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Watching what you spend on anime and manga
by Brad Rice, 03/20/2009
Watching what you spend on anime and manga photo

After the sales at Best Buy and BookCloseouts.com, I realized that I've spent quite a bit of money on anime and manga in the past couple of months, and I should probably pay a bit more attention to how I spend my money. I mean, about $300 in the past couple of months? That's a bit much for my income.

So I'd like to know how you guys track what you're doing when it comes to buying stuff. A while back, Dale asked you how you managed your manga. Right now, I've been using a spreadsheet document to track when the releases are coming out and how far along I am in a series. So, let's get into it after the jump.

Budget yourself

I'm a horrible impulse buyer. I'll go to the store, and end up with seven books in hand when I was just expecting to get a magazine. It's bad. So what I have to do is force myself to keep a close eye on every purchase I make, and I keep my account balance ingrained in the back of my head. And at the end of the day, I keep a tally of how much I've spent right next to my database of what I'm reading. It's a constant reminder of how much I'm spending, and it keeps me in check.

Tier what you want

There are just some series that I have to read. Without fail. Sundome, Yotsuba&!, and Gunslinger Girl are some of those for me. So, I figure out that when I'm considering my purchases. Akin to completing a major in college, I make sure to get my core volumes whenever they come out, and then I've got groups of titles in similar genres, and then pick one or two titles from each of the groups, and then a pool of "elective" titles -- ones that I'm interested in, but don't have a huge amount of energy invested in them.

Wait for deals

I've found myself waiting more for deals now, either online or when I go into Borders, just because I know that the $7-$10 I'll save on a "Buy 4 for 3!" deal is really worth it. At the same time, it helps me cool off about series I was hot over when I first started reading, but on second thought it isn't all that good. If I wait long enough, it forces me to re-read the series, and that means that I don't have to spend money on new volumes, since I need to relearn the story.

What are your tricks, readers?






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