How do you "creatively finance" this habit?

I think the 'budget for and save up' recommendations are the most useful.

Early on, I made a few bucks selling highly desirable knives (Survive!, back in the day). That helped. Over time, the knives I sell are at the very best 'break even' on a resale. I've gotten comfortable with selling for a small loss in exchange for the privilege of having been able to try out the knife. Buying with the aim of making a small return is simply untenable over the long run.

Consolidating (selling a few pieces to buy one) has also kept things in check because selling a few items out of an already small collection has a big impact. Makes me ask if I really want the next knife.
 
I don't buy anymore knives and haven't done so for at least a couple of years.
I got far too ridiculous with my collecting and one day sat down and laid out the knives that I can actually use at work, with a few exceptions.
All the rest were sold.
I have more than enough knives to last the rest of my life and any extra money I can save will be spent on adventures.
Forget who said it, but it was something like, "You never see a U-Haul following a hearse."
So true.
 
Wife and I used to smoke a pack a day each. We quit when we decided we wanted to have kids.

That was when they were $4 a pack. Today, they approach $10.

Imagine what a couple can do with an extra $20 per day!

I imagine I can buy knives. Wife imagines she can buy whatever it is she thinks she needs.

Just wait until I quit drinking microbrews. It's YEAARRRS off, but it'll fund a different habit I'm sure.
 
I work and only buy what I like, which is usually not knives costing the high hundreds or thousands of dollars. I have sold some knives over time but that isn't how I finance my hobby. I edc a Spyderco Gayle Bradley 1 for all cutting purposed around the shop, yard, and house and it does a great job. Other purchases was because I was curious about the steel, style, or opening action of the folder. I have given my friend with a boat a Spyderco Pacific Salt which he really likes for use when at sea.
 
Just set an upper limit on the total $ into this hobby. At least thats how I do it. Once reaching that limit, I will have to sell first if I want to buy.

Lately I actually have been thinking about downsizing my collection. I am getting to realize that it does not make much sense to keep knives that are not used.

I do not plan to get into custom knives nor knives over $450.

I agree with an above poster that no more money should be spent on this hobby if it is negatively causing other issues in life (unhappy wife, eating only raimon noodles, etc.).
 
DB_Cruiser said:
I quit drinking. I can buy a lot of knives and still spend less than I did funding my alcohol consumption.
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That is just a short term justification. This justification goes away unless in your mind you want to continue some form of mental gymnastics to justify just blowing money for knives and other un-necessary stuff because you want to. Face it. You just want to.

Paying for this hobby..... I try to keep the hobby expense in within some reasonable affordable range monthly and yearly. No $500 folders for me.... But I did fulfill a long term desire to buy a custom slip joint a couple years ago. It broke the $500 barrier. No more; no matter how much I would like to get another one that I don't need anyway.
 
I have been collecting for over forty years... Started with Gerber Pauls ... then to Spyderco, ZTs and now customs ...

I am actually retiring early by selling off bits of my collection... No bills but groceries and utilities... So I try to break even on a sale... But selling an old Spyderco for $200.00 when I paid $175.00 ten or twenty years ago is now, budget-wise, pure profit... Since last December, I have sold roughly $20,000 worth of knives paid $15,000 over last twenty years...
Now my wife thinks I am investment genius! (She had her horses and UPS delivered to my pharmacy).

Oh, and I just found out her dad is rich...
 
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I was a production bench jeweler/stone setter for over 25 years. During that time I was married to a spend-a-holic high maintenance demanding person. Both my chosen trade and choice of partners kept things pretty much paycheck to paycheck.

For the last decade I changed trades to electronic medical equipment engineering/repair and divorced. Most of the funding for my knife habit comes from now being able to devote nearly all of one paycheck per month to whatever I want. Will I touch another diamond, cast custom pieces or play with anything in gold, silver or platinum...... He## no! Well perhaps jazz up a knife or firearm with a little bling but otherwise no.

