Never tell your wife how much a 20 year old Volleyball game cost...

[Rev]

Trust me on this one.......

 

 

 

She almost had a heart attack and "smacked" me and said i was crazy and needed to sell it!!!

 

 

Edited June 11, 2011 by revolutionika

[+save2600]

Politely explain that at least you can (or should) always be able to get your money back out of it later on, unlike all of her shoes, bags and jewelry

[jaybird3rd]

Perhaps it's naive of me, but here's what I'm going to do before I agree to get married: I'm going to make it clear to my potential fiancé that a certain percentage of my income--a reasonable figure; nothing that would put us in the poorhouse or endanger our savings--will go to support my various hobbies, including classic computers and video games, and that I don't want to hear a peep out of her about how I choose to spend it. In return, I'd gladly allow her to spend an equal amount of money on her own hobbies (and if I'm going to marry her, it's going to be the kind of woman who has creative and substantive hobbies, even if they're different from mine), with no complaint from me.

[edintv]

Politely explain that at least you can (or should) always be able to get your money back out of it later on, unlike all of her shoes, bags and jewelry

 

Exactly, once those expensive prada shoes are used, worth like a 10% of the original value, you already bought a used game, a Vintage item that probably will increase the value with age, is an investment. better than the 0,0001 % interrest of the banks.

[Rev]

Politely explain that at least you can (or should) always be able to get your money back out of it later on, unlike all of her shoes, bags and jewelry

 

Thats similar to what i tole her!!!!! I told her it was an investment and safer than the stock market!

 

 

But actually after her initial shock she has gotten over it. She is pretty cool about my obsession. You should of seen her face the first time i told her i spent 2500 on 8 intellivision homebrews last year.

[+cmart604]

Trust me on this one.......

 

 

 

She almost had a heart attack and "smacked" me and said i was crazy and needed to sell it!!!

 

 

 

Lol! Point noted, mine should be arriving this week.....

[DZ-Jay]

Trust me on this one.......

 

 

 

She almost had a heart attack and "smacked" me and said i was crazy and needed to sell it!!!

 

 

 

Do like I: Instead of telling her right off the bat, surreptitiously introduce the subject by talking about your youth, and how certain things have so much meaning to you. Make sure to sound very passionate, and perhaps a little sad, sprinkling a bit of bittersweet nostalgia over the object of your memories. Then wrap up the topic by saying something like, "I wish these things were still around... perhaps one of these days I should look in e-Bay..."

 

Test the waters thus, and see her reaction. She may even suggest the e-Bay search herself. When you see the price of the auction, comment sadly about how much money it is, and bring back some of that bittersweet nostalgia. She'll probably nudge you to purchase it anyway.

 

Never mention once that you already placed a bid before hand.

 

I was able to place a relatively high bid of for a Keyboard Component. I didn't win, though, it went higher than I expected. It would have worked, though.

 

-dZ.

Edited June 11, 2011 by DZ-Jay

[Rev]

Trust me on this one.......

 

 

 

She almost had a heart attack and "smacked" me and said i was crazy and needed to sell it!!!

 

 

 

Lol! Point noted, mine should be arriving this week.....

 

Cool, Does your wife know how much you "waste" on games?

[+cmart604]

Trust me on this one.......

 

 

 

She almost had a heart attack and "smacked" me and said i was crazy and needed to sell it!!!

 

 

 

Do like I: Instead of telling her right off the bat, surreptitiously introduce the subject by talking about your youth, and how certain things have so much meaning to you. Make sure to sound very passionate, and perhaps a little sad, sprinkling a bit of bittersweet nostalgia over the object of your memories. Then wrap up the topic by saying something like, "I wish these things were still around... perhaps one of these days I should look in e-Bay..."

 

Test the waters thus, and see her reaction. She may even suggest the e-Bay search herself. When you see the price of the auction, comment sadly about how much money it is, and bring back some of that bittersweet nostalgia. She'll probably nudge you to purchase it anyway.

 

Never mention once that you already placed a bid before hand.

 

I was able to place a relatively high bid of for a Keyboard Component. I didn't win, though, it went higher than I expected. It would have worked, though.

 

-dZ.

 

DZ, that is pure gold, and is pretty much word for word what I have done in the past! Lol! Awesome. It's important to have a big prelude, and tying in the stories of your youth is genius and effective. luckily, at the end of the day, my wife doesn't really care what I spend on this stuff, so long as all our other financial needs are being taken care of.

[+cmart604]

Trust me on this one.......

 

 

 

She almost had a heart attack and "smacked" me and said i was crazy and needed to sell it!!!

 

 

 

Lol! Point noted, mine should be arriving this week.....

 

Cool, Does your wife know how much you "waste" on games?

 

"waste" is such a strong word, I prefer "investing in reliving my youth", that sounds better somehow.

[the.golden.ax]

My wife has no concept of money. In her mind $25.00 and $250.00 are only different because they have more/less zeros. I'm not joking. As a big kid, I hate to tell me no. No one else did, so I've often gotten myself in trouble. Learning to self regulate... that is a hard thing to do in your 30's. Alas a battle every day. Should I throw in the towel on collecting just because I know there is a 99% chance of never owning some titles? Na, not yet.

 

AX

[IntellivisionDude]

That's why i'm never getting married again.

[crade]

Perhaps it's naive of me, but here's what I'm going to do before I agree to get married: I'm going to make it clear to my potential fiancé that a certain percentage of my income--a reasonable figure; nothing that would put us in the poorhouse or endanger our savings--will go to support my various hobbies, including classic computers and video games, and that I don't want to hear a peep out of her about how I choose to spend it. In return, I'd gladly allow her to spend an equal amount of money on her own hobbies (and if I'm going to marry her, it's going to be the kind of woman who has creative and substantive hobbies, even if they're different from mine), with no complaint from me.

