I think I'm an addict

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**Smushed**

kaotkbliss wrote:
Almost none of it is painted because I decided my skills have improved a little so it's time to repaint everything! LOL

The Credit card is helping to build my credit by making on-time payments (I actually make extra payments each month) and it's not like it's money I don't have since I basically make a payment to the card, then use the card to spend the payment I just made.

However, I do need to get it paid down so that a) my credit to debt ratio is better and b) in case of emergency funds.

I made a $200 payment this morning and spent $100 of it, so if I can just hold off till next pay then I'll be a little better off when I make the next payment. (which will be another $200) even though my monthly payment only needs to be $25

Unfortunately, unless your credit card has a $200 max (which I doubt) this is not what you can afford. If you're not are paying down the credit card in full you are going to get killed on the 15-20% interest rate. While it may not seem like a lot month to month it adds up very quickly if you look at your statements. That $100 flyer just turned into $120. That would be for every purchase you make

Not to be a downer but I really hope you find a helpful way to cut down on the purchases. Some people had some great advice in here (Yarium & Fifty). I have seen many of my friends not be able to do things they wanted, like moving out on their own, because of spending lots cash on things for pleasure. I hope you figure out something, and I like others are here if you would like to PM me.

**tneva82**

kaotkbliss wrote:
hobojebus wrote:
First question why a drop pod?

Second WHY A DROP POD???

Never had or used a drop pod before. And to be able to plonk a storm bolter or deathwind launcher just about anywhere at any time on the table with a fresh squad seems like it could be useful

Problem being they got hit by nerfbat in 8th ed HARD. I might get few but that's for 30k that stays in 7th ed so they aren't useless there. But 8th ed...Seems of dubious use.

**kaotkbliss**

Smushed wrote:

Unfortunately, unless your credit card has a $200 max (which I doubt) this is not what you can afford. Unless you are paying down the credit card in full you are going to get killed on the 15-20% interest rate. While it may not seem like a lot month to month it adds up very quickly if you look at your statements.

Not to be a downer but I really hope you find a helpful way to cut down on the purchases. Some people had some great advice in here (Yarium & Fifty). I have seen many of my friends not be able to do things they wanted, like moving out on their own, because of spending lots cash on things for pleasure. I hope you figure out something, and I like others are here if you would like to PM me.

No it doesn't have a $200 max, but I can have it paid off fully if I can simply not buy anything on it for 2 months (a month and a half if I can keep myself from buying starting now)

*edit*
I think that's part of what's making this harder is that I know I can have it paid off so easy so it's like "Well if I only buy this 1 item, it won't make any difference in paying it off." Then next thing I know I've spent half my payment (Like today) so then it becomes "I'll start over next pay and not buy anything then"

**SlaveToDorkness**

Easy, get married....goodbye extra time/money!

**Marmatag**

I go by the general rule of thumb. Build, Paint, Play. Then buy. I try to avoid buying something new unless i've painted and played with what i have already.

The lone exception to this rule is a drop pod i purchased towards the end of 7th, and then suddenly they became total garbage. It's still NIB.

I am about to amp up my Orks collection though.

**kaotkbliss**

SlaveToDorkness wrote:
Easy, get married....goodbye extra time/money!

LOL I pretty much am married now. Been living together for 11 1/2 years

**Daedalus81**

GW accepts returns at an ytime for any reason with proof of purchase.

Consider how many more models you can get over time when you aren't making 80% of your payments to interest.

I strongly advise you make some wise returns and focus on painting for a while.

**JohnHwangDD**

@OP - if you're going into credit card debt (at 20+%) to buy things that you don't need, you need to seriously re-examine your life.

Financially, you have fethed up. Big time. You need to unfeth yourself before something bad happens.

Return everything that you can, then sell everything that you don't need on eBay.

Get your credit card down to Zero before you buy anything else.

**kaotkbliss**

JohnHwangDD wrote:
@OP - if you're going into credit card debt (at 20+%) to buy things that you don't need, you need to seriously re-examine your life.

Financially, you have fethed up. Big time. You need to unfeth yourself before something bad happens.

Return everything that you can, then sell everything that you don't need on eBay.

Get your credit card down to Zero before you buy anything else.

