Budgeting for knives

BRL

BRL

Joined
Apr 27, 2011
Messages
3,205
I'd be real interested in hearing peoples' approaches to how they manage their knife buying and budgeting, and I guess just as interested in hearing from those who don't manage a damn thing :).

For me, I joined BF and after a few months of feverishly buying stuff, I realized I needed to reign myself in or else the kids were going to start going hungry. The obvious way to do this was to give myself a budget.

I listed out what I had, what needs I still had to fill, and the stuff I just plain wanted. Out of that I picked the knives I wanted the most but would be able to actually use (I'm not much for buying safe queens... yet). One of the Becker Tweeners is included in this last category, and since they're not out until January, that gave me a convenient timeframe. I ended up with $250 to spend on knives (including $50 for a Tweener) between the end of September '11 and SHOT at the end of January '12. I've spent it all (so I'll have to sell one knife when the Tweeners are out in order to free up the $ again to buy one) but I'm still under that $250 and staying strong. I really need to ban myself from the Exchange and Wohlwend forums though or else I'm going to continue to struggle :D It helps that I've started planning my Wohlwend and Akers purchases once my 2012 budget is in place!

Anyone else jump through similar hoops?
 
This should be interesting to hear.

Personally, I'm poor, so its easy. My strategy is to drool over knives until I can enter a contest for one of them, then hope furiously that no one else enters so then I can guarantee a win :p.

No really...

In addition to the above, I try to buy things for certain uses, and not to have redundant knives if I can help it. As of right now, the only things I really have that are redundant are steak knives, so I've got some room to grow a bit (when there is finally $$$) :).
 
If you still have enough money left for things like rent, food, bills, etc. then you obviously haven't spent enough on knives.
 
I've been going through similar process recently, spent a lot over the last few weeks mostly because I've started browsing the exchange more regularly. So I drew up an account of what's coming in and going out, decided on a budget for savings (rainy days that don't involve knives like car problems and Christmas as well) and worked out how much I could afford to spend over the next 3 months outside of bills and expenses you know are going to happen like going out to the movies or take the family out for dinner. When I worked it all out i can't buy another knife for about a month at least, then I get about $150 outside of the JK knife I have already ordered, and it's all done till after December....Then I found an Alan Davis knife I wanted on the knife maker forum and ended up selling some things to increase the budget. :)
 
Yeah, an Alan Davis knife is 100% for sure in my 2012 budget. The early 2012 portion of it!
 
I've had similar problems. Initially I would find something sharp that I liked and buy it. I spent what I consider a large amount of money in short order. It was quickly brought to my attention that this behavior is clearly unacceptable. My wife, being the supportive although frugal gal that she is, reminded me that I have certain skills that I could use to fund my knife habit. These skills are neither fun nor glamorous, I am a gigilo. Not really, I shoe horses and day work for neighboring ranches to fuel my addiction. Whenever I come across something I can't live without I buy it and then do a little side work to put the money back. My suggestion is if there is a way to earn a little extra money on the side for what you want, as long as you make an agreement with your wife, work a little extra and get yourself some goodies.
Good Luck
Ben
 
I went through a bit of a buying phase, and picked up cheap/mid-priced knives, and acquired a decent amount and figured out what type of knives I liked the most. But now that I'm ready to pick up some high end knives in designs I know i like... my knife budget is $3. My only plan on how to get more now; scrounge up the membership fee on here and start selling off the knives I have that I dont ever plan on using. That... and selling blood plasma haha.
 
I take the barbell approach. I spend 90% of my money on stuff I need and 10% on stuff I don't. I think knives and axes and the like are essential, so if I don't have a knife, it falls into the 90% category. If I already have a knife, then I can only buy one with the 10% I have available for "trashcan buys" (ie stuff that doesn't have to keep me alive or prove its worth). Of course, you can say "I have a camper but not a bushcrafter, I have a chopper but not a machete," etc, so some level of self-awareness is crucial to making this work. But if you can make it work, you only stand to spend a minor (non-essential) percentage of total income and therefore won't have to worry about loss.
 
BRL
Yeah, an Alan Davis knife is 100% for sure in my 2012 budget. The early 2012 portion of it!
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:thumbup: I'm more excited about it's arrival then I have been about a knife for a while.

I have budgeting trouble because I find it hard to decide how to value a different knives next to each other, I like Kershaw knives a lot, and want another Leek for example, I oggle Kershawguys for sale page regularly, then wonder if the money for a blue, red and black leek would make be better spent on one more expensive knife that I don't always have the money for.

