Set aside a ‘Play’ account for your toy collecting hobby
Some people might be wondering what has money management got to do with with their toy collecting hobby? Well, managing your finances, whether you like it or not, will always be part of your life, no matter what hobby you have or do not have. Collecting toys ultimately needs fresh regular funds to sustain it. You may sell some of your toys at times to free up some funds to acquire new toys but most collectors prefer to keep their toys than to let them go, that is why they are called toy collectors.
I picked up this money management habit from a free Wealth Creation seminar that I attended about 3 months ago. I thought why not I ’test’ out the advice given and share what I had learnt here. The seminar advised its participants to divide their income into 6 different accounts: -
1) 55% - ‘Necessities’ (for monthly bills, food, transport costs etc.)
2) 10% - ‘Financial Freedom’ (for investments etc.)
3) 10% - ‘Long Term Savings’ (for large expenditures like mortgage payments, TV, travel etc.)
4) 10% - ‘Education’ (for taking courses, buying study books etc.)
5) 10% - ‘Play’ (for hobbies, extra clothes, shoes etc.)
6) 5% - ‘Give’ (mainly for charity).
Note: You can distribute your income into as many accounts as you need and in which ever proportion that suits you. The above is just a guide provided and suggested at the seminar.
For this post, I shall focus on the ‘Play’ account which is set aside to splurge on hobbies and other ‘little luxuries’ in lfe (e.g. dining out).
I personally have followed this money management technique for the past 3 months. It definitely takes me more time and effort to instill this discipline of distributing my monthly income into the various accounts. I only allocate 10% of my income to my ‘Play’ account for new toys. Hence it keeps me from overspending on toys.
Although I collect mainly My Little Pony toys, I sometimes get sidetracked by nice Lego toys and cool-looking Justice League action figures too. Whenever I find new toys in the retail or online stores, the toy collecting part of my emotions sometimes get ‘torn’ in all directions by the angel and devil fighting it out in my mind.
I know that practising delayed gratification in toy collecting can be quite difficult, especially for the Rapid Growth Collector. I had been at that stage years ago and done that. That was long before I understood my emotions from learning Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), and knew what was really going on in my mind. Back then years ago, I did not practise sound money management and I often overspent on new toys that I felt I ‘MUST’ have then. Fortunately it was not so bad that I got into any financial difficulty, just that it burnt a hole in my pockets.
Now looking back, I definitely encourage all toy collectors to manage their toy funds well and complement it with the other finances in their lives. Once you set your personal finances in order, you can free your mind to pursue the toys that you are targeting and not worry about overspending. This can also reduce potential money conflicts with your non-toy collector spouse, family and loved ones who are living with you especially.
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