"I'm a bad boy" ... what have you gone over budget on???

nothing recently but I was bad a couple of years ago with this...

I over paid but was worth it since It a hard to find item.

Ah, Geez . . . my annual train budget is in intensive care and it's not my fault: its entirely Lionel's and MTH's doing by offering too many good things in their catalogs.  

And diecast direct and American Excellence, too, the 1:43 cars I keep buying "for the layout" - additive, that.

Bot its those pesky locomotives.  I just bought an Lionel 0-4-0 Shifter and MTH Galloping Goose for projects.

And I already took delivery of the Legacy S-2 and a second H& this year.

And have a Legacy A-A E8 set and eight cars coming, hopefully by Christmas (I hope).

And next year's budget is running a bad fever already: four - count 'em, four, MTH locos on pre-order.  You know what they say: "collect 'em all!"

Toy trains are a large part of the reason - all my own fault - that I can't retire yet, but overall I like it !

A B6 0-6-0 switcher.   Why I felt I needed a switcher for my small layout I have no idea.   Bought it and only ran switching operations a few times and ended up selling it to finance track for a small expansion.

--Greg

You are definitely not alone.  Much too easy to come across great finds online.  I think it helps to have focus.  But sometimes it takes years to develop the appropriate focus.

I find it different in person. You don't always see everything for one reason or another.

When my daughter was a kid, she was into collecting Pokeman cards and on every show they repeated "got to have them all" ..I am no kid except at some point I realized I had the same compulsive tick, and as my collecting evolved, I began to realize that I had jumped the shark and yet I kept buying..to have a "complete" collection and of course there is no such thing for the vast majority of us. My solution was to target what I would call representative samples" of Marx, Unique Art, MTH etc that I could put on the layout in what could be called themes..one week it's tinplate, another is contemporary, another clockwork, another..and so it goes..in quantity my collection has shrunk but in variety by type, it's expanded..so I have found a happy medium. When I look back on my past compulsive buying, the more I bought the faster I got bored with it, and what I was trying to do was have variety through quantity not quality..I think once a layout is built, then this expansion of more variety transfers into buying compulsions. 

Nothing, really.  I'm very careful about how much I spend on hobbies.  I sock away a little every week, so when I go to a train show or hobby shop, I can buy whatever moves me, without worrying about going over budget.

It's all MTH's fault in my case. Haven't had anything left over after getting the MTH catalogs to make it to the Lionel catalogs yet. This has even required leaving out a bunch of MTH items. I have a huge backlog want list. And for the most part I only go with one road name - BNSF, and diesels only, no steam.

My LHS owner did trip me up last month on a Lionel purchase. I went into the store on my almost weekly visit, and there was a brand new, shiny, Lionel diesel (in BNSF orange, no less) sitting on the counter right in front of me. Said he had just gotten it in. Couldn't resist! Now I have had to order a Legacy system to go with it.  I think he does that on purpose!

If going over budget is reason for becoming a "bad boy", then I must be public enemy #!. I don't know when I have not gone over budget.  Each time I participate in an auction, or go to a LHS, I end up blowing my current budget.  I am years into the future, and I stopped calculating where it may end.  Each time, I say to my self, I have enough, only to find there is one more train, loco or piece of equipment that I must (REALLY NEED) have.

Budget? What's that?

Actually, my approach is similar to the federal government. Just keep raising the limit and you'll never be over.

S

If I had started with a budget, I would have blown the budget. In general I've probably spent at least 10x what I ever though I would have....

Saturday, I dropped $200 for some more plywood. In the grand scheme of things, that was chump change...

I am running out of N&W steamers to buy. Waiting patiently for a "Proper" S1a and/or Z1a. FWIW, I have absolutely no desire to buy a UP Big Boy and paint it black with a pretty Tuscan/Gold stripe down the side....

The 3rd Rail N&W "M" will be the cherry on the top, for now.

Gilly

i almost bought those to but no boxes scared me away.. nice deal though

MTH is killing me with their Auto Transports featuring (4) 1/43 scale Ertl cars.  My dad drove an auto carrier truck for many years so I've always loved cars and car culture.  I have Lionel trains but discovered the MTH auto transports and have been scarfing them up on eBay every since.

I pre-ordered two of the LionChief Plus locos, a Pacific and a Hudson, and I had not planned for either.   I am looking forward to these, based on forum posts, they will have spoked drivers and upgrading running gear, and the additional LionChief Plus features.  I am going to have some fun with this pair when they come in! 

I am over the budget.

A Budget???????????????????????????????????????????????????? Your kidding right!!

In the past 30 days: 27 K-Line 21" passenger cars, including some of the rarer B&O and 8 Santa Fe Hi-Levels, only compounded my budget busting crime.

