The Aussie Pinball Arcade
Aussie Pinball Forums => General Chat - Non Pinball/coin-opp Discussion => Topic started by: Ford Fairlane on March 13, 2009, 10:13:52 PM
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Hi Guys,
Just sitting here watching some footy and realise i have to achieve 2 things this year. FIRST is stop smoking. Have made an appointment with doctor on monday and he'll put me on a newish drug called champex so besides the health concern, this also helps in accomplishing the second mission... SECOND is to own 5 pins by the end of the year (only have 2 for now)
Especially after seeing the cc going for 15K (well done Mark!!!), i need to save some money at least 6k but most likely more.
So guys, i need some tips on how to save some money besides stop smoking. Without getting too personal, how do you guys find money to spend on pins. Its driving me nuts as im trawling ebay and yet to see Markc and keep seeing pins i'd love but cant get the money together.
All advice is appreciated!!!
Thanks guys!
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A suggestion is to do a list of all your expenses and write down what you are spending on a weekly/monthly basis compared to what you are bringing in. Once you do this, you will be able to see the areas that you are spending money on and where you could save - do a budget. Maybe get some of your pay each week put straight into a different account that you don't touch.
Also with interest rates being low, ensure that you have the best home loan and whether it would pay to consolidate debts, if relevant
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The $64 million dollar question !@#
Smoking - Stop buying them. Period. Same as a diet - STOP your elbow from moving, and keep your mouth shut. Play pinball - find a project game.. oh - that would be question #2.
MOST collectors I know that have amassed impeccable collections have three of four common denominators ;
1 - Don't Smoke
2 - Don't gamble
3 - Don't drink
4 - Give up any other "hobbies"
5 - Pay PLENTY of attention to your wife / kids - be a good husband / Father as you can (brownie points when you HAVE TO HAVE that game !)
I personally LOVE a drop every now and again. But in moderation (hic).
SAVE your money and wait for bargains. Buy cheap projects and teach yourself to restore them - PATIENTLY.
TELL people your hobby is PINBALL. That's how pinballs find YOU - You don't need to look.
KNOW the values of the machines you want
SELL the machines you don't want
TELL your "favorite" Dealer what games you are looking for - works wonders &&
Every single machine I have WAS a project or "as is" container game - except Medusa and Street fighter II.
So keep working on the games and sell them after you have repaired / reconditioned or restored them.
This frees up $$$ to spend on projects
The cycle will continue
One piece of advice I can give you - ENJOY the journey. If is is not fun anymore, then look for a new hobby !
Best of luck with your goals - Work hard at cutting your expenses, and instead of the 5 minute smoko - play pinball. Best of luck with your attempt at giving up smoking.
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Saving money tips:
Don't buy your lunch, make it at home and take it to work. This can save around $20 - $25 per week quite easily.
Drink water instead of soft drink.
Walk rather than drive if the destination is close enough.
Making money tip:
Contact your local newspaper distributor; distributing junk mail and the local newspaper earns me around $50 a week and $70 or more around Christmas time. You will need around 4 - 5 hours spare time a week, two hours or so to sort the junk mail and a couple of hours to deliver. I am lucky enough to have a round within walking distance.
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Single income family here, and pinballs are a low priority as far as the budget goes. But the wife realises that pins make me happy, and are a very innocent addiction. So when tax time comes around I manage to convince that a few hundred be tucked away for my next pin. I also find that sticking 10 bucks a week in one of my machines is easy to do, and its not missed.
I have been funding machine purchases by selling pins as well...........but f**k that, I want to grow a collection and am liking the games I own anyway.
Dont smoke, dont spend $$$ giving-up either. Just go cold turkey! I did it, so anyone can.
Dont buy take-away food, it makes you fat, and thats $$$ that can be used for a pin.
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Agreed about the cold turkey thing. It might sound a bit smug but it really is quite easy if you put your mind to it. The secret is to find the right time though. Do it when you know nothing stressful is around the corner (hard to guess I know) but avoid times like Christmas, New Years, big bills etc. I tried a few times using Nicobate gum without success but the 4th or 5th time (can't quite remember) I said f**k it, I'm just quitting...and I did. Haven't had one for 6 years now. I would say it's the proudest moment of my life next to the birth of my kids. When you get the urge, don't try to find a substitute as that will cost money in the end as well i.e. booze, food etc. Just ride out the urge and you will find after a few days the urge will subside dramatically. It doesn't take long believe me. I don't even think about smokes anymore. The smell of smoke is still something I find pleasing to the senses but I have no desire at all to have a puff. Just remember, you can do it!