I pay cash for my knives.
 
I pack my coffee break and lunch for work and frees up $60 a week. I quit smoking and switched to Vaping and that saved me $45 bucks a week then about once a month me and my apprentice cash in ower copper and any other scrap metal we find on the job. Our last score got us $1.000 bucks apiece for a load of brass. That keeps the wife happy and off my back, Happy wife, Happy life equals New Knife;)
 
DB_Cruiser said:
I quit drinking...
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Me too. Not full stop, like I had 2 beers at dinner out with friends last night, but that's basically it for me.

I quit drinking primarily due to health reasons, but the amount of $$ it has freed up allows me to enjoy this hobby with no guilt.

I also meal prep on the weekend for the entire week (part of that health thing) so I don't eat out at work, and I only drink the coffee at work. Its caffeinated bog water, but it's free.
 
Retired, getting a pension and still working full time. Wife is retired, getting a pension and works 12-15 hours a week. Both pensions go to the household account, so what we earn otherwise is ours. So basically my current job is all for whatever I want. I just have to divide it up among knives, guns, Mustang upgrades, truck upgrades, hunting equipment and whatever else. I have some high end custom, but I normally get knives that I would consider as working knives - but not all end up working.
 
Night Rider said:
I pack my coffee break and lunch for work and frees up $60 a week. I quit smoking and switched to Vaping and that saved me $45 bucks a week then about once a month me and my apprentice cash in ower copper and any other scrap metal we find on the job. Our last score got us $1.000 bucks apiece for a load of brass. That keeps the wife happy and off my back, Happy wife, Happy life equals New Knife;)
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What's ower copper ???? Copper prices must be down in your area if all you got was a dollar :eek:
 
Copper scrap is essentially zip now. Brass and stainless steel are where it's at for scrap.
 
Ajack60 said:
What's ower copper ???? Copper prices must be down in your area if all you got was a dollar :eek:
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Oops, You caught my slipup :oops:. Our copper is $2.40 a pound for #1 grade (No paint or solder) and $1.60 for brass. Stranded wire is at $1.30 per pound and Romex cable fetches $1.10. All free money minus a little extra labor and I was never one to shy away from hard work. BTW that's Boston prices.
 
My way is not particularly creative, but it works.

My wife and I have been married for 35 years, and I honestly can’t recall ever having a fight about money. This is not because we’re wealthy (we decided early on that one of us would work while the other stayed home to care for the house and kids) but because we have, for many years, paid ourselves an “allowance.” A small portion (<5%) of each paycheck gets divided equally between two “fun money” accounts. She can spend hers on anything she likes, as can I, with no permission required beforehand, and no judgment afterward. It’s a simple system, but it works very, very well.

Of course, everything is contingent on managing all “non-hobby” finances effectively. If you’re not already meeting all your financial obligations *and* saving for a rainy day *and* having a little money left over you can’t afford a hobby. If you’re living paycheck-to-paycheck while spending money from a side job on your hobbies you’re fooling yourself—and setting yourself up for failure. Or divorce. Or both.
 
jbmonkey said:
serious answer.....requires for me to make tradeoffs. I have a budget that includes everything. including retirement and savings for new tires, etc.......whatever happens. I don't live paycheck to paycheck. I dont live where I stress over things that happen in life. my old man taught me about money and budgeting as a young kid. I was very lucky. many arent.

whether ya make 30k and live at 50k or make 200k and live at 250k.....the stress and money problems are the same. sounds crazy to some but all people adjust very quickly to income. it's all relative.

so heres the tradeoff part.......I live far below what I make so I can enjoy things like this. even so I cant dabble in customs galore or even everything. no one can have it all.

now before ya think I'm raking in top end money...I ain't. I live very modestly. the hardest part isnt budgeting and trading off.....its keeping my wife from living at what we could and beyond.;)
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Took me alot of time and poor decisions to learn about budgeting. I think it is a moral shame that parents think it is beneath them to teach their kids this anymore.
 
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