Disclaimer: this post is probably me sharing too much sensitive personal information on the public internet. The fact I am disclosing to the world that I use Mint is already something of a boo-boo. Let alone my entertainment budgeting for 2011. But oh well, the saying goes that a fool and his money is soon parted. Maybe I’ll just spend it so there’s nothing left to steal.

I have a hard time putting away money. Or I should say, I do a pretty darn good job putting away money…if I can actually spend this much every year on otaku goods. I think if I just cut it by half, I would probably live O.K. If I get a renter AND cut it by half, I would probably be able to remodel my kitchen in a year or two.

So it seems prudent and good to see how I can cut it by half. Using Mint, I was able to narrow it down by category and make pretty pie charts, you know the drill. Looking back to the past 19 months (that’s all I had data for) I can see some interesting changes:

1. My figure spending has actually GONE UP. Despite trying to hold back all year. Well, it probably is more complicated than that. If memory is to be relied upon, my figure spending probably went down in the latter part of 2010, and went up in the middle part of 2011, and then down towards the end, and then up again. The net result is that my figure spending went up by maybe 15%, 6-month-to-6-month. If there is a reason to it, it’s Mandarake. And Love Plus. I’ll get to that in a minute. But given the way the exchange rate has been going, the 15% increase suggests that I have been buying less or buying cheaper, actually.

2. I don’t game much, and haven’t. Yet I put away about 35% of my anime spending on games in 2012. [Trying to not lay down specific numbers… (tho it’s easy to infer something ballpark if you think about it)] A good chunk of it is for imported games or the crap Aksys or NISA is selling. And maybe $100 on EVE Online. Hopefully most of that will be off the list next year to make space for maybe a PS Vita. Most notably is a write-off (wwwww) for that NEW Love Plus 3DS that I’ve got proxy’d and paid for. Notable, because I don’t even have it yet and I paid already, and it is the one single largest expense. In light of all this, even if I get a Vita and get horribly addicted to TOR, I will still come out ahead by 20-30%. Or maybe that is a best-case scenario? The best case scenario is that I forgo a Vita until probably December 2012, when there are really good games out already.

3. My music spending has stabilized, which may be a good thing but given how much I spend, I still could do better not buying trashy stuff. On the other hand, I’ve been buying CDs even before DVDs and junk, so I’ve had a long time to come to terms to spending and methods to control it. I guess all I need to do is exercise more wishlist discipline, and put stuff on “wait” to see if I still like it and listen to it 3 or 6 months later. Overall even if I fail to exercise discipline here I should not be badly off. The exchange rate is more evil than anything that I could do at this point–for the same money for 2 CDs at CDJ, I used to be able to buy 3 albums and a single. Sigh.

4. Anime on BD and DVD is still doing very well in terms of how much I spend. Large, single ticket items still make a splash on my list, although you have to give it to Aniplex for being able to do so. Most of my attrition remains with RightStuf and their sales. Some bigger hurts were K-On on Blu, Utena, finished out Marimite, Baccano, Katanagatari, Gundam Unicorn, and some NISA/Aniplex stuff. Single sets like Toradora, Arakawa (I bought this just for an autograph ticket lol), OreImo, Ga-ei Zero (should’ve waited on it lol did you see that sale)… just those alone eclipses my novel and manga purchases by a multitude. Which is to say, all of that just adds up to a Rakkyo box. You know how it rolls. And I still didn’t buy Sorakake Girl 4 lol. Maybe I should before it’s terribly OOP. Or wait until next Christmas? Hmm.

5. I spent about 25% of my anime purchases in non-home-video, non-music, non-figure goods. That’s a lot. But that includes all the new earthenware I’m rocking. Like that Nyan Nyan ramen bowl. Srsly. I have to say, though, that Haikasoru is still probably the best enjoyment-per-buck line of anime-related goodness out there. I had a blast with their offering this year, even if I’ve been reading less in 2011. Also the “anime misc” category that I’m referencing to here is kind of fuzzy with Mint. I don’t precisely categorize all my purchases with so much precision. Especially at a con. I wonder how much of that is Tanto Cuore lol.

6. Yea. I spend way too much. Hopefully next year I can look forward to more frugal collector mentality ruling the home.