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Some excellent suggestions there and no matter how simple some of them are, i am guilty of nearly all of them... Make my own lunch.. of course i should, im pissing away money on lunch (and sometimes breakfast) which must cost me $40 a week. Water instead of soft drink ... damn i drink litres of coke zero every week. Sometime it just needs someone (you guys) to state the obvious. Brilliant!!!
As to quitting smoking... i have tried many a time with the cold turkey and i've got to admit it hasnt worked for me. I work in IT and i find that i "need" to walk away from my pc every now and then and a smoke lets me do that... Weak i know but i really think i need help in a drug form.
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Look into hypnosis. I heard it does help "stubborn" quitters.
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I was absolutely hopeless at saving money, I tried and tried but the urge to spend all the money in my account was too great and by the end of the fortnight/month I was hanging out for pay day again. I bought alot of shit that I didn't need and I was definitely an impulse buyer. Finally, I thought f**k this, I'm going to do something about it. I spoke to my wife and said that the only way I could think of to solve the problem is to not have access to the money - my pay would be immediately transferred to a Savings account and I would be left with some play money for the week. You might think what a wuss to have a Minister of Finance appointed to "protect" our savings, but I have to admit it has worked really well for me. I still get an allowance which covers all of my outgoings, but I am much more careful about what I spend now, and if there is something I really want, the Finance department has yet to decline my application :D
Matthew
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one way to try
now we had 3 of these going
get one of big coke or beer cans money boxes . i put all my coins and spare $5.00 notes in one and the kids had a couple too .
we called one the holiday spending money , as we are going away shortly for a week we smahed it open and you wont believe me it had 1300.00 in it , now from just putting all my coins in it , really my 3 year came upto me and loves putting them in , she also put alot in her one too . I never noticed it that much but to quickly find 1300 or more i would .
tim and I had one here to for the drink fridges we had but poor tim he killed it one night .....
if really if there is a pin you chasing most of us will let you pay it off and there are no fees for this . I have a couple here that have been 6 months but they pay me each week or month or come in and drink my coffee, as long as you talk and keep in contact I am sure most like me would be happy
if I can help drop me a line
lay-by is for showroom sales not ebay though , all sales on ebay i ask for payment in full
thanks
mark
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Hey Rob
Good luck with the smoking but a nice simple way to save it to take your pins off freeplay???? All those twentys or ones or both add up real quick and its an extra challenge to your game when your paying to play em. My Jukebox takes $1 and $2 coins so ill just put any coins i have in whatever machine takes whatever coin and just forget that its there. Unless i need another bottle of scotch i soon find the Jukebox keys then.
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if really if there is a pin you chasing most of us will let you pay it off and there are no fees for this . I have a couple here that have been 6 months but they pay me each week or month or come in and drink my coffee, as long as you talk and keep in contact I am sure most like me would be happy
if I can help drop me a line
lay-by is for showroom sales not ebay though , all sales on ebay i ask for payment in full
thanks
mark
That is a great offer - and certainly one way of ensuring 'savings'. I think you can guess which pin I am after next.
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I was absolutely hopeless at saving money, I tried and tried but the urge to spend all the money in my account was too great and by the end of the fortnight/month I was hanging out for pay day again. I bought alot of shit that I didn't need and I was definitely an impulse buyer. Finally, I thought f**k this, I'm going to do something about it. I spoke to my wife and said that the only way I could think of to solve the problem is to not have access to the money - my pay would be immediately transferred to a Savings account and I would be left with some play money for the week. You might think what a wuss to have a Minister of Finance appointed to "protect" our savings, but I have to admit it has worked really well for me. I still get an allowance which covers all of my outgoings, but I am much more careful about what I spend now, and if there is something I really want, the Finance department has yet to decline my application :D
Matthew
Great idea - I use a similar system. I halve any cash from a pinball sale and half goes to my wife for family expenses, and the other half is used to buy project machines and parts. That way, I keep the wife happy and I can buy machines - when the $$ is there and I have the room !
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Must be the a sign of the times, or our increasing age because I have in the last 2 weeks stopped buying takeaway, hardly ever drink softdrinks (used to do 4-6 cans per day), and started exercising. I am feeling great, no headaches, and much less stressed.
It hasnt got me another pin, but I may live longer to grow a better collection.
