Setting a Budget For Music Spending

Well after much soul searching I decided I needed to limit my spending on music and such. I set a $100 a month limit. But ... the limit is for music (physical or download), movies / TV shows and games. I have a nice collection of movies / TV shows and a few games but music is the biggie.

This decision is an economic (need to balance the books a bit better) and personal (can't base your life on things) thing. So have any of you done this? Is it challenging? I tried this last year then Best Buy put that Beatles mono box on $99 special and there it went. Not to mention being a teacher on Summer vacation. I'm trying again; I gave up all entertainment spending for Lent. That went well. In April I had a $75 budget (prorated to account for the last week of Lent, otherwise it isn't a sacrifice) and overspent by $10 (bad mental accounting). So for May I'm at $90.

The hardest part is the end of the month (today). The money is spent, the budget is empty and its so tempting, especially on a weekend, to just say "Ah, what's a couple of days?" I also wasn't thrilled to see Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life" MP3 album on Amazon for $5.99 during Lent. Now it's $14.19 or $12.99. Dang it!

Anybody else try this? How did it go? Any tips on how to approach this? I could easily drop $300 on music a month, easy. if I tried to spend money I could get $500 without straining or buying random stuff. But I think it would be better for me to curb my purchases. It isn't that easy though. It helps that I'm running out of space to store CDs.

Thought it would be an interesting topic.

BTW: In defense of us music lovers. Many people drop hundreds on a meal and night out and don't think twice. The price of a McMeal can net a CD. People think its strange to spend hundreds on music but think nothing of spending hundreds on a night out (or at least close to $100, do that once a week and it adds up). To me its the same (unless you have a family then that hundreds also represents an investment in the relationship). It always irked me when people judge discretionary spending, as if some purchases are "better" than others.

 

As long as you're not impacting others, first of all, that's a BIG factor. If it only affects you, then proceed.

Is not having a budget cutting into meeting your responsiblilities ? (rent or mortgage, utilities, creditors, etc)

Is not having a budget affecting any savings, or money set aside or emergencies, and / or eventual retirement ?

I ask these things, because two years ago, I blew through every penny, then maxed every credit source I had, and ended with not being able to pay the rent !!!!

I survived, credit record intact, thank God, but I'm still rebuilding, and will be for a while.

 

In my opinion if you are only going to spend $100 a month, don't waste it on a lossy download. Grab one or two really nice, well-mastered crisp albums. For instance, if Stevie Wonder is your thing this month, grab a couple gold discs for your $100. They will sound much better than the MP3 you almost bought, and they will retain their value if you take care of them, so if you are short dough one month and want to splurge on something else you should be able to sell them for very close to what you paid.

That is my plan anyway. I do love supporting my local record store, and will continue to do so. But in the past I've found found myself with a $100 bill for discs or LPs that are not particularly rare or even a great value (2 for 1 used bin is my downfall), or jumping on a new release for full price when a couple months later its cheaper. I'm trying to focus my spending now on something that is either a great value ($1 thrift store cds/$3 used bin at local record store) or something that will hold its value (gold cds, shm-sacds or hard to find vinyl pressings).

 

I've had a generous domestic weekly budget for the last few years that was very successful in reining in my expenditure on CDs, DVDs, videogames, magazines and books.

For the last couple of years it's been in surplus, meaning that I can go ahead and order stuff such as the Blur box set without worrying too much about it. That said, it was shrinking so quickly at the start of the year that I put a freeze on my purchases for a month to keep it under control.

I find that a bit of discipline in spending does help: it's not like I don't have plenty of new music and keeping some sort of budget becomes almost a game in itself.

 

I set up a monthly budget, as well as a quarterly fund for "special" purchases such as box sets, DCC discs, or anything a little pricey so I wouldn't blow through my "normal" monthly budget in one swoop.

All of my purchases from the last seven years are listed in detail on a spreadsheet, and tracked against the budget. If I have anything left over from that month's budget (a rare occurence) it gets carried in to the following month.

I've been over budget every year, but at least I know where it went, and every time the first of the month rolls around I resolve to do better.

 

I like taking sabbaticals from buying, and instead focussing on catching up with what I've bought, cleaning vinyl, and generally circling back to rediscover what I've already got. I realized recently that I've succeeded in reacquiring just about every album I've ever owned and loved and lost or wore out or couldn't afford back in the day, so I'm commemorating this milestone by declaring a six-month moratorium on buying music. See y'all in November!

(This declaration came right after I pre-ordered the upcoming Mofi mono version of Miles Davis's Milestones.)

I also find that MOG and Spotify are extremely helpful tools in scratching the itch to hear new stuff without buying physical media.

