2017 Recap, 2018 Goals

I am a spreadsheet junkie.  I love setting up Excel files for just about anything, including varying aspects of my card collection.  One of my more interesting files is my yearly card expense sheet.  I keep a detailed sheet of how much is spent, where I spend it, and what I spend it on.  2017 was a fairly typical year for my spending habits as I usually try to net out between $300 and $400.  I will sell the occasional card or extra Cardinals stadium give away which I deduct the profit from my expenses, but that is usually under $100.  Lets review 2017:

Total spent on cards once a few sales were deducted - $140
Total spent on postage - $214

The numbers show my tendency to trade more than buy.  Yes it is costly to mail cards, but at least I rid myself of some clutter while helping others out.

Where I spent the $140:
EBAY/Sportlots - $65
Card Shows - $40
Chain Stores ( Wal-Mart/Target) - $25
Card Shops - $10

More than anything this shows that I live in a hobby desert.  My nearest card shop is about 50 miles away.  The nearest card shows that are worth going to are at least 2 hours away.  My local Wal-Mart does a decent job of stocking a variety of cards, but I am not one to take a gamble on opening packs very often. 

What I spent the $140 on:
Cardinals cards/memorabilia - $75
Packs/Boxes/Trade Bait - $50
Supplies -$15

This is not a surprise.  My focus is very heavy to my team collecting.  I do have that moment of weakness when I see new pack breaks being posted and I feel the need to join in, but I was good this year and chose packs instead of the $20 blaster boxes.  The supplies portion is 100 and 200 count boxes or snap cases that I use to mail trades. 

Looking forward to 2018, this will be the first year that I have set some collecting goals.  Nothing is very hard core about any of these.  I just thought it would be fun to see what I could accomplish.

1)  Add 5 new Ray Lankford cards -  This is tougher than it sounds as I need less than 80 of his cards, but the Topps Rediscover cards will help this goal out.

2)  Add 5 new Cardinals certified autos -  By