Budgets: I think I'll stick to Italians!

[Dusky]

Looking at my 'Nirvana' shelf, I only have Italians, plus one Macau (red-drops Lemondrop), Dutch Diary and a Spanish Hopscotch (had from childhood). None of the Italian ponies cost me more than £5 a throw and they're varying from lovely to 'well loved' in condition. Whilst I love Nirvana ponies, I'll never have the budget for some of the rarer ponies!

I simply couldn't justify spending the value of some Nirvanas, I'm kind of scared to seek them because I don't want to get a seller's hopes up saying 'Hey, I'm after your [Whatever] Medley!' only to then say 'Actually I can't afford that...'. Even Diary was pushing it for me and she was only ~£30 or so when I got her years ago!

I ramble. What's your Nirvana budget like? How do you save/justify/spend your pony budget? Do you only seek Nirvana ponies? And heck, how do you get them insured or do you insure them at all? It's all a mystery to me still!

Oh, and do Princess Variants count as Nirvana? I can't remember.

[Katti79x]

Prinsess variations count as Nirvana i'm also trying to stick to the cheaper side of the "Nirvana road", but I do slip from time to time. I must also admit that I've managed to get some of mine from cheaper lots with some amazing luck... So no sticking to "just Italians" for me
And some of them are Pretty expensive too...

[NovelNerd]

I'm new to pony buying and Nirvanas, but I also suffer from justifying so much on plastic. I tend to buy the fixer upper ponies with tons of flaws to avoid spending as much. Ones that I have bought that were pricey to me Arena members were nice enough to let me pay in pieces. That would just spend my pony budget for that period. It kept me from spending a ton at once.

[tuneful87]

Which Italians do you have? I only have Gusty and Sparkler, but they're so cute!

[kaninchen]

i only collect moonstone variants now. so my budget is fairly fluid. not to say that i am rolling in pony money. at this point, i have all the fairly easy to find variants -except spanish!? so i'm left with the near impossible and very unaffordables and never-for-sale-ables.

[cyberunicorn]

most of mine are italian I do have a couple of NC ponies and one argie gusty (who is flawed yes but to be honest I think that she carries them off wonderfully.) I keep looking at others but as with some the price is just not justifiable for me at the present time but if one crops up for a song I will snatch it up

[LadyGuinevere]

When I was a student, I had a budget of £30 a month, but I don't really have a set budget anymore. This is partly because the things I still want are expensive, but also they don't come up very often. For actual G1 ponies, I'm in a bit of a lull as far as buying them goes, and that includes Nirvanas! I've sold more than I've bought over the past few years as I've 'refined' my collection. I think the only pony I'm actively seeking is French  Sunbeam (and then there's the Comics Spain and Portuguese figurines, lol)

Generally, I have to be sure about what I want to buy, and I have to be able to afford it at the time, although the credit card is handy for that My ponies are insured through the household insurance as a collection (I checked with them on what they'd need in the event of a claim, though I hope to never have to try), but it's nowhere near as valuble as it could be.

[Lady Starflower]

I've always wondered how some save/find/afford sone of the Nirvanas...I'm totally in love with Nirvanas especially Brazilians but I don't have a big pony budget and a husband who doesn't get it lol the few Nirvanas that I do have some sweet Arena members left me pay in pieces. I'd love some Columbian boys but don't see myself getting any anytime soon lol

[PrincessLocket]

I started out with Italisn getting the cheaper ones then the pretty coloured CP ponies sucked me in lol

I had a big clear out and sold all the US ponies I didn't really need/want in my collection and made quite a bit which I used to buy Italians I wanted.  I also have had a lot of luck buying some nice lots with gems in them and selling off the other ponies so the pricey pony barely cost anything and I stalk Ebay for badly listed ponies/hidden gems.  I got my megenta haired minty for what i thought was a good price from a listing title Mio Mino Pony 4 lol

I've also been able to pay off some of my most pricy ponies like my Magenta haired Italian Cotton Candy due to some darling seller here <3  I also use birthday/Xmas money to buy ponies and am incredibly lucky family members buy me ponies for bday/Xmas if I can find one I want :-)

I'm lucky I can afford to have a decent pony buying budget within reason but everything above helps alot!

[Glacia471]

My most expensive pony is my Ladybird, and she's mint with half of her egg (I really wish I knew where the other half went). The only reason I was able to afford her was because I had been given some birthday money. I still cringe thinking about how she was $600, but I know if I ever need the money badly enough, I can likely get more than that for her.

A lot of the ponies I've been buying over the past year have broken the $100-200 mark, but at the same time, I only really spend what cash I have that isn't needed elsewhere. For the most part, I do pretty well in terms of getting decent deals on ponies too, which is another way I justify it for myself. 'If I ever need the money badly enough, I can at least make more money than what I paid on _____'. I also don't have many other hobbies that eat my wallet either, so much of my extra cash just gets put towards ponies

[Princess-Sparkles]

I've been lucky enough to be able to do payments on my OOAK Greek baby Firefly. I get ponies for birthday and Christmas. I also put money as well. Sadly, the ponies I like to collect are Greeks, I have already bought all the cheap ones. The ones I want now are mega!!

[pinkkittywinks]

i think most people start with italian ponies, i know they were one of the types of nirvana's i first started collecting

you can get some good deals though now on spainish ponies as many are of the regular versions are around $20 each

love pkw xxx

[Dusky]

The snark in me wants to say that I'm going to stay with Nirvana G1s because their chewed up condition is still better quality than anything the new G4 range is putting out.

Thanks for the input, this is all interesting to read! I've never had to put downpayments on a pony, at least I cannot remember if I have ever had to do so.

[Nienna]

I don't really have a set budget, but much like other collectors like LadyG I'm looking for more rare/expensive ponies and thus don't buy as much as I used to, which means I can spend a bit more at one time instead of little amounts often. And yes CC is handy LOL!
I've done a payment plan once or twice too.

My collection is insured also, as is my husband's warhammer collection.

[Dusky]

Ah yes, every time I think ponies are expensive I just have to log on to Forge World.