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Introducing The VADER . a new quarterly "restraint" with a twist

Cool old spice cup and razor. Any idea of the age of the OS cup?
I'm not familiar with that blue cup, it looks large enough to lather on top of the soap puck.

I have had a few good eBay lots get away from me that would have put me WAY over budget had I won. I guess I still have some restraint. I do have a few more Amazon gift cards now but nothing on Amazon is all that appealing to me. I might get a tub of Stropp Shop from Amazon because I have the funds and Stropp Shop soaps will soon be no more...but I really don't need more soap.
 
The Old Spice mug is from the late 40s/early 50s. I haven't looked into the blue one yet. It says "Crown China-Austria" on the bottom, so I'll start with that. It is deep enough to lather on top of a puck of soap.

Looks like you'll barely make it out of this. There's only a couple of weeks left, stay strong and restrained. If the Amazon gift cards don't count against you, go for the soap, but maybe join the 3017 guys to burn through some excess.
 
Dang IT

I fear I have gone over my VADER budget ...for now. I have been pretty active AND I have been enjoying every minute of it. I probably should have updated my status sooner but I had a whole plan at play so I figured I should let the "checks clear" so to speak before I gave the update. So here is what I did: Start with $14 remaining in the pot

I scored a roll of Williams Tonsorial along with some other shaving related items for $50 (minus $50 from pot)
PIF'd some of the shaving stuff, kept one DE razor & sold one of the razors for $20 (add $20 to the pot)
Found a couple of straights on eBay I "had to have"...bought them for $46 (minus $46 from the pot)
Found a cool, NEW in box razor/brush stand at antique store for $2 (minus $2 from pot)
SOLD cool NEW in box razor/brush stand on eBay for $15 (add $15 to the pot)
SOLD one of my duplicate Vintage razors on eBay for $20 (add $20 to the pot)
Paid my silly eBay selling fees and paypal charges $5 (minus $5 from the pot)

This puts me $34 in the hole BUT I have that amount and more listed on eBay for sale (although I will probably only sell $5 worth of stuff and pull the rest to PIF or put back in my closet...I get bored waiting for stuff to sell) ANDI have twice that amount in Amazon gift cards I have amassed doing industry surveys and can't find anything on Amazon I care for or need.

SO until this past weekend it looked like I was going to finish the VADER $34 in the hole. THEN I got frustrated with my dull razor and went and found a coticule stone for $90 I just had to have, now i'm $124 over budget. I no longer have a burning desire for DE razors (I think I own them all), or brushes (might need a horse hair one...Amazon?), or soaps (honesty have no idea what else to get but i'm sure I'll find more and they will be the expensive ones), but I do think I am risk for continued purchases of straights and that leaves me exposed to hones IF I don't find success early on. I suspect I can hold of the straight AD for awhile because I am not a fan of large individual purchases (I prefer my purchase gluttony to be spread over many items).

I encourage others to overspend so they too can proudly include VADER-FAIL in their signature. I don't have an addiction, I can stop anytime I want.
 
Sounds like an alcoholic only taking a couple drinks a day. Surely nothing could wrong with that plan... :tongue_sm

I think it would be harder to constantly be looking/trading/selling and stay in a budget than it would be to just quit looking. Maybe it would be as fun to quit looking, but if you don't seek, you don't find.
 
Sounds like an alcoholic only taking a couple drinks a day. Surely nothing could wrong with that plan... :tongue_sm

I think it would be harder to constantly be looking/trading/selling and stay in a budget than it would be to just quit looking. Maybe it would be as fun to quit looking, but if you don't seek, you don't find.

But if I don't seek, I won't find. If I don't find, I won't know it exists. If I don't know it exists, I won't know If I want it or not. If I I don't know I want it, HOW will people know to take my money and give me those precious things I want.
Seriously, who is born knowing about a Toggle or a Fat Boy Red Dot. I wouldn't have known to look for a thing called a "Goodwill" if not for B&B and then there is the pre-war tech....OMG that is an AMAZING razor. If I didn't over indulge I would never have know the magic of the tech. I'm not an addict, I'm an explorer.

...and since at least part of my daily life is spent buying/trading/selling various securities, I find it fun to employ similar tactics in buying shaving gear. It's not as profitable as hitting it big in the market BUT it comes with a lot less risk to the bottom line too. Ok let's be honest, it's not at all profitable unless you count the "future value" I've told my wife my collection of goods will someday be worth.
 
I'm still sitting at $97 and will probably finish the month there. Having spent a decent chunk of change on an item for another hobby of mine, and buying The Wife a new car, my spending for shaving stuff is on hold for a bit.
 
The first Various Addiction Disorder Enablers anti-Restraint (VADER) kicked of in January with a list of 7 mighty participants. Each willing to participate in a quarterly ANTI-Restraint dedicated to enabling those with one Addiction Disorder or another. The Magnificent Seven were made up of the most Noble men and Women (Woman) B&B had to offer ...They were the quarterly VADER participants.


The Rules were simple, set your budget then buy what ever you want as long as you stay within budget. Even then, the VADER claimed many victims. Some set budgets and spent NOTHING ... E-VADER. A rare FEW fed their AD's while staying on budget ...VADER's. ONE set a Budget and BLEW IT BIG TIME ...DARTH VADER!
(The use of the name Darth Vader is not endorsed or supported by B&B, they hold no responsibility should Lucas Films choose to claim some sort of illegal use, the fault falls squarely on OUCH ...and nobody REALLY knows who that is.)

The results are in: (maybe they are accurate ...BUT it doesn't really matter since there are no prizes)


The Participants
1)CBLindsay $200 budget Spent $323 OVER BUDGET by $123 *DARTH VADER
2)Kevdogg329 $50 budget Spent ONLY eBay bucks no impact on budget leaving $50 *VADER
3)WhiteWulfe $260 budget Spent $0 leaves $260
4)Screech8710 $150 budget Spent $53 leaving $97 *VADER
5)
Pepin $150 budget Spent $0 leaves $150
6)KCORE $30 budget $0 spent leave $30
7) Sskim $100 budget $8spent leaving $92 *VADER

My goal was to start & run the VADER at least once, plant the idea and see where it goes from there. So, if the idea of continuing the VADER (anti-restraint) is appealing, we just need someone to speak up ...maybe decide to copy and paste the rules and start a new Quarter or Month (you might decide to edit the copy, it has some spacing issues)
 
Hmm. That's strange, I swear I put that line up top...it somehow when missing.

1) CBLindsay Budget $200 SPENT $324 OVERBUDGET $124 - *DARTH VADER (
why DARTH? Why not? It makes my overspending sound cool. If you consider that I was able to sell other items to offset the budget, my "spending" was pretty significant. The most important take away for anyone who IS trying to restrain or use a budget to control spending wouldbe to ACTUALLY stick to the budget...I did not. Thus my entry to the dark side.
 
The most important take away for anyone who IS trying to restrain or use a budget to control spending wouldbe to ACTUALLY stick to the budget...I did not. Thus my entry to the dark side.

Looks like you got ahead of yourself trying to balance out buying and selling. Maybe next time around.
 
I'll start a new Quarterly on Monday if others want to participate (or monthly). I just need to get to a regular computer to do it or the cut and paste results in strange results.
Like it or not, even the VADER makes you aware of what is being spent. Maybe this time I would stay in budget. I really don't have much else I intend to buy other than cool "real world" finds.
 
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