That does sound a bit naive.

Hell I could make that deal with my wife right now... For all the good it would do me

 

Also, how come her hobbies have to be creative and substantive and your's don't?

Edited June 11, 2011 by crade

[+cmart604]

Perhaps it's naive of me, but here's what I'm going to do before I agree to get married: I'm going to make it clear to my potential fiancé that a certain percentage of my income--a reasonable figure; nothing that would put us in the poorhouse or endanger our savings--will go to support my various hobbies, including classic computers and video games, and that I don't want to hear a peep out of her about how I choose to spend it. In return, I'd gladly allow her to spend an equal amount of money on her own hobbies (and if I'm going to marry her, it's going to be the kind of woman who has creative and substantive hobbies, even if they're different from mine), with no complaint from me.

 

 

That's pretty much what my wife and I do, it's just that my hobbies cost more than hers.

[DZ-Jay]

luckily, at the end of the day, my wife doesn't really care what I spend on this stuff, so long as all our other financial needs are being taken care of.

 

Same with mine. Oh, and I also need to let her splurge in her own things without even as much as rolling my eyes quietly, especially after a big purchase.

 

Oh, and when all else fails... present it to her as a gift. My wife received a ColecoVision for her birthday last year. She had mentioned she had one when she was younger, so I bought it "for her."

 

I'm now looking in e-Bay for an Apple II for Christmas, *ahem*, for her of course. "Happy birthday, honey! Oh, you don't remember having a Commodore 64 when you were 10? It must have been me then. Oops!"

 

All joking aside, I'm lucky enough that I don't need to manipulate my wife like this. She knows I'm very passionate with the toys of my youth, and thinks it's much more reasonable and healthier to recapture or relive it with video games than, say, with the fancy Italian red sports car--or a 21 year-old mistress.

 

-dZ.

[HatefulGravey]

My wife simply has no idea what I spend. She knows when get a great deal, and only then because they make me happy enough that I can't stop talking about them for atleast an hour. Over all I have been lucky enough to be able to pay all our bills for a while now. So long as those are paid she has no problem with me spending some of the extra.

 

She on the other hand does see the collection and when I top 100 or so games for a console I get a look or two from time to time. We have an apartment right now. Its a really nice apartment, but it still doesn't have the room a house would for these things, so the collection has my living room looking alot like a show room for my toys. I dig it, she doesn't mind it most of the time and this stuff makes a great conversation every time someone comes to the house.

[+save2600]

Also, how come her hobbies have to be creative and substantive and your's don't?

Jaybird's response is extremely logical, practical and reasonable. Classic gaming often inherently brings with it, a slew of other interesting denominators that keep people busy. So recognizing this fun fact, I wouldn't be quick to assume Jaybird's other hobbies (including this one) are not creative or substantive.

 

What I think he was trying to say is that women without hobbies are like dead puppies: not much fun and that he would rather not be with someone that didn't exhibit a level of passion for *whatever*. It would appear though that many men could care less if their women have hobbies, so long as they're awfully good in bed. Or perhaps that activity is a bit of a "substantive" hobby to them right there? Definitely beats incessant texting and the mucking up of ones body with "creative" (hardly) tattoo's.

[jaybird3rd]

That does sound a bit naive.

Hell I could make that deal with my wife right now... For all the good it would do me

 

Also, how come her hobbies have to be creative and substantive and yours don't?

All of my hobbies are creative and substantive. To me, a hobby should be a vehicle for one's own growth and development, not something to be passively enjoyed the way a cow enjoys the sunshine (which is what too many people often do). Ideally, I'd choose to be in a relationship with somebody who sees them the same way and is just as passionate as I am about finding those opportunities for self-improvement, even if the particular hobbies she chooses are different from my own. It's possible to achieve that even in classic computing and gaming: look here to see one of the ways I've done it.

 

But that wasn't really my point. I've just noticed that active participants in our little hobby often find themselves severely cutting back on their collections--or getting rid of them entirely--due to pressure from their spouses, especially among those who are newly married. I still think it's possible to avoid these areas of friction if both parties are willing to understand each other and negotiate before they make any long-term commitments.

[atari181]

I agree, . Never,Never, Never ever tell them how much any collector item is. She will either go batshit, or sell it for shoes and a purse.

[barnieg]

My wife and now by default are 3 daughters "hobby" is horse riding and I would be hard pressed to spend anywhere near that monthly bill The biggest problem with my retro stuff is our house is quite small so its difficult to have it on display very often!

 

Barnie

[flammingcowz]

Just tell her "who made the money that bought it? and this house?"

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

Just tell her "who made the money that bought it? and this house?"

 

 

Unless of course as in my case IT's HER lol!

[+cmart604]

My wife and now by default are 3 daughters "hobby" is horse riding and I would be hard pressed to spend anywhere near that monthly bill The biggest problem with my retro stuff is our house is quite small so its difficult to have it on display very often!

 

Barnie

 

Especially with all the horses in there as well! I imagine that woudn't leave much room for games at all!

[GrandviewCoin]

lol

 

My wife usually doesn't care too much.. hell I managed to get 28 Arcade games, 2 pins, and a slot machine into the house pretty easily.

 

just seems like the ebay 5-10.00 range stuff makes her wonder what I'm doing... go figure.

 

it also helps that she loves playing, and kicks ass on Moon Patrol.

[+save2600]

it also helps that she loves playing, and kicks ass on Moon Patrol.

I've known women that love Moon Patrol... Juno First and Gyruss are way up there as well. Ms. Pac and Centipede have always been the old standbys with those of the fairer sex too.