Well, I've lost all my money to this hobby. I'm 15, and had $800 to my name. I mean I'm a teenager, and I can't get a job. Well, in the past 3 months I have spent $790 at Games Workshop. I dare not go back in fear of spending the rest of my money. So now I'm broke, and need to make this money back. What is a boy to do.

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<a href="http://great-painter.blogspot.com/">My Painting Blog</a>

As a teenager, I sympathise with anyone who faces a lack of funds. I've only spent a $100 or so on GW so far this year, with about an extra $100 going to them from birthday money. Money doesn't exactly grow on trees in my family, so I try to paint what I have and buy what I need according to a plan. I also try to limit implusive buying, although an exception will probably be made for those new Morgul Knights.

I'm hoping to get a job over the summer so I can have some more money for the hobby.

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" I think I'm... quite ready for another adventure!"

Bilbo

- Get a summer job
- Focus your purchases. Don't buy everything.
- The good news is that there's usually a high "buy-in" period, and a much lower-cost period following with this lot. So the first few months you get rule books and initial armies and paints and and and. Later you can happily get a blister every month and build your collection slowly.
- if you're good at painting, you could sell some of your finished work on ebay, and use that to create a paypal account to fund future work.

And finally, this one's bloody obvious, but:

- don't buy from GW. You can do a lot better getting second hand figures from ebay, or buying from an "independent retailer" like Maelstrom Games. You can save up to 20% or even more, if you play your cards right. Those small savings add up.

But really, the "hobby" is amusing and all, but there are more amusing things you can do with your time and money, so don't let it overwhelm everything.

Gavin

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Dreaming of getting back to painting...any month now.

budget and disipline??

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Live to share, share to live.

I second what aelfwine said about buying models from ebay and such. I especially try to get all the "old" sets off ebay, as they're quite common (in other words, prepare for a long wait if you try to get any new models off ebay).

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"There are few left in Middle Earth like Aragorn, son of Arathorn." - Gandalf, Many Meetings

I'll have to agree with Gavin; get a summer job. If you can't find a job you can always do yard work for neighbors.

Yes buying from discount sellers is the best way to get the most for your money. You can find threads here on One Ring about discount sellers.

I checked out your blog but it doesn't have any pictures. Now that you have them you might as well show them off.

Rob

Woohoo, I get funds for my studie, and I don't use all of it
So.. the rest is for SBG.

I've faced an interesting conundrum with this. 15 years ago I was 15 years old with little money but lots of time to paint and model GW figures. Now I'm 30 with lots of money (well, compared to when I was a teenager) but little time to complete what I buy.

Sculpt a few decent minis, then cast them up and sell them to the Lotr community via a webstore. Any profit you make can be used to buy new minis. Works for me!

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You don't have to be great to start. But you do have to start to be great.

i try to work with as less paints as i think i can... ( and still getting a decent result). I also try to keep the materials of the basing cheap. And for the rest i just try to get all the figures painted before i buy some new ones. And i make small scenery stuff.. ( trees, hills, ... )

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goblin: "people associate me with boogers because i am green"