I wouldn't say it's a huge feth-up. I know it's a problem and I need to stop buying but what I owe on my card is less than half of what I bring home in 1 paycheck so it's not huge. And there-in lies my weakness because it's so easily fixed by simply postponing any purchases for a couple pays that it's way to easy to procrastinate and tell myself "I'll get it next time". That's what I need to STOP doing, get it paid.

Then I can take that $200 that was going to my card, then to my collection and just simply put it straight to my collection LOL JK, maybe only half that or a quarter.

**Luciferian**

If you have $200 a month in your budget to spend on models then go for it, but as you just said it would be better spent directly on the product instead of by going to unnecessary credit card debt.

**kaotkbliss**

Luciferian wrote:
If you have $200 a month in your budget to spend on models then go for it, but as you just said it would be better spent directly on the product instead of by going to unnecessary credit card debt.

Definitely. And I think to help keep me on track I'll keep this thread updated of my progress so if I slip-up I can get blasted with net-rage to get me back on track. I think I can keep from slipping though. Mind over minis...

**JimOnMars**

Tell yourself not to buy anything until your codex comes out. That way you won't be stuck for years with weak units.

**JohnHwangDD**

kaotkbliss wrote:
JohnHwangDD wrote:
@OP - if you're going into credit card debt (at 20+%) to buy things that you don't need, you need to seriously re-examine your life.

Financially, you have fethed up. Big time. You need to unfeth yourself before something bad happens.

Return everything that you can, then sell everything that you don't need on eBay.

Get your credit card down to Zero before you buy anything else.

I wouldn't say it's a huge feth-up. I know it's a problem and I need to stop buying but what I owe on my card is less than half of what I bring home in 1 paycheck so it's not huge. And there-in lies my weakness because it's so easily fixed by simply postponing any purchases for a couple pays that it's way to easy to procrastinate and tell myself "I'll get it next time". That's what I need to STOP doing, get it paid.

Then I can take that $200 that was going to my card, then to my collection and just simply put it straight to my collection LOL JK, maybe only half that or a quarter.

If it's so easy for you to pay it off, then do so.

Be responsible and get your credit card down to a zero balance that you pay off IN FULL every month.

Once you get to a zero balance, you can be smart and use the credit card the way that rich people do - as a FREE short term loan. The people with the highest credit scores have the most credit because they don't actually keep a balance on any of it.

**kaotkbliss**

JohnHwangDD wrote:

If it's so easy for you to pay it off, then do so.

Be responsible and get your credit card down to a zero balance that you pay off IN FULL every month.

Once you get to a zero balance, you can be smart and use the credit card the way that rich people do - as a FREE short term loan. The people with the highest credit scores have the most credit because they don't actually keep a balance on any of it.

Yeah. I'm going to. Not all in 1 chunk so as not to put a possible strain anywhere else in the budget, but as of my last purchase earlier today, No more till it's paid, 2 maybe 3 paychecks.

Then even after that, I think I need to get cracking on painting before buying anymore.

And to think, when I first thought of putting up the first post it was more of a "Haha, OMG I can't believe I just did that" but as I was typing I realized there was a problem. and the more the thread grew the more I realized, I need to get this fixed.

**Moriarty**

OK.

Spending for spending sake is generally not a good idea.Especially on plastic Krak. But you already know that.

Can I suggest an alternative to the credit card? My buying is Pay Pal driven, in that if it is not in the Pay Pal account, it does not get spent.

Just my 2p.

**KingCorpus**

I feel like you should take a break from this hobby.

**Isengard**

I know exactly what you mean! I love to buy new stuff, even if I don't have it all built and painted. I have to keep a very tight rein on myself. I set myself an amount and stick rigidly to it. I earn a good wage and so does my missus but I carefully keep my spending under control. I'm of the opinion that as long as you can afford it without getting into debt, spending the rent money, etc, etc then it is no problem.

**Nightlord1987**

I go through what I call Impulse Bids on ebay pretty often. I've settled it down to just Chaos Marines at the moment, but I also collect Loyalist and orkz.

Seems like for every unit I get painted, I buy something new!

It doesent help that converting and building is my favorite aspect of the hobby. If I read or see a new unit I like, my first idea is to kit bash one up with my unused models. Oftentimes this requires hunting down a specific bit or bob from ebay. And the cycle continues....

