How Affordable are Dollfie Dreams?

I have found myself wanting to collect more dollfie dreams but feeling too poor to afford a collection. I work online as a freelance tutor so my salary isn't that high. How do you save up for your dollfie dream purchases and do you ever feel like you're spending too much on them? 

I’ve been a long time doll collector and I promised my hubby I would save up and pay for dolls with cash. When I  entered the hobby in 2009, my salary was not great. After the bills and groceries were paid, I transferred a little money every week into savings.

I continue this practice today and when I have money left over at payday, I transfer the extra to savings. Slow and steady but I’ve managed to buy just about every doll I’ve wanted. While I’m saving for the next doll, I research the dolls I’m interested in, read the  forums, and check photos on Facebook and Instagram. 

They are expensive, but they give me joy and my hubby is supportive. Every collector has to decide how many dolls are too many and what their dolly goals and plans are. My theory is there is a hobby for everyone. As long as you’re enjoying yourself, the rest will work itself out.

I was hesitant to get my first doll for this reason, so I started with a head+ eyes/wig. I waited a couple of months until I could afford a body, the first body I got was new and the second one was secondhand just so I didn't damage my husbands wallet. 

Just take it slow and if you have the funds you can get things overtime! The only things I get urgently are if I see a head that I really love and know it will sell out fast or an outfit I've been scouting for a while.

Looking online at all the Dollfie things at once can be so draining, I went on a really bad spree last month and wasn't very wise so I've been disciplining myself since then, it can be rough when you have a vision for what you want but funds aren't enough (I have a baby on the way so I've scaled back a ton).

Baby steps!

 

If taklking about dollfie dreams, my first one was second generation dollfie dream body (only) or DDII. It costed me around 250 € with shipping, paypal fee and tax. 

First you need to do is to watch and check what are your extra spendings. In my case it could be buying mtg cards from time to time or just playing magic every week at local "gamestore" (it is not FNM gamestore in wizards database, normal bar with board games and little of accecories for cards). 

Or it could be visit in tea house for me, or WoW subscription (which I temporarely ended because I feel pc drained little bit during lock downs and online school). Or other activities like eating outside. I dont have many friends I thoose bit of them dont have time anymore because they have jobs and some live far from me and some start having children, so I no possiblity for using money outside with friends.

Not saying now I should cut off everything and stay home. Everything needs balance and I would say for me some priorities must be jumping on my personal ladder according to situation. I can return to abandoned activities later anywhen.

I dont think I spend too much on dolls. For me it is more like maximum 1 doll per year. Nemu Asakura (from Mandarake) was only licensed doll (and was second hand). This one costed 350 € with shipping, tax and paypal fee plus custom (clo) in total. 

Collection is a long run process I would say. I dont rush. I am playing that the doll collecting for me is like making a set in Magic and I am not a card designer but more like I am a doll-expansion designer (of World of Dollcraft? or maybe of Finaldoll Fantasy offline) for myself.

I was in your shoes before, I would advice you to not worry about having a big collection for now, it will grow with the time and you can make many memories with one or two dolls for a few years.

I have like 28 dolls now  but I've been in the doll hobby for 16 years. I'm by no means rich. I stayed with my first doll alone for 4 years and those were the best times I had in my dolly life because now I have so many dolls and so little time I can NEVER focus on all of them at the same time while back then I had no money even to buy him clothes but I have beautiful memories when I sewed him a whole outfit, even boxers and socks and I felt so proud. I gave him my attention everyday, I learned to do face ups and photography (still learning) with him and due to this, I bonded a lot with him. He is my first doll and my favorite one. What I'm trying to say is that you can focus on your only doll now and learn more about the hobby with him/her and share many memories while you save money for a new companion....unless you're the kind who don't "play" with them and  just collects dolls. I don't see my dolls as a collection, I have to "play" with them, bond with them, I have to love every aspect of them. This is why that during my dolly life, I have sold over 20 dolls.

Another thing is that you can always get your money back (or some of it) with these dolls, even earn money. You buy one, don't like it and can sell it to buy another one. You can learn how to sew and do face ups/eyes/wigs, offer your services and earn money. 

Do I regret it? not really, these dolls make me happy. Do I spend a lot of money on them? yes and since I'm not rich I have to make choices. Do I buy myself this cute dress or do I buy dolls' clothes? do I go to this country for vacation or do I buy another doll?

I have 3 bank accounts. One for emergencies, one for bills and one for entertainment. I put a small amount of $ every week in my entertainment account. I can either use that money on me or my dolls.

