Anybody Ever Keep Track of What This Hobby Costs Per Year ???

spacebaby

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Anybody Ever Keep Track of What This Hobby Costs Per Year ???

I just did a spread sheet of costs incurred this past year doing this hobby.
This included new purchases of machines bought at both auctions, Craigslist and Ebay. Also any items bought to repair games including both online and at the local hardware store.
Costs also included fuel costs for game pickup.............Once every thing was totaled up I had close to Eleven Thousand Dollars in this hobby!!!!! I always have the peace of mind of knowing that I haven't totaled up any Internet sales of boards and parts.........

Anybody else track this stuff ?????
 
dont keep track as probably would be horrified by the costs when you add in gas, repairs, parts, etc

offset thou against all the cool people you meet, friendships you create, and cool games you collect :)
 
money pit

this hobby can be a money pit, thats for sure. i just cant stand when i get a game shipped and it arrives and it does not work!! pay all that shipping and its broke. i can see why alot of folks stay away from the shipping aspect. better to go and see game and get the "taillight" warranty then have a game shipped sometimes. this hobby can make you go thru alot of disposable income.
 
dont keep track as probably would be horrified by the costs when you add in gas, repairs, parts, etc

offset thou against all the cool people you meet, friendships you create, and cool games you collect :)

100% agree. Hobbies can be expensive no matter what they are, but the pursuit/fun/friendships are worth more than the money, IMHO :) . Plus I love the feeling when I am able to fix a given problem with a given game on my own...

And I've also learned some very valuable skills such as how to solder/fix not only the games themselves, but other related stuff around the house and even some electrical stuff in my car...

Jonathan
 
I don't try to keep track of the costs; I just lie to myself and say that I pay for games by selling other games. I know it isn't true, but it sounds good. I travel a lot to pick up games, and that is a lot of fun. My girlfriend likes road trips, so it works out well.

While I don't have an accurate count of costs, I think this is probably one of the cheaper hobbies I have had. Four Wheeling and R/C were way more expensive, and I think both require even more repair than these old games.
 
Never.. Well kinda

If your married, well then your pretty dumb to keep a record.. Unless your wife is super cool or from another country :)

I keep a mental list of what I paid and kinda what I put into each one.. That's it
 
Unless you are running the hobby as a business for tax time don't be crazy. Your wife will kill you. If money is a concern cut back as it is one hell of an expensive hobby over time like anything else. Once you move from average games to high end you don't want to know. At that point you hopefully have some decent games to trade for others or get very lucky. Often your games cost you 2 to 3 times what you can sell them for if nice and minty.

Michael
 
Cost of the hobby...

I do my best to also buy games that I don't want for my own collection but are cheap and flip them. That way the hobby "sort of" pays for itself or at least defrays some of the costs.
 
last year im in over $3000 just off the top of my head sitting here thinking of it,but as said before everything about the hobby makes it worth it. $1250 of it was on a pin btw.
 
If your married, well then your pretty dumb to keep a record.. Unless your wife is super cool or from another country :)

I keep a mental list of what I paid and kinda what I put into each one.. That's it

rep point for you my friend :beerchug:
 
I keep extraordinarily detailed spreadsheets on my games. It started when I needed to keep a record of what JAMMA adaptors I had and then became more detailed when I emigrated to New Zealand and wanted a record of what I left back home. So I have all details of cost, shipping, harness costs, dates etc. Also I keep these records in four currencies - US dollars, Pounds Sterling, Euro and Yen. That was the basic level. Now the level of detail I keep is a bit over the top probably. I also have a record of every ebay purchase and sale for the last ten years, and I've done the same for my Yahoo Auctions purchases and sales.

On the one hand it is depressing to see how much has been spent, on the other hand it's nice to be able to see that on this day (January 4th) back in 2004 I bought my Yie-Ar Kung Fu board for $9.99.

Quick edit: my wife is indeed from another country and has no idea as to the price of an individual PCB. I usually tell her "a friend sold it to me for 1000 yen. He's a great guy..."
 
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OH HELL NO
I know Id be single if I kept records on what this addiction is costing me. Worse than being single though, is being single with half my junk!:D
off the top of my head, over 1500 in boards in the last 2 months, not to mention another 500 in small repair parts, forget the game purchases
 
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I keep a spreadsheet. But I don't do it by year, but by what I have in each of my machines.

That's how I know that I am upsidedown on every machine.... :)

ArcadeMaze!
 
I keep track of every game I buy and sell along with all associated costs for gas, parts, shipping, etc. The only money I spend on games comes from selling other games so I'm careful to never buy anything unless something else goes out the door that leaves me with a cash balance for future repairs, etc. I almost went crazy and posted it here but then I thought better of it. :)
 
I keep a folder with most of the receipts, only so that when Paypal is forced to squeal to the Fed, I can say "Yeah, that money came in the front door and all of it plus this much more left by the back door when I bought parts".

It is a business and taxable if you make money and a hobby and doesn't count if you lose money.

ken
 
I agree with the mental list of actual dollars in each game. However I do have a spread sheet with the approx values of each game (and anything else of value I own) just in case I get ran over by a bus..the wife will have some idea of what they are worth.

That spread sheet has 2 columns...a real life value and an insurance value. If my place ever burnt down there's NO way I would remember every game...pin...bowler..etc.

It's amazing how fast shit totals up...
 
Nope, I don't keep any written record of this hobby.

Many years ago, I did keep a running account of what I put into racing R/C on and off road vehicles. Well the wife was looking for something one day, and found it :001_ssuprised: ..she didn't say much at all to me for like a week! So I sold the cars/trucks/buggys and started flying R/C planes - assuring her that this was much less expensive ;)
And that was right around the time when I decided it would be advantageous to go back to school (ITT); which turned out to be the MOST expensive "hobby" of all. 2 years, $30,000 and the wife left halfway through.

FF to now, we are back together. And instead of having just a Pole Position and a Donkey Kong, I have about 20 games, including projects. :D
I have taken her along to drop off a couple games, and I think it has helped to appease her curiosity as what is happening in this hobby. Of course it also helps when I share the profit with her, I.E slip her a few bills :)
 
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