I've kept telling myself that once these were complete I would need not spend anymore for a while, we'll see how that goes, but I fear Atlas O ramping up production of the CZ cars means this pledge won't last long.

when i bought my American Flyer Ambassador set my piggy took off its belt

That is why I don't have a ebay account, now if I could just stay away from the "For SALE or TRADE" board. Been trying to sell more then buy. We'll see how that works out. ( not too good so far)

Threads like this remind me of a group (not hobby related) I once belonged to.  We met at a local 'watering hole'.  We were bound together by a loose set of 'rules'(), and agreed to an agenda format when we met.

One of the favorite agenda items was"You think THAT's bad????...."  Each member  would take turns telling their tale of stupidity.  Of course, we had to raise a toast to his/her coming clean.  It was THE MOST FUN part of the meeting.  It was almost as if people would go out of their way to make a dumb purchase, wrong turn, faux pas comment at the worst time, etc., etc., etc..  Talk about "celebration"!?!?!?!

Nope.  Having had that one cathartic experience has taught me well to laugh at my own stupidity.  As long as it caused no pain to another....and often benefited them financially!....I proudly adhere to the maxim: "There's no cure for 'stupid'!"

So....Here's to 'stupidity'!

A charter, life-long, emeritus member, I remain...

KD

BTW...O3R item(s) I overpaid on???.....  Not being 'bad'; I was excessively passionate!

A while back I had a brief stint with Postwar and overpaid for just about all of it. Somehow miraculously almost got all my money back - there was one set I had to eat it on big time.

Paid more than I should???? My most recent big dollar purchase......

A little disclaimer first.....I bought this from a fellow OGR Forum member. He gave me a good deal....and it's one of my favorite O scale items....maybe no. 1!

But not since I have retired from the real world have I spent this much on a single item.....many folks don't blink at the $450 I spent but it was out of my current comfort range.

So I don't regret it....but tell myself it's the last big purchase.....until I win a lottery or something!

ok this is bad. you guys normally have a limiter like your wife. am I right? my wife is as bad as I am so if we see something we like we buy it no questions asked. that's the worst.

 You think you guys are Bad???

Try building several layouts in different scales all at once!!

I'd better not post all the specifics. The family started looking at my posts!

and I had to add more space for storage....

This year, only this! 

And I don't regret it a second!!!

This past month alone I blew my 2016 budget!!! 

 Whoa, forget what I said!

Joe - It's been a long time coming!!!

Can't top Jeff's, but came very close to buying a Porsche 928 last month.

I spent more on trains this year than I had planned. Fortunately, the 2014v1 MTH catalog only had a couple of items I was interested in, so it looks like I'll be under budget this year.

Although I have pared my road names to only a few I found a few UP articulated engines this past month I had to have. The UP H7 and the UP Y3 at fantastic prices but that should be it for steam engines unless a trade comes up. 

Who had to bring this up? I guess I'm beyond very bad boy! I just went through my roster again to see what I've picked up this year. And each time that I looked at my list I see one I missed. 

I think I should go to bed now and count train engines instead of sheep. Somewhere about 40 engines so far this year.

Oh Well it's time to go to bed...

Sweet steamer Dave!

The last time my son and I went to a not so LHS "just for parts" we walked out after $185.00 was spent....it was all good, and I doubt I'd do it differently if I could go back and do it all over{probably grab more stuff!} but it hit me hard when he said the total...how much? -dang!...I blame my son!

My budget got cut in half when my new job gave me half the income{laid off from the 25yr job}...before I was cheap because I wanted to be...now it's because I have to be.

nothing

I never go over budget, I allow myself an unlimited budget.

Everything..CR john

My accumulation of model railroad goodies has caused an over budget-PERIOD!!!!!

Mu wife is very good and understanding of the trains, BUT! She is building and outdoor railroad to run me one way out, no return, on my trains!!!

Ralph

Everything + .... always over budget.  Just like the Federal Government

Well, Have blown my budget away this year with plenty of Subway sets and large 072 steamers. Now I'm busy reworking the layout with 072 curves required for those steamers- all fun though.

However this winter I have to clean out the third bay of the garage for this. Kinda my bucket list stuff.

This thread seems to be about no budgets or budgets as wishful fantasies at some undisclosed future date and theres nothing wrong with that but whats the basis of comparison? Doesnt seem to be any..LOL..a sort of a satire on the concept of conspicuous consumption having no limitation beyond on how deep one can dive into the pocketbook...kind of a new definition of what a budget is. Been there, done that..I feel like a teetotaler in a tavern during a two for one sale. Awe inspiring and quirky as it relates to no amount is ever too much as a common denominator to most. Full speed ahead and **** the torpedoes..Right on.

Real railroads equipment is owned by banks and trusts not by the actual RR. They make payments. So on a smaller scale say 1.48 my railroad in a large part is owned by a bank until i pay the stuff off !!!!!     Remember...nothing exceeds like excess !!!CR john