Another thing that helps me a lot is paypal. I use the buy now and pay full amount in 6 months or 1 year feature but you have to pay full amount when the time comes or your credit can perish but 6 months is enough to save up while you got your doll already. You can also get another job on the side for dolly money. 

 

 

I probably started collecting at the worst time. That was when I was a freshman in college. But yes I just saved for mine. I bought a custom 06 head from Yahoo auction Japan first and the rest is history. 

Thank you all for sharing your stories. I feel like I am so different from you all. I am not married and I am not financially independent...personally for me, it's tough to say if I should buy more dolls or not. 

4 hours ago, aililysan said:

Thank you all for sharing your stories. I feel like I am so different from you all. I am not married and I am not financially independent...

I am student of art at univrsity. Next year I finish. I had never a full time job only brigades from time to time.😉

1 hour ago, Silent said:

I am student of art at univrsity. Next year I finish. I had never a full time job only brigades from time to time.😉

Oh how do you like that kind of life? Sounds fun

 

It is crazy in good way - the school is more concetpual contemporary oriented than fine arts. It is not like medicine or law. After school you can mistake and no one dies. Also our school is very small and it is pretty underground. Exhibitions/additional projects of school studio are costly but not horribly. Many nostlagia and studio class-mates activities. When I look back It was well spent time instead of studying classic university. My sister has even more "crazier" life. She is 10 years after school. She makes puppets and travels a lot doing many projects. But no one before us in family was doing or studying art officialy. 

I don't do it anymore, because I moved too far away, but I funded all my dolls by donating plasma. I'm unable to work, so I had already been donating for awhile. It became my fun money mostly, and it pays really well for the time you spend with a needle in your arm. Saving lives and earning doll money was a win win in my book. I miss being able to do it. My hubby has bought me a doll before as a gift, but I feel better when I earn them myself if that makes sense.

8 hours ago, Silent said:

It is crazy in good way - the school is more concetpual contemporary oriented than fine arts. It is not like medicine or law. After school you can mistake and no one dies. Also our school is very small and it is pretty underground. Exhibitions/additional projects of school studio are costly but not horribly. Many nostlagia and studio class-mates activities. When I look back It was well spent time instead of studying classic university. My sister has even more "crazier" life. She is 10 years after school. She makes puppets and travels a lot doing many projects. But no one before us in family was doing or studying art officialy. 

Do you feel like you have enough income and doll money through your work?

5 hours ago, Deyja said:

I don't do it anymore, because I moved too far away, but I funded all my dolls by donating plasma. I'm unable to work, so I had already been donating for awhile. It became my fun money mostly, and it pays really well for the time you spend with a needle in your arm. Saving lives and earning doll money was a win win in my book. I miss being able to do it. My hubby has bought me a doll before as a gift, but I feel better when I earn them myself if that makes sense.

Wow amazing. I could never do that. Good for you for saving lives.

 

On 6/28/2021 at 12:50 AM, Tenukihandcrafts said:

I’ve been a long time doll collector and I promised my hubby I would save up and pay for dolls with cash. When I  entered the hobby in 2009, my salary was not great. After the bills and groceries were paid, I transferred a little money every week into savings.

I continue this practice today and when I have money left over at payday, I transfer the extra to savings. Slow and steady but I’ve managed to buy just about every doll I’ve wanted. While I’m saving for the next doll, I research the dolls I’m interested in, read the  forums, and check photos on Facebook and Instagram. 

They are expensive, but they give me joy and my hubby is supportive. Every collector has to decide how many dolls are too many and what their dolly goals and plans are. My theory is there is a hobby for everyone. As long as you’re enjoying yourself, the rest will work itself out.

It is nice you have a husband that supports your hobbies. I am single and never plan to date. It would be nice to eventually make enough money to be financially independent and feel comfortable buying exactly what I want.

Edited June 30, 2021 by aililysan

4 hours ago, aililysan said:

Do you feel like you have enough income and doll money through your work?

Not very much. All my art activities consume pretty enough money. Some projects can be budget (like video-art) but that is unpredictable. Every semester is different. Nothing from my artwork returned in 5 years (I estimated price of materials and it was around 2000 € in total not counting aditional unplaned projects we had). Buying a doll is rare, one year I didnt buy any doll. Without support of parents and brigades It would be impossible to do and study art. If want doll and even if I somehow have spare money I must think twice how will I use them. I never know if there will be exhibiton or how much will cost my artwork at school or if we there will be unplanned side project from studio leaders(teachers). It is like real time strategy sometimes.  