**Luciferian**

I personally go through extended spending binges where I'll write up a list and then dutifully buy every single box and bit I need to complete it, whether I end up finishing it all or not. But I never spend money I don't have and I often finance my purchasing habits by selling off older stuff that I'm not using any more. Buying new stuff is certainly pretty addicting, especially right at release time. Converting and painting are my favorite parts of the hobby, too, and I don't even necessarily care if I ever play a game with an army I work on. But I have a couple of rules like only buying up to a certain amount of points and not trying to purchase whole chapters I will never paint, and selling something off to make a new purchase if it isn't within my means at the moment.

**JohnHwangDD**

@OP - when you move to a zero balance, and stay there, it will be very freeing. "Zero debt" is a useful guiding concept, and having to think about how much and what kind of debt you want to carry will help you a lot down the road.

The PayPal account is not a bad idea for hobbies, if only because it puts you on a limited budget. Of course, just having a budget is good enough, if you can stick to it.

**Reavsie**

The answer to all your financial woes is...

... Dave Ramsey

**Crazyterran**

I think I have a problem too...

Spoiler:

Just a small problem though. That doesnt include the painted stuff, either...

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

I’m in a broadly similar situation.

My credit cards are maxed out, but thankfully I can still make my payments and cover my other bills without leaving myself broke.

But the credit card debt has to be dealt with. After all, the longer I take to pay them off, the more they’re costing me.

So this month I’ve been hitting the overtime, big style. By the time November comes around, I’ll be able to knock around 1/3rd off my highest balance.

Rinse and repeat a few months, and that one will be at zero.

When I get my wage bonus twice a year, I’m gonna suck it up and pay off those cards.

I reckon within six months it’ll be done. All about freeing up disposable income. After a year, I stand to be debt free - if I stick to my plan.

I will be keeping my highest balance card. Because that way I can still cover emergencies in the future. Because credit cards are useful, we just need to be disciplined.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
I’d also like to offer some professional advice.

In the UK at least, banks and lenders have an obligation to help you if you’re struggling with debt.

Now what they should do isn’t defined, and never really can be. What works for Peter won’t necessarily work for Paul. But some steps I’ve seen have included suspending interest for a period (that can really help get the balance down), to ending the credit agreement. That stops you spending as you repay, though interest continues to accrue.

If you’re genuinely struggling, talk to your lender/bank. See what help they can offer.

As your flag suggests you’re in the USA, have a read of [url=https://www.usa.gov/debt]this web page[/i]

Don’t suffer in silence dude. Reach out for help that’s there

**kaotkbliss**

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I’m in a broadly similar situation.

My credit cards are maxed out, but thankfully I can still make my payments and cover my other bills without leaving myself broke.

But the credit card debt has to be dealt with. After all, the longer I take to pay them off, the more they’re costing me.

So this month I’ve been hitting the overtime, big style. By the time November comes around, I’ll be able to knock around 1/3rd off my highest balance.

Rinse and repeat a few months, and that one will be at zero.

When I get my wage bonus twice a year, I’m gonna suck it up and pay off those cards.

I reckon within six months it’ll be done. All about freeing up disposable income. After a year, I stand to be debt free - if I stick to my plan.

I will be keeping my highest balance card. Because that way I can still cover emergencies in the future. Because credit cards are useful, we just need to be disciplined.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
I’d also like to offer some professional advice.

In the UK at least, banks and lenders have an obligation to help you if you’re struggling with debt.

Now what they should do isn’t defined, and never really can be. What works for Peter won’t necessarily work for Paul. But some steps I’ve seen have included suspending interest for a period (that can really help get the balance down), to ending the credit agreement. That stops you spending as you repay, though interest continues to accrue.

If you’re genuinely struggling, talk to your lender/bank. See what help they can offer.

As your flag suggests you’re in the USA, have a read of [url=https://www.usa.gov/debt]this web page[/i]

Don’t suffer in silence dude. Reach out for help that’s there

Ouch! You need to take care of that. And fast!

Just an update. The only thing purchased today was the auction I actually 1 (I was the 1 and only bid on the item I placed at the beginning of the week.) However, this purchase did not go on my card, but came out of my extra-fund money from my bank account. I have not been back to even look at any other deals out there at all.

