Recently I went through my past magic purchases, cataloging them and adding up cost. It’s all part of my goal to make magic “cost neutral” where I earn enough money to pay for what I’ve spent. And I’ve come up with some interesting observations about the evolutions of my buying habits.

First, I went back through the last 14 years of purchases. That’s about when I got back into magic and as far back as my Penguin Magic account went. I’d had some items from years ago, and I took a wag at estimating what those costs were. I also took educated guess at amount I spent at lectures and at visits to various magic shops during my travels. And while I shop primarily at Penguin, I also had to scour my email for purchases I’ve made at Vanishing Inc., Tannen’s, Madhatter, The Magic Warehouse, Steven’s Magic, Amazon, and eBay.

Besides the delight of finding stuff I’d totally forgotten about, I’ve had the following additional insights:

My early purchases reflected a lot of impulse buying. Stuff I remember seeing an ad for and the buying it…only never to use it. Also, there were a lot of gimmicked tricks early on.

Over time my purchases began to focus more on methods and knowledge (lectures and books) or things less dependent upon gimmicks.

Also, as I began thinking about shows, I’d buy things focused on what fit my overall vision and character. Less stuff bought just to find out how something was done.

I’ve bought enough lectures and tutorials to last me years. I’ve always struggled to learn magic from books. The printed description of “the magician shuffles the deck” always seemed to skip over the fact there were multiple culls or a diagonal palm shift. It was Oz Pearlman’s “Born to Perform” that got me into card magic. And have had such a great time with so many Penguin Lectures. I’ve watch David Williamson’s several times. And just got Morgan & West’s and it’s having me re-think everything (in a good way). Also, Daryl’s DVDs on cards…wow. It’s like a personal tutor I can always go back to.

I did a lot of sales and specials. Instead of downloads, I’d buy DVDs on close out, and them rip them to watch on my iPad. If there was something I didn’t need right away, I’d shop around. Or wait until a shop would have free offers for orders over a certain amount.

On the opposite end, I overspend at live lectures. But come on…if Jon Allen, or Pop Hadyn, is there…you gotta buy stuff, right! So I rationalize it as supporting these wonderful artists.

Lastly, in reviewing past orders, I see a lot of stuff I’ve forgotten I got. We moved not too long ago; downsized from large to smaller place, so there are still stuff in storage. So when seeing some things, I’ve been wracking my brain as to which box it’s in…I’ve got to have a treasure hunt one of these days.

Overall it’s been a good exercise in looking back…and it’s helping think about how I’m moving forward.

I think it takes a long time to figure out that you only need to buy what you NEED.

Problem is you never know when you might need it. LOL (that was my excuse)

But seriously, as long as you can afford it and it's not taking food off the table, it’s not really a problem.

I do admire you for trying to make a hobby pay for itself. Many don't think that way.

Best of luck with it

Tom

Wow. Going to go on a limb and say you bought more in the last year than I've bought ever. I could probably count my purchases last year with my fingers if I could count that high.

Don't know if that's good or bad.

When considering a new purchase my mind is now saying "But you don't use the one you have!!!!"