Week 6 begins and my thoughts about "$30 a week"

Good morning all, hope that as you read this your long labor day weekend is starting off well.  I was a slacker yesterday and did not post an end of the week summary as I normally do on Fridays, partly because of a house guest, and partly because I was in bed early. 

I've been meaning to post about this topic for a few days now, but I wanted to keep thinking about it to make sure of what I wanted to say. To be honest, $30 a week in the hobby in 2011 does not go nearly as far as it did in 2003.  The $30 figure came about because for years, I bought a couple of packs here, maybe a blaster box once in a while, nothing serious for sure.  But now, since the past 5 weeks have elapsed, I have realized a few things that have changed my way of thinking:

1. Packs are WAY more expensive now then they were 8 years ago.  Hobby packs back then normally went maybe $2.50-$3, now I see products like Heritage going for $5 sometimes...
2. Postage is a lot more expensive now than it was back then as well.  I can remember back in the early 2000's sending bubble mailers to people for as little as $0.88, now the minimum I get charged is $1.71.  When you're sending out up to 5 mailers at once, it adds up.
3. This blog has been way more successful than I ever dreamed it would be over the first 5 weeks.  As you may or may not have noticed, I've added a list of other bloggers that I've traded with so far on the right hand side.  Add to that, 7 trades I have completed on the Bench website, and another 3 or 4 trades I'm working on right now, that's approximately 25 trades so far.  I honestly thought that number may not have been hit until the new year...The power of the card blogging community is just unbelievable.  I'm sure that there are still hundreds of blogs out there that I haven't discovered yet, and there are collectors out there that do not blog but have emailed me  for trades as well.  To all of you that I've traded with, thank you very much.
4. There are dozens of sets that I have started over the years that I would like to finish, but my collection is so scattered over many monster boxes that I have to get my s--- together and start organizing everything, which is going to take time, and of course money (money for supplies, and money for booze to calm my nerves while I'm organizing everything! (lol ) ).

The last thought there is the main point; I've always been a set builder, it is my nature.  In order to finish these sets, it's going to take quite a bit of money to do it.  Whether I trade with fellow collectors, which so far has been a great way to get closer to some of the more current sets I've been working on, or hitting up sites such as sportlots to purchase singles, it's going to take more than $30 a week to accomplish what I want to do as a collector. I'm going to keep the title of the blog the way it is; I like it and I believe it has defined me in the blogging community so far.  But until I get to where I want to be as far as being organized and complete with old sets, I'm not going to worry as much about staying in the budget.

Thanks for reading....Robert