On top of that, even after my card is paid off, I'm still not going to use any money I set aside for hobbies until I get what I have painted.

**Hoodwink**

There is good advice here. But please take a little from me. I use a credit card for everything I pay for. I also have zero debt, a house, wife, two kids, and am living off of my own income in a standard city job. My secret is simply paying off the credit card every month to take advantage of the 1% back. If you are spending more on your credit card than you can afford each month, then you simply need to stop spending as much. Set up a separate account if you need that takes X% (whatever you are comfortable able to afford) from your paycheck. Don't spend anything outside this account for hobby stuff. The key is not giving yourself the opportunity to use up more of your income than you can reasonably support.

The issue with debt, and why I worked so hard to get out, is because you are throwing money away. Literally. The longer you stay in credit card debt especially, since it's generally something stupid like 20%+, the more money you are throwing away and not using for something useful and tangible. It's definitely doable. I'm only 33 and I had to really buckle down and save on everything. It's a different mindset but now I can freely go buy a box here or there and think nothing of it.

If you aren't willing to curb your purchase habits, you will remain in a hole.

**RedCommander**

They are tiny plastic soldiers.

You don't need them to survive.

They are just a hobby.

Accept this.

And if you do want to play with them competitively? Only buy stuff that have an actual place in a good list. You don't need all of the miniatures, just the right ones.

**Zid**

Do what a lot of guys on here do; do not buy something new until your old stuff is assembled and painted to completion.

Its actually a great rule as long as you have an army you can actually play with!

**JohnHwangDD**

@MDG - that's not a bad plan, but rather than doing a reverse debt snowball, I'd suggest a modification:

1. Pay off anything you can quickly pay off in full, just to get it off the list of things you need to worry about. There is a significant mental benefit to removing and reducing the number of stressors out there, rather than having a lot of little things hanging out there with no progress.

2. After the quick hits, focus on the highest APR debt first. This will free up the most cash quicker.

3. If you have anything you can sell off and not miss it, sell it to create a cash "cushion" in case anything unexpected pops up. Keeping a few hundred available cash on hand, "just in case" is good discipline for building a nest egg / slush fund / "rainy day" fund.

Practice window shopping of optional stuff, and instead of buying, just take a picture and write it down. Then review a week later whether it's still something to get or not. A lot of this stuff can wait indefinitely, so there's no real hurry.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Hoodwink wrote:
I can freely go buy a box here or there and think nothing of it.

But do you? I generally don't. I could. But I don't.

And that's the fundamental difference between saving and spending. In nearly all cases, there's no pressing need to spend, so you can just save it.

**Hoodwink**

JohnHwangDD wrote:

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Hoodwink wrote:
I can freely go buy a box here or there and think nothing of it.

But do you? I generally don't. I could. But I don't.

And that's the fundamental difference between saving and spending. In nearly all cases, there's no pressing need to spend, so you can just save it.

Yeah. The joy of it is that while I don't buy boxes often, I can whenever I want and I have the freedom. I learned how to manage armies and painting when I was getting back in 5th. I had bought a ton of Tyranid stuff. All included about 60 termagants, 30 Hormagaunts, some Zoanthropes, Lictors, Carnifexes, 16 Forgeworld rippers, a Trygon, and some other things. My problem is that even though most were assembled, I didn't paint more than a couple. It was such a daunting task I practically gave up. I ended up wasting all that money and ended up (stupidly and regretfully) selling it all off. Now I just buy a box. Nothing else gets bought until my last box is assembled and painted completely. No more wasted money.

**grouchoben**

Here's my small insight into this issue: Until you have an army that's on the way to being painted up and looking badass, and until you've played that army a fair bit on the table, you just don't *know* what you want next. So your purchases are random, unrelated to what would be your informed preferences.

So do yourself a favour and reign in the spending. If you must spend, buy an airbrush and use it to go to town on the miniatures you have. Until you have a decent amount painted, say to yourself you are simply NOT ALLOWED to buy any more. Watch lots of youtube videos, buys books, get tips, read write-up reports of particualrly cool paintjobs, become the painter you always wanted to be.

Trust us, it's the route to sanity, and it's also the route to a cool, unique, painted up table of Your Dudes. Don't cheat yourself of the best part of the Buy-Build-Paint-Play circle of life!