all honesty there's a bunch I'd like to sell off (mostly Christmas lights to begin with). It sucks that eBay is crap now, and there's no real alternative.
Logged

ThunderStorms/Lightning/Tornados are meant to be hunted down & watched...not hidden from in the basement!

Econolite03
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

Matthew E.


Re: How do you fund your hobby? « Reply #7 on: March 12, 2023, 05:52:01 PM » Author: Econolite03
I try to be a responsible collector. At this point I’ve started to cut back significantly on spending, as about half my paycheck (part time) would go towards collecting, and right now my hours have been lackluster. I’ve been focusing on setting aside money for life.

eBay has become cost prohibitive. Anything considered “valuable” like a special Lifeguard is becoming unobtainable to the average person, even for myself. Aside from the one seller who I’ve bought from at lower, reasonable prices (such as my 80s Sylvania LU200s) I don’t really buy from other sellers. I had to work overtime for my bigger acquisitions, such as the RDW-3s. Now that I’m in college, it’s simply reckless to blow $90 on a mercury bulb. That’s my opinion.

Going forward, I plan to focus more locally, and unless I find something cheap or it’s something I really want, I’ll let others have it.
Logged
Rommie
Administrator
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Female
View Posts
View Gallery

Andromeda Ascendant


Re: How do you fund your hobby? « Reply #8 on: March 12, 2023, 08:07:32 PM » Author: Rommie
We've mostly completed our 'bucket list' here, so we're not really buying much in the way of lighting these days unless it's something super-rare, and unfortunately that tends to cost money. As I said earlier, we use a program called Ace Money to keep track of our finances, and it works really well for us, we know exactly how much we have in all the bank accounts, and even how much cash we have, so as long as we keep the program updated when we buy stuff, it's all good. We can even put in future bills so we know how much we should have in say a month's time or even a couple of years ahead or more.
Logged

Ria (aka Rommie) in Aberdeen
Administrator, UK & European time zones. Any questions or problems, please feel free to get in touch :love:

"What greater gift than the love of a cat..?" - Charles Dickens
*** No smiley-only replies, please ***

108CAM
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

Diehard MV, HPS, SOX & Preheat Fluorescent Fanatic


UCG6Xojn8dNgDuN9J7_Gnj8w
Re: How do you fund your hobby? « Reply #9 on: March 12, 2023, 09:32:41 PM » Author: 108CAM
Since a large percentage of my collection was found in the trash or given to me for free, I've been able to build a very nice collection without spending very much.
If I do find myself needing money for something I really want, It's off to the scrapyard with my barrels of scrap metal, mostly copper and brass found while trashpicking.
Logged

Fluro starter pings combined with a 50hz ballast hum and blinking tubes is music to my ears.

Rest in Peace Electronic Lamp Manufacturers of Australia
1925-2002

Bring back the AJF Zodiacs!

Total incidents since joining LG: 17
Lamps accidently broken or smashed: 14
Ballast explosions/burnouts: 3

wide-lite 1000
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery


Re: How do you fund your hobby? « Reply #10 on: March 13, 2023, 12:17:17 AM » Author: wide-lite 1000
 I tend to set a little aside every here and there as I can . I typically buy eBay giftcards so I can keep full track of what I spend . Besides , my local grocery store from where I buy the giftcards gives me discount points towards gas discounts !! https://www.gianteagle.com/fuelperks-plus So it helps me in 2 ways !!
Logged

Collector,Hoarder,Pack-rat! Clear mercury Rules!!

Rommie
Administrator
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Female
View Posts
View Gallery

Andromeda Ascendant


Re: How do you fund your hobby? « Reply #11 on: March 13, 2023, 06:41:50 AM » Author: Rommie
Oh boy, gift cards..! Been watching a lot of the scambaiting videos on Youtube recently, it seems to be a favourite trick of the scammers to get people to buy gift cards to pay them the money they fool people into thinking they owe, it's crazy..! I mean like Microsoft or Amazon would ring somebody up and tell them to go and buy gift cards  ::)

Look up Kitboga or Scammer Payback on YT if you want a laugh  :lol:
Logged

Ria (aka Rommie) in Aberdeen
Administrator, UK & European time zones. Any questions or problems, please feel free to get in touch :love:

"What greater gift than the love of a cat..?" - Charles Dickens
*** No smiley-only replies, please ***

AngryHorse
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

Rich


Re: How do you fund your hobby? « Reply #12 on: March 13, 2023, 07:14:45 AM » Author: AngryHorse
I stopped completely about 5 years ago, I’m even taking some to use at work now, for use in works lights to try and get rid of the things!  :lol:
It’s scary just how many you have when you start to dig through your dusty old boxes in the loft!, just for home use alone, I’ll never need to buy another lamp in my life and I’ve got about 35 lights in full time use both inside and outside!
Logged

Current: UK 230V, 50Hz
Power provider: e.on energy
Street lighting in our town: Philips UniStreet LED (gen 1)
Longest serving LED in service at home, (hour count): Energetic mini clear globe: 54,050 hrs @ 10/2/24

"Beauty fades, dumb is forever".......Judge Judy :D

Cole D.
Member
*****
Offline

View Posts
View Gallery

123 V 60 CPS


Dk944Mr-jX4jbnoUUj7xAw
Re: How do you fund your hobby? « Reply #13 on: March 13, 2023, 03:11:29 PM » Author: Cole D.
Hmm I have enough HID fixtures for now, although I’d like to obtain enough bulbs for them to last me if I use them.

Seeing as I may never be able to buy a house, I don’t really have any interest in obtaining more street lights at the moment as I have nowhere to use them.

I’ve been acquiring more normal stuff like floor lamps lately but I’ve already got more than o need. And this may sound sacrilege but most incandescent bulbs I’m not really collecting as I’m happy enough with the filament LEDs on the market now and readily available.

If I am ever able to afford a house I certainly won’t be able to pay the electric bill using incandescent anyway.
Logged

Collect vintage incandescent and fluorescent fixtures. Also like HID lighting and streetlights.

Silverliner
Administrator
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

Rare white reflector


GoL
Re: How do you fund your hobby? « Reply #14 on: March 14, 2023, 09:29:03 AM » Author: Silverliner
I've been a crazy collector for the last 20 years. Spent, spent, spent money both on eBay and in thrift stores and restores buying up bulbs and fixtures lol. Don't follow my lead or else you'll end up spending money on storage rent lol. I have two storage units rented, both just about full to the hilt. That's where my OCD comes into play lol.
Logged

Administrator of Lighting-Gallery.net. Need help? PM me.

Member of L-G since 2005.

Collector of vintage bulbs, street lights and fluorescent fixtures.

Electrician.

Also a fan of cars, travelling, working out, food, hanging out.

Power company: Southern California Edison.

Print 
© 2005-2024 Lighting-Gallery.net | SMF 2.0.19 | SMF © 2021, Simple Machines | Terms and Policies