Collecting on a Limited Budget: How do you do it?

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Posted By: Jim Novotny

James
As a relative newbie to vintage collecting, who has 3 pre-college kids and a wife who monitors my spending I have two tips:

1) Stay focused on what you are collecting. From time to time I get very distracted by some great looking cards or sets. But I know that if I go after that set I wont have money for the current sets Im building. I would love to collect everything, but right now I live through the bi-monthly who-got-what thread. Right now I am working on 2 vintage sets, one from the 60s and favorite players that my son likes....there is probably more but I wont admit it.

2) Stay disciplined in how much you spend. Know how much you want to spend and dont get caught up bidding wars. Also dont feel bad if you lose an item that goes for a ridiculous price. Just keep plugging away at the price level you want to spend and your collection will grow. Ive done well with my T206s this way. With the exception of the HOFers, most of my commons were purchased for less than $20 ungraded and after grading they mostly fell in the PSA2-3 range which is fine for me.
Jim