Note: I dont know like in rest of Europe, but in my country you dont need to borrow ton of money like in USA when going to university. You turn to slave of mortgage only when buying flat or house. Also insurance companies and insurance itself manages most of health care costs. But we have overall low sallaries in my country, in most cases most of inhabitants work for minimal salary (or bit above it) which is from law. You have bigger slaries in capital city but also costs are higher.

5 hours ago, Silent said:

Not very much. All my art activities consume pretty enough money. Some projects can be budget (like video-art) but that is unpredictable. Every semester is different. Nothing from my artwork returned in 5 years (I estimated price of materials and it was around 2000 € in total not counting aditional unplaned projects we had). Buying a doll is rare, one year I didnt buy any doll. Without support of parents and brigades It would be impossible to do and study art. If want doll and even if I somehow have spare money I must think twice how will I use them. I never know if there will be exhibiton or how much will cost my artwork at school or if we there will be unplanned side project from studio leaders(teachers). It is like real time strategy sometimes.  

Note: I dont know like in rest of Europe, but in my country you dont need to borrow ton of money like in USA when going to university. You turn to slave of mortgage only when buying flat or house. Also insurance companies and insurance itself manages most of health care costs. But we have overall low sallaries in my country, in most cases most of inhabitants work for minimal salary (or bit above it) which is from law. You have bigger slaries in capital city but also costs are higher.

That sounds pretty tough, although it does sound nice to have flexibility to do the projects you love. I was thinking of taking a break from tutoring and selling some of my art for a little bit this summer. I kind of need a break from it. Lately I haven't really finished all the projects I wanted and I had so much planned and in the making. I have never been to Europe and I don't know alot about it. My younger brother went to Europe for a business trip but I haven't really been there. Is it nice in Europe?

10 hours ago, aililysan said:

It is nice you have a husband that supports your hobbies. I am single and never plan to date. It would be nice to eventually make enough money to be financially independent and feel comfortable buying exactly what I want.

 

We’re by no means financially independent, just disciplined after going into debt in the decade after college. Den of Angels has a thread with a master list of ideas to raise funds to support the dolly habit: https://denofangels.com/threads/how-to-get-doll-money-the-master-list-of-ideas.283504/

14 minutes ago, Tenukihandcrafts said:

We’re by no means financially independent, just disciplined after going into debt in the decade after college. Den of Angels has a thread with a master list of ideas to raise funds to support the dolly habit: https://denofangels.com/threads/how-to-get-doll-money-the-master-list-of-ideas.283504/

Oh thanks, I will check it out. I think I will sell some of my old dolls that I never really do anything with anymore. I could probably get $1000+ if they all sell. I don't have college debt so I don't have to care about that, but I do plan on going to graduate school soon so I need to save money for that.

I've bought almost all of my dolls used off Mandarake. When I decide on the doll I want, I stalk Mandarake and set up product alerts for the one I want... then I wait, sometimes for a long time, until I find her for a good price.

I've gotten some great deals on my dolls because I don't mind if they have a tiny stain or mark, or if they're missing a small part of the fullset, etc. The massive cost savings is worth those flaws to me, although I know that not every collector feels this way.  Just something to consider if you're on a tight budget.

Agreed on buying used dolls, but even so, getting a used doll that matches your requirements may be hard and many are stained. For a first time doll owner it may be daunting to deal with staining or broken frame parts if you are looking for cheap. That said, my current DD3 cost me 400 (which I think is reasonable)

3 hours ago, sumdude said:

Agreed on buying used dolls, but even so, getting a used doll that matches your requirements may be hard and many are stained. For a first time doll owner it may be daunting to deal with staining or broken frame parts if you are looking for cheap. That said, my current DD3 cost me 400 (which I think is reasonable)

I did get a DD body used. It came with a head and eyes too. I plan on reselling the head. It wasn't really in bad shape. I paid $300 for everything. The only bad thing is it only has one pair of hands and they are the kind that are in a fist. I don't really care for them so I might buy more hands later.

The used DD_07 head that I got from ebay was a great deal. I got a refund for most of the price because it came in really bad shape. I was able to fix it up and it actually turned out really nice. I really love the face-up that was on it. I had to repaint the lips so I did that and it wasn't too much trouble. I originally didn't want to ask for that much money refunded because I felt bad for the seller but my Dad told me I should just ask for the money back. So I did and I guess the seller didn't really care that much. In the end the doll head cost maybe $10-$20 dollars I believe (it's the one that is in my avatar btw). 