::)
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LOL- interesting dilemma,
Giving up the fags - oh ive done it several times and am attempting to do it again. I can give up for 2 years etc then go back on them. Cause of EVERY relapse has been a woman. If they didnt taste great, feel great, look great, smell great id be off the fags like a shot. Never met a woman yet that didnt have firm opinions and wasnt willing to shove em down my throat.
OK - cost saving tips..
No women
No women
No women
Give up the fags.
Buy wrecks of machines - fix em up and sell em on - put the money away to accumulate funds
No women.
4 of the above i find difficult to stick to.....but good luck to ya!
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:lol Gav the women bit i kinda have sorted. My wife of 8 years is pretty good with the cash... a little too good and therefore she is financial minister of my household. However, she hasnt been bitten as hard as i have with the "Pin fever" so any surplus funds kind of go into more "responsible" avenues... Thats why i need something a little more ... devious? or something not noticeable (quitting the fags will help and not buying lunch etc) where i can stash funds i would usually piss away on these things and put it aside for what matters .. the pins.
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Some excellent suggestions there and no matter how simple some of them are, i am guilty of nearly all of them... Make my own lunch.. of course i should, im pissing away money on lunch (and sometimes breakfast) which must cost me $40 a week. Water instead of soft drink ... damn i drink litres of coke zero every week. Sometime it just needs someone (you guys) to state the obvious. Brilliant!!!
As to quitting smoking... i have tried many a time with the cold turkey and i've got to admit it hasnt worked for me. I work in IT and i find that i "need" to walk away from my pc every now and then and a smoke lets me do that... Weak i know but i really think i need help in a drug form.
Rob,
Went through all this years ago- the secret is you need to find something to take the place of having a smoke.
The actual urge for smoking doesn't last long, so you need something to take that away.
I found chewing gum worked and if I felt like a smoke I went and ran up some flights of stairs.
Also after a week or so you will feel like a million dollars and will wonder why the hell you smoked in the first place.
You have kids right? Mate there is enough reason to give the f**king things up
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How about putting coin mechs in your existing pins? Everytime you play, $2.00. But it will help towards your new machines!
I've been bring my lunches to work, not drinking piss etc....You can save upwards of $200.00 per month by that alone. I've never smoked so I cannot offer any advice on that, but certainly the money alone will buy you a pin in no time....
If I'm saving for a pinny, for me I setup a secondary (or third) account (similar to a xmas account). Automatically DD $50.00 per week out. If its not there, I don't see it, I don't miss it and wont spend it.
Don't forget about the layby services commercial guys offer. If you've found your next dream pin, making auto payments each month will bring it closer and closer.
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Ok - youve done better than me with the woman thing then.
But heres what i did when i was married and funds were tight.
I put ads in the paper for non working pins - snap em up cheap, fix em up and sell them on. All proceeds go to the next purchase. But i was lucky and scored a JD cheap and so paid off the credit card debt with that one and after that - anything that was earnt from them was put straight back into the hobby - became a self funding hobby
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Ok - youve done better than me with the woman thing then.
But heres what i did when i was married and funds were tight.
I put ads in the paper for non working pins - snap em up cheap, fix em up and sell them on. All proceeds go to the next purchase. But i was lucky and scored a JD cheap and so paid off the credit card debt with that one and after that - anything that was earnt from them was put straight back into the hobby - became a self funding hobby
Exactly what I'm doing, Gavin.
Great minds think alike %.%
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Ok - youve done better than me with the woman thing then.
But heres what i did when i was married and funds were tight.
I put ads in the paper for non working pins - snap em up cheap, fix em up and sell them on. All proceeds go to the next purchase. But i was lucky and scored a JD cheap and so paid off the credit card debt with that one and after that - anything that was earnt from them was put straight back into the hobby - became a self funding hobby
Exactly what I'm doing, Gavin.
Great minds think alike %.%
yeh mate - it took one lucky phone call - a JD for $400 - non working display. It was the power board - replace the zener and the associated components and that was then 100% - motor didnt work, but i gave that to a clock maker ( my dad) and he rebuilt that and the whole machine was solid. Sold it privately for $2400 and cleared the credit card debt. After that my family was pretty much debt free bar the mortagage. From that moment on my wife understood that pins were worth having around and so i could indulge myself from there. Apart from last year when i bought a lot of pins - my whole hobby has been self funded for nearly 10 years now with cash to buy more projects at hand.
