General Forum

Last year I spent about $50/month. This is definitely on the high end for a jobless high schooler, but I think it's justified given that almost all of it was for very good deals. Even factoring in that cards, especially the kind of cards I buy, aren't that liquid, I think it still makes financial sense. I spent about $20/month buying random stuff on COMC (1950s-1980s Japanese, Venezuelan Winter League, 1930s/50s German soccer cards, 1920s British soccer cards, 1960s Finnish hockey cards, as well as regular vintage Topps needs.) I also spent $400 for a 1200 card lot of 1950s-60s baseball & football cards, and boxing- track & field- non-sports tobacco cards. 

Including shipping for trades I would guess I'm around $40 a month on average.  For a while I was trying to buy bulk and sell what I didn't want to keep it a break even hobby but since I found this site I'm trading far more since I can target specifically what I want instead of buying $50+ boxes which might only have a couple dozen cards I actually want and hundreds I don't.

retired, no debt, don't do drugs or smoke, no other hobbies, but I do enjoy a cocktail

currently

$0 per month ripping wax +  $20 / month postage for trades + $3 / month supplies at the LCS

$0 per month on COMC + $0 per month on sports lots

but the big weakness is ebay, grabbing cards for my player PC, and the occasional lot, last month $200, but typically $30-40

so all in, I'm averaging $75 / month on the hobby, but no actual budget

I think the bigger question to ask, is:  how much do you spend on the hobby, and how does this compares to spend on sporting events.

Myself, as much as I love sports, read the sports page (now www,) watch sports on tv, and collect sportscards, I've never considered the value of any sporting event to be worth more than $20, and not more than $50 all in including parking, hot dogs and a beer.  That's where I set the budget. $50 / month to attend, which was one pro baseball, basketball football game a month, or college football or basketball game.  But long ago inflation has hit sporting events for the Dodgers, Lakers, Clippers and UCLA Bruins.  The minimum cost to see any of these games became $100 long ago, probably close to $200 now, and $400 to take someone with me, so I don't go any more.

Poor me, having said that, before retirement, I got "entertained" by others, a lot. Probably twice a month, often in a suite, or courtside, AYCE, open bar.

I think the cost of live sports is going to impact this hobby in the long term.  Playing little league as a kid, is where the hobby starts, then  watching on tv, and collecting some cards, going to live games as you get a little older.  Oops, the average kid isn't going to live games any more because it's unaffordable for his parents, but he's in high school playing or watching his HS team.  But at age 18 loses his/her connection to sports. Game over.

More. But similar to others I lead a pretty frugal lifestyle. Don't smoke, don't drink, don't have much else in terms of extravagant spends.

What I spend is more than manageable given situation.

I haven't even been in the hobby for a month yet, so my numbers will be skewed as I have built up my entire collection nearly from scratch over the past 3 weeks. I try not to think too much about how much I've spent, but it's probably somewhere in the $200-$300 range. I don't mind this, as I'm in a pretty stable place financially right now (especially for my age) and I don't have to worry about most of my other living expenses. Hopefully, I'll be able to start diverting some of the money that I spend on junk food toward my card collection, which should be better for me in the long run. So far, my card purchases have mostly been in the form of individual cards from local card shops that range from 25¢ to $1 each on average, but I've also bought some PWEs from folks on this site, as well as a purchase from the shop run by the creator of this thread. I haven't bought any new/unopened packs of cards yet, funnily enough, as I've been more interested in older cards, but I'm sure I'll buy some of those before long.

I have a subscription box that costs me about $68 a month and aside from that it varies if I pick up retail box or two while doing my grocery shopping.  I don't need to eat every day!  

i usually don't spend much on cards, except the occasional card show, but the postage adds up with all the trading i do.

Overall, I would say more than that over the last few years. One advantage in cost for me is I have cut way back on trades thus spending much less on postage. I have been trying to cut back on my spending while I continue to organize my half a garage full of cards. That being said I continue to work on adding as many cards as I can of a few favorite players from the late 70s and early 80s and am willing to continue to buy or trade for those cards. I also always keep my eye on what comes up locally to purchase at auction or marketplace.

After reading all the posts I will clarify. 

The $34 a month average is buying/trading cards for PC.   Includes:   Postage and supplies for trades, and stamps for PIFs.  (I allow one roll per year for PIF)

2023:   I had sales a little over $1,000 which around $600 of that was for postage.   So the $400 (which I spend as quick as it come in) divided by 12 is my $34. 

So in 2023 money coming out of my pocket was ZERO.  So how do you really figure it.  The zero that come out of my pocket or the $1,000 that come in and went out or like I did? 

Yes, more than $20 every month.....