I've stopped buying anything on a day to day basis to come up with a knife budget, no cokes on the way home or fast food just because I'm peckish (better for me anyway I guess.) Camping gear is included in that as well, but tis' the knives that drive the budgeting for me. What's might be strange is that I'm never disappointed about cutting back, it always seems worth it.
 
I do not budget for knives. I have a monthly budget for all expenses. When it comes to money and budgeting, I basically follow a very basic plan: First, "pay myself first," as financial advisers call it these days, i.e. make sure my retirement accounts (401K and Roth) are funded out of my paycheck. Second, pay into my savings goals (currently a vacation). Then, lastly, I have a monthly budget that I am not allowed to exceed (or, if I do, it gets deducted from next month's budget).

I'm not perfect by any means, and I sometimes overpay for stuff or buy stuff I don't need. All human beings do that. But, none of us should be referring to anything knife-related as a "need." That just sounds wrong to me and a path to being broke. You don't need any knife. They are all wants and luxuries. But as for whether you can/should buy them or not, I think that depends on if you're meeting your big financial goals first and then if there is money left over for wants/luxuries like knives. I think that's the way to go to confidently buy knives without worrying if you are spending too much. Just my 2 cents.
 
I've been somewhat curious about this too. I am not particularly poor (stable middle-class income), but I do find myself in awe at the number of people here who seem to accumulate enough high-end production and custom knives to fill an armory.

I don't have a specific knife budget, but I do prioritize knife purchases among my immediately available discretionary funds (ie. never accrue debt to buy one). Family and basic necessities come first, followed by uncompromising savings goals. Recreation and hobbies have to make do with what's left over. I'm interested in knives and use them regularly, but at the end of the day, they are tools. They get used, beaten, broken, and lost. For me, dropping an entire month's disposable income on a Sebenza is tough to justify (much less setting aside multiple months worth for something even more expensive). My more budget friendly folders have worked well enough for me, and when they get damaged or lost, it doesn't hurt quite as bad.

Over the past 15 years or so, I've probably spent around $400-500 on pocket knives (excluding ones bought for gifts). The spending typically comes in bursts. I'll buy and try out several different knives (different blade/handle shapes, blade steel, handle materials, lock types, etc.), figure out the ones I like for EDC rotation, and then stick with that for a while. It might be a few more years before any more significant spending.
 
Once you collect / buy / use for a while you hone in on what your likes and dislikes are.

Early on in my addiction I consumed a lot of knives from different makers, trying to find out what it was I wanted in a knife.

Now that I know, I have a rule where one or two have to go to make room for a new one. I try not to spend any money on the hobby now other than proceeds from the sale of existing knives.

This forces you to really think hard about making that next purchase.

I have around a dozen folders that I keep in the barn at any one time.
 
New to the site, saw a lot of great custom knives, but like everyone in today's economy struggle to make ends meet. Thanks for the post and the ideas guys.
 
I realized that I put too much money on knives, so I basically stopped buying them. I might buy knife every now and then, if I get bonus or tax refund or so.
I decided to put those funds to socializing more, buying more "practical" things and so. Few users for different tasks have to do it now.
 
For the past month or so, I have tried not to spend anything on knives. Instead, I'm trying to sell some of my excess toys to put some cash in the Paypal account, and then purchase using only that account. While funds are fungible, this approach keeps money from coming out of my checking account. It has really slowed down my purchasing. I told a Maxpedition Sitka, for example, and used those funds to buy a Leatherman Core and a black oxide PST.
 
I don't buy any knives unless I have the cash for them, as in paying cash.

These days I slowed down my buying to Customs and Sprint runs.
 
flarp said:
I've been somewhat curious about this too. I am not particularly poor (stable middle-class income), but I do find myself in awe at the number of people here who seem to accumulate enough high-end production and custom knives to fill an armory.

I don't have a specific knife budget, but I do prioritize knife purchases among my immediately available discretionary funds (ie. never accrue debt to buy one). Family and basic necessities come first, followed by uncompromising savings goals. Recreation and hobbies have to make do with what's left over. I'm interested in knives and use them regularly, but at the end of the day, they are tools. They get used, beaten, broken, and lost. For me, dropping an entire month's disposable income on a Sebenza is tough to justify (much less setting aside multiple months worth for something even more expensive). My more budget friendly folders have worked well enough for me, and when they get damaged or lost, it doesn't hurt quite as bad.