If you can make it pay and your family can see the benefits then youll have no problem.
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But heres what i did when i was married and funds were tight.
I put ads in the paper for non working pins - snap em up cheap, fix em up and sell them on. All proceeds go to the next purchase. But i was lucky and scored a JD cheap and so paid off the credit card debt with that one and after that - anything that was earnt from them was put straight back into the hobby - became a self funding hobby
This sounds like an interesting strategy, provided the restoration skills are good enough.
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Exactly What i'm doing as well gav even though it hurts to let em go as there not always easy to get hold of. But now ive had a heap the way i tell if its a seller is if its bellow an 8 or not a collectable machine out it goes (or really old)
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Interesting bit of synchronicity. I have been cutting back on the smokes for a couple weeks or so in preparation for quitting. They say that doesn't help, but I don't see why not. For me it was a matter of wanting to reduce the physical withdrawal (insomnia, headaches, etc.) in preparation for "cold turkey".
I am only on my second day of zero smoking. I was up to about 30 per day and really feeling it. The past couple days I've had brief feelings of wanting a smoke, but it passes pretty quick. For me, anger is a motivator. It really pisses me off that I ever got into smoking in the first place, and I'm pissed at myself that I am weak-minded enough to get addicted.
Get on Google man! Learn yourself up about different things people do to quit and stay off 'em. Don't go into this half-baked and just start back up again. There's lots of good info on the net and it's easy to find. If it takes drugs, gum, patches, heroin - whatever - or none of the above, do it! It's possibly the best thing you can do for yourself. I got a prescription for some kind of drug, but one thing I know about all these late-model designer drugs is that they seldom work as well as they claim, and the side effects are more detrimental than they claim. If you need them to quit, then take them and don't look back - they are still better then smoking.
Rather than filling the prescription I got, I'm trying various behavioral psychology run-of-the-mill stuff and it seems to be going OK. Throw or give away every bit of your cigarette stuff. Even heirloom Zippo lighters (give them to a different family member or something). Dispose of all ashtrays, lighters, definitely any cigarettes from the house entirely. Clean your car ashtrays and fill them with mints or the like. Clean your house or preferably paint at least a couple main rooms and enjoy the clean air smell. Maybe shampoo the rugs & upholstery in the house and possibly the cars too. One thing I can already notice is that cigarette smoke from others no longer hits me in a pleasant way. To me it already smells a bit stale and "chokey" which is a big help for me. Many folks never go through this and still enjoy the smell even a few years after quitting though, so don't count on this until you find out for yourself.
I haven't got into a routine yet, but exercise universally helps not only with cessation of smoking, but with physical and mental health in general. I notice an improvement in myself even immediately after I find myself exerting myself via shoveling snow or dirt, taking many trips up & down the stairway to move a bunch of boxes of stuff, etc.
Quit smoking, get exercise, hell all that's left is eating right and you're gold!
As for saving money, all I can advise is to quit spending it impulsively. You might be surprised once you look at things head-on and honestly what things are necessary and what are impulses. If you sleep in a dry bed, only eat simple, healthy food, and own basic, reliable transportation, then honestly you're pretty well set. Anything beyond this is honestly not necessary and you've just rationalized it for yourself and your family. Nothing wrong with owning more than you need and living a richer lifestyle containing more than the bare essentials, but an awareness of what you're doing is healthy while floating through unaware is not only unhealthy (without exception) but also targets yourself and your family to be pulled to and fro by outside forces, i.e. marketing and political, etc. It's tons easier said than done, but if you went one year without making one impulse buy, I'm guessing any one of us would likely have a few thousand $$$ in the bank. I'm not kidding. Most everybody I know (and the younger they are the worse they are) spend way more than the deserved attention on yearning for the next purchase, then rationalizing their way into feeling OK about buying it. Truth be told, the same thing can be said about pinnies (blasphemy! !^!) but in the search for truth, all weaknesses must be revealed. If it came down to it and you needed to pass on that holy grail pin purchase so you could remain secure in your basic finances, then so be it. You should be proud of knowing that your priorities are properly aligned and feel zero regret. Besides, these things always seem to come back around again (which is one mantra to keep in mind regarding ALL impulse buying).
Note that this is all advice derived in retrospect of my own personal experience, so by definition I am not an image of the actions I've illustrated above. I am steadily working toward it though, and even making progress - kind of like eroding a mountain with a feather, but still...