 

I find it is fun to buy things and wait for them to come in the mail. It gives you a feeling of anticipation. This is as true for a $.01 CD as for a new release at $9 or a gold CD at $20. So I try to buy just a few things each month, to keep the excitement going. I have a long wish list and scan it daily to see any big price drops or unexpected bargains. I tend to choose the cheapest ones on the list, no matter what. I don't have a budget necessarily. But I spend very little this way. If you need to cut back, you might consider doing something like this. It keeps the joy of collecting/buying alive, while denting the pocketbook very little.

 

I have a "soft" budget, which basically means I go by recent spending so I know if I'm going a little overboard. It really takes the stress off when a deal comes along and you need to jump on it. But the con is that you're always doing the numbers in your head.

RSD 2012, for example, really sent me over the top so I really want to curtail spending for the next few weeks at least.

The other thing that helps me is Rhapsody (or substitute that with MOG/Spotify). It's a yearly cost but it allows me to digest a ton of new music whenever I want which helps avoid purchases. It's also great for "try before you buy" so I have a good idea that when I make that purchases I'll probably like it.

The biggest temptation with breaking my budget? This forum.

This is also a very good idea -- buck CD's or LP's can also give you hours of joy without breaking the bank, and helps balance out the more expensive purchases.

 

Yes, this spending sure can get out of control. I tend to have a general budget, but will exceed it in a couple of instances: 1) unexpected money (cat-sitting, dog walking, freelance editing work) that is on top of the regular income that has already been allocated to expenses 2) when I sell something (usually excess audio equipment) I will "tithe" 10% of the sale to go towards buying music. This year's tax refund also got tithed (convenient that RSD was just after tax day for me).

 

Well, my takeaway from this is that even if you go over budget, you're probably still spending less than if you had not budget at all.

I probably need to get on a budget myself, not just for music, since I've got some upcoming financial goals to meet.

 

I have a budget for music and other hobbies (comics, movies) in the same ballpark as the OP, and so far I've been able to stick to it most months. It's definitely a challenge deciding how best to allocate my monthly allowance, though. Some months I'm only able to buy a few albums if I decide to get a nice MoFi vinyl reissue (Beck's Sea Change is eating up a good portion of this month's budget, for example), others I'm in more of a collection-building mood so I'll focus on acquiring cheaper CDs of albums I've been meaning to get for awhile (first two Neu! albums last month, for example, since the vinyl is so expensive).

Roebeet is dead-on about this forum being the biggest temptation for breaking my budget, especially the "Listening to on vinyl" thread!

 

I set up a savings account at INGdirect, specifically for music/movies purchases.

I fund it with occasional sales of items out of my collection, as well as occasional chunks of money that arrive, such as tax refunds, birthday gifts from relatives, etc.

As a result, in the last couple of years I have not had to "budget" for music or movie purchases at all. I simply see how much is left in my savings account, and if I have enough there, I buy it; if I don't have enough, I don't buy it. I purchase everything on credit cards (always paying the balance, never paying interest, and getting 1-5% cash back rewards).

Then I schedule an ACH transfer (free) between my INGDirect savings account, and my credit union checking account where I pay all my credit card bills each month, for the exact amount I spent on music/movies.

If you need a monthly budget (and it sounds like you do), I recommend that you manage it by doing something similar to what I do:

• At the beginning of each month, transfer your budgeted amount (e.g., $100) into a special savings account (INGDirect works great - no minimum balance requirements, no fees, etc.)
• Then withdraw from that savings account whenever you want to buy something (or immediately after you bought it on a credit card)
• When your savings account gets too low, don't buy anything else until next month's replenishment

By using this method, you might also find that you become protective of that savings account's balance, not wanting it to get too low, in case there's a must-buy thing that comes up suddenly. You might end up building it up more and more, deferring more purchases, then realizing a month or two later that you didn't really want some of the things you thought you wanted, etc...

For example, I just talked myself out of pre-ordering a book for $30, which would have been signed by the author (one of my all-time favorite bass players), even though I have something like $500 in my music/movies savings account right now. I decided I'd rather reserve most of that money for upcoming MFSL SACDs, and the occasional Audio Fidelity gold CD.

Craig.

P.S. - While a couple of years ago I would have recommended INGDirect without reservation, I have to warn you that now they are owned by Capital One, a financial institution that loves fees and hassles (ironic!) and basically everything that INGDirect is not. As of right now, Capital One hasn't started screwing INGDirect customers yet, but there are widespread fears that it's going to be inevitable. So if you sign up, enjoy it while you can but always be ready to switch your money out of there, to somewhere else like Ally or your local credit union. For budgeters and savers, though, INGDirect remains the gold standard. You can create or delete handfuls of savings accounts for yourself, none of which have any minimum balance requirements or fees - just the normal restrictions like no more than half-a-dozen withdrawals a month, etc.

 

One year I was completely irresponsible, but otherwise not too far over. I should probably just increase the budget....