Over the past 15 years or so, I've probably spent around $400-500 on pocket knives (excluding ones bought for gifts). The spending typically comes in bursts. I'll buy and try out several different knives (different blade/handle shapes, blade steel, handle materials, lock types, etc.), figure out the ones I like for EDC rotation, and then stick with that for a while. It might be a few more years before any more significant spending.
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What I always did was choose what I wanted to spend money on, people spend money on a lot of different things (Much more than a Sebenza would cost), they are going to spend it anyway so all it is really is spending it on knives rather than those other things.

Just eating out and buying booze eats up a lot more income than people realise over a month.
 
being a college student its pretty easy. cost priority 1. Rent, 2. food, 3. misc (misc is generally parts for my bike or a knife, whichever is more catches my fancy the most)
 
I'm in my forties, married with a teenage son. Most of my knife purchases fall into the gift category. Father's day, I buy myself a knife or two. Birthday, Christmas, etc. Both me and the wife spend about forty or fifty dollars a month each on discretionary items. She usually goes out to eat with friends. I buy magazines, bullets, or save towards a knife. (or buy a cheaper one.) My yearly budget over the past ten years has been as high as a thousand, (that includes the gifts I bought for myself...Chris Reeve and a Busse that year.) and as low as zero. (Just didn't see anything new that I really wanted.) I think I have spent less than $150 this year so far. I'm probably done for the year unless the spyderco Techno or Ti Native 5 comes out before the new year. (unlikely) When I was younger, and not yet a father, I used to spend around a hundred dollars a month on knives. I wish I had put that money to better use. (I had alot of Gerber, Buck, and case knives at one time....back when gerber knives were good.)

Everybody is different. It all comes down to what you want. I have a relative that has never earned over thirty thousand a year and yet is worth a million or more. Always drove older cheap cars, lived in the same house for 70+ years, and will leave fortunes to her heirs. I also know a doctor that is constantly in debt, spends many times what he earns and and has claimed bankruptcy twice....and at age sixty-six, he is about to lose his house and can't afford to retire. He has always earned double what me and my wife make together. Somewhere between those extremes is where I want to be.

I find that I go in cycles. For awhile I might spend my money on knives, then it's a new computer, new camera or lense, new gun, etc. I won't ever have the 'ultimate' knife collection that some people do. Nor will I have the ultimate camera setup. Nor will I have a totally awesome computer setup. If knives were all I was interested in I would take pictures with my cellphone, surf the net on a ten year old desktop, and my gun cabinet would hold a remington pump twelve. scratch that, no gun cabinet needed for one gun, it would be under my bed.

Back on topic, budgeting for knives. First it's necessities. (food, shelter, retirement savings, etc) next it's the things that make life easier but aren't truly necessities. (cable, cell phone, broadband internet, etc.) next is the important niceties.( weekly date with the woman I love, family eat out with my son, etc,) the rest is discretionary. (knives, guns, dinners with friends, movies, etc.) It seems like everytime we get a raise our standard of living goes up instead of extra discretionary spending. (better cable plan, nicer dinners out, nicer food from the grocery store.)


It all comes down to priorities. If you want to spend more money on knives, you can earn more. (someone suggested that) or cut back somewhere else. personally, time with my wife and son are my priorities so I've always chosen to earn less to maximaze time with them. (I have a job where I can always work more if I choose to.) Time has always been my limiting quantity.

Plus think when your old, what are you gonna think. "Glad I bought all those knives." or reminisce on all the great times you spent with the people you love? think about it.

Grizz
 
Plan out custom knife orders carefully, read as many reviews as you can concerning the custom aftermarket or factory knife you want to get. Shop around for the best price, it's best to buy users used on here. Look for deals. I have set money aside before for a certain knife, only to use it up at a flea market or sporting goods store sale on something that I just can't pass up.

If you are looking to fill a need for a knife, don't. Don't try to justify your knives, for example, this one is for church, this one is for EDC, this one is for cleaning my fingernails ;) . Make a pile of knives you'll never get rid of, that are memories of someone special in your life. Everything else is fair game.

Make sure that you are squirreling some money away, that you have the necessities taken care of, and that you have enough money set aside for what really matters. Don't let the knives be the whole reason, the camraderie of knife nuts is a great thing. Take that money you've earmarked for sharp stuff, and get together with some fellow knife nuts.
 
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