Monday, February 16, 2009

Its That Time Of The Year, Dont Be That Guy

So, in a few weeks and months you will be getting a refund on your taxes, right? The one time during the year when you know that you will have extra money lying around for you to spend without remorse. This is also the time where you usually see a bunch of people go out on a spending spree of cards and buy all the wrong things. Here is your guide, that is, if you have the ability to spend that money.

1) Do not buy cases under any circumstances. It just doesnt make sense to throw away the money you have waited all year for. Cases will never get you anything you couldnt buy for half the price of the case itself. If you are an All Day fan like I am, I could easily just buy the Peterson 1/1 logo patch for less than half the case price. Why waste my time with opening box after box, when I can get the card I want for half the price.

2) If you have to buy a box or two, keep it within reason. As I said before, everyone gets the itch to bust, and this may be the one time you can scratch until it bleeds. Dont. Buy a box or two and call it a day, you will feel much better about yourself in the end.

3) Focus on getting one or two key singles. You may think that the rush isnt there if you just buy the card instead of pulling it. But let me ask you this: Can you remember every box you broke? No? Can you remember the favorite cards you have in your collection? Hmm, interesting. Why not add to the latter and have something you like for the rest of your time in this hobby instead of getting 2 dollar jersey cards aplenty.

4) Save your money to use throughout the collecting year - YOU ARE GOING TO NEED IT. Just because you have the money now, does not mean you wont need it later. Why throw it all away now, when you can have some scratch for the rest of the year instead?

5) The most important one - Dont buy any cards! Most of us have tons of bills to pay. Knock a few of them out and forget it. Trust me, if you do this, the money for cards will be there later. Dont get behind on your shit because you want to buy shit you dont need.

See? Its not that hard. Dont be the guy on blowout with 1700 dollars of cards that turns into 200 worth of pulls. Instead, watch that guy, laugh, and then revel in the fact that you are a better man and a better collector.

5 comments:

  1. "don't get behind on your sh*t because you want to buy sh*t you don't need". But that's un-american! If you don't buy sh*t you don't need the terrorists win!

    Great advice - if people applied that in their daily lives this country wouldn't be in the mess it is now.

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  2. I agree. I know I have some money coming and I avoided the strong urge to buy boxes this weekend. Instead I bought single cards I wanted and some YSL lots. But I must say it's pretty exhilarating to pull a great card from a box bust. Unfortunately, that rarely happens.

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  3. I was thinking of buying a box of SPA, living in Sweden that would have been $120 plus $30 for shipping, a total of $150. Instead I went to ebay and this is what I got for my money:

    SPA Chirography triple auto of: Clinton Portis, Frank Gore and Kenny Phillips

    SPA SOTT triple auto of: Eli Manning, YA Tittle, Kenny Phillips

    SPA Chirography triple auto of: Eli Manning, YA Tittle, Kenny Phillips

    SPA Chirography dual auto of: Rod Woodson, Kenny Phillips

    SPA Rookie auto of: Kenny Phillips


    No way in hell that I would have been able to beat that with breaking a box. I might have gotten 1 good card, istead I got a bunch, which all fitted into my Kenny Phillips PC.

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  4. I already got my refund back and it's already spent, but not on baseball cards.

    Boring.

    Had to pay my deductible on my car insurance to get it fixed in the body shop.

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  5. Great advice. I have been itching to buy a case of NT, but I will do the smart thing and pay off a bill and pocket the rest for a rainy day. I made the mistake last year after getting my little bonus and buying a case of Letterman basketball...I WONT make that mistake again...

    So I will be the bigger WOman, buy a few Panthers and WNBA autos for my PC, and go laugh at everyone else wasting their money on Letterman Football...

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