As of now, I'm quite a bit over for 2012 due to a few expensive OOP items, but should be back on track by the end of the year.

 

I try to keep it under $50 a month. I did however realize that I'm going to spend at least $30 of it one U2's Joshua Tree double LP. :/ Other than that, I may need to restrain myself from also buying a Blu-Ray. I went a little over the edge in buying movies this past month as I was a bit weary of the price increases I've been seeing on a lot of the movies I've wanted. Plus, as it has been mentioned, I tend to come across a good deal, and am so tempted to spend because of how good the deal is; and justifying it by knowing it'll go up in price.

 

Nothing wrong with a little ebb and flow. Sounds like you've got a system that works for you.

 

Does anyone else define their "month" by credit card billing cycle rather than calendar month? For example, each "month" for my music budget usually begins around the 25th rather than the 1st, since that's typically when my credit card billing cycle begins anew. Just curious...

 

Well, that's better than most guvmint deficits. Who knows where they went?

 

I was able to spend $350 a month on records / entertainment back when I had a stressful corporate job (4 years back). These days I have little or no stress and make about a quarter the money - so I'm not buying like I used to, but I don't feel the pressing urge to do so.

 

In January this year, my old computer crashed and had to be replaced but there was no budget for it. So there went my music budget for this year. So with the 6 CDs I have already purchased this year despite that, I feel like I have already overspent even if it's only May now and only 2 of the 6 are 2012 releases, with the others being 1 used rarity and the rest being leftovers from last year. Most online retailers let people keep wish lists so I guess the stuff I'm interested in just goes on there instead of me buying it until the budget has recovered. If I need to decide between good albums which one to buy, I'm more inclined to buy the CD of a self-releasing artist or the lesser known artist right away because these are more likely to run out of stock and not be reprinted, like is common these days whereas the majors still produce higher quantities of stock to help artists not recoup, which in turn will be available cheaply when the budget has recovered.

Also, I'd recommend pre-listening online so you can find out more cheaply which album you really need and which one you don't.
And I agree, mp3s are not worth the price of the paper they are printed on, well, you know, much less the price of the harddrive they are stored upon. So I recommend you go for the CD because this is a fairly inexpensive way to store your music over longer periods of time outside of an expensive device prone to breaking (iPod, PC, etc.)

Being not a native speaker, however, I don't know what lent is and over here in Germany, I must say, it is far less common that I hear it is in the US of A for customers to be at the mercy of their credit card provider, and I wish it were less common over there as well, just because it saves a lot of stress to be in the black numbers.

 

Thanks for all the feedback.

Lent - the time from Ash Wednesday (a day 7 weeks before Easter, I'm not sure I can explain exactly what it is) to Easter where Catholics (which I grew up as) and sometimes other Christian sects (groups) give something up as a symbol of thanks to Jesus who was a sacrifice for us (at least according to Christians like me).

Since it was in the same paragraph I'll mention that Lent has nothing to do with credit cards. Just in case there was some confusion there.

Your post was very good for a non-native English speaker. Actually it was good period. I'd never know if you hadn't mention it.

 

My music spending is totally out of control! I think that's okay since over a year ago I gave up an expensive and out of control drug habit! Money better spent...

 

What is this "budget" of which so many of you speak?

Truth is I'm in a bad spot. In the last year my acquisitions, both inexpensive and less-so, have ramped way up, percentage-wise, compared to my other expenditures.

Reason being ... I've rediscovered music, in a way, and music collecting in particular. Less ideal when you're out of work, as I've been.

Is there a business that encompasses this, outside of opening a record store?

 

Another day, another subtle MP3 bashing. Seriously though, not disagreeing completely, but I put MP3's lower on the "how much am I willing to pay for them?" threshold. $1/$3/$5 sale for an album? I'd consider it. But not at the regular prices of $7.99 or up, I'd rather get a new or (even better) used CD for the same price or maybe even less.

Lossy has its niche in my world -- if I don't care too much about the album, but I want to own it on the cheap, I'll buy it. Plus there are albums out there, unfortunately, that are only lossy downloads and no other option. Which is starting to concern me.

 

I always use the same strategy as I use for gambling.....SPEND IT TILL IT'S GONE!!!...haha!!

 

Yep. In my example I'm not a big Stevie Wonder fan. I certainly don't want to pay the going rate for the gold CD, self-imposed budget or not. I liken it to video game rentals. A few bucks spent on renting a game often saved $50 in wasted money. The savings between a $6 MP3 album and a $16 CD set (the going rate for the current issue) aren't as drastic but then again I can keep the MP3 album if it satisfies. If not then it is a $6 waste but over time that pattern will save money.

The point about spending on quality over quantity is well taken though.

Good for you. I wish you continued success in kicking that habit!