He is my new favorite doll. ^o^

I wish I could get a DDP body for him and try putting the obitsu male chest piece on that. Or even better if someone sells their DDS male body secondhand....but I don't know if that'll ever happen. ^^U

Edited June 30, 2021 by aililysan

@aililysan I love your boy 😍 he would look so cute on the DDP body. DDH-07 was the first DD boy I ever wanted, it's one of my favorite DD sculpts, it's also very versatile. I must say that's one of the best deals I've ever seen, so happy it worked for you! 

Hopefully Volks makes DD boy bodies more accessible in the future, right now the only way to get them is through dream choice, second hand (I rarely see them) or when Volks releases a boy DD.

Mandarake and yahoo Japan!  are great places to get second hand DD boy bodies. Maybe on DoA marketplace too. 

I'm still transitioning my boys into the boy bodies. I'm saving money to buy a DDS boy body via a proxy, hopefully by the end of this year I can buy it. 

Volks doesn't like proxies so I don't want to name names here, in case you want to know more about the proxy I use you can shoot me a DM. 

Obitsu male bodies are also a great choice, I got my DDH07 on an obitsu body for years but I sold him to buy another DDH07 in tan skin.... I really miss him a lot and sometimes I feel like I regret it because I still don't have my tan 07. Probably in 2 months he will come

I hope we both can have our DDH-07s finished the way we want them soon. 

Yeah even within its own niche dollfie dreams are expensive. 

At the moment my next doll related purchase will be a full silicone 1/3 body from evoke. I won't have to try to hide some of the lesser appealing quirks of BJDs. 

At my point in time now, I'm just really doing three things now. After collecting for about 8 years. I feel I've gotten to a very comfortable point. 

1. Get a Beatrice and Yuki Morikawa head (they are my unicorns ^~^)

2.  Better accessorize Alsty to make her even more photogenic. This would be getting that evoke body and fixing Mash's glasses that I broke. 

3. I'm actually looking to find a new face for Alsty. Been looking mildly hard. 

4. I guess be a better photographer. 

Edited July 1, 2021 by mayaiincho

On 6/30/2021 at 11:15 AM, Riesz said:

I've bought almost all of my dolls used off Mandarake. When I decide on the doll I want, I stalk Mandarake and set up product alerts for the one I want... then I wait, sometimes for a long time, until I find her for a good price.

I've gotten some great deals on my dolls because I don't mind if they have a tiny stain or mark, or if they're missing a small part of the fullset, etc. The massive cost savings is worth those flaws to me, although I know that not every collector feels this way.  Just something to consider if you're on a tight budget.

I did see good deals on Mandarake. Do you need a proxy service to buy from them? Is shipping outrageously expensive? I am used to Ebay so I would be new to that service.

On 6/30/2021 at 10:08 PM, jazijaz said:

@aililysan I love your boy 😍 he would look so cute on the DDP body. DDH-07 was the first DD boy I ever wanted, it's one of my favorite DD sculpts, it's also very versatile. I must say that's one of the best deals I've ever seen, so happy it worked for you! 

Hopefully Volks makes DD boy bodies more accessible in the future, right now the only way to get them is through dream choice, second hand (I rarely see them) or when Volks releases a boy DD.

Mandarake and yahoo Japan!  are great places to get second hand DD boy bodies. Maybe on DoA marketplace too. 

I'm still transitioning my boys into the boy bodies. I'm saving money to buy a DDS boy body via a proxy, hopefully by the end of this year I can buy it. 

Volks doesn't like proxies so I don't want to name names here, in case you want to know more about the proxy I use you can shoot me a DM. 

Obitsu male bodies are also a great choice, I got my DDH07 on an obitsu body for years but I sold him to buy another DDH07 in tan skin.... I really miss him a lot and sometimes I feel like I regret it because I still don't have my tan 07. Probably in 2 months he will come

I hope we both can have our DDH-07s finished the way we want them soon. 

 

I completely agree with you! I love the DDH_07 on my boy. It is so perfect for him. He is kind of supposed to have a chill look so those eyes suit him very well. Thank you for complimenting him. He is blushing. .////////.

Yes, it was a really good deal. I still feel kind of bad for the seller...but the photo did kind of hide those flaws. I am surprised the seller agreed. 

I have never seen the boy body on Mandarake or Yahoo Auction Japan. I have never tried to use Den of Angels before. I have heard there are Facebook groups that sell Dollfie Dreams. I have only used Ebay in the past so I would need to do research on the other sites. 

I would use Dollfie Dream Choice if the boy body wasn't more than $600. That is so expensive...also I kind of don't like the proportions of it. I also don't like how you can't have a non-muscular option without doing the DDP or MDD mod with the obitsu chest.

I hope you get your tan 07 soon! I bet he will be gorgeous! I would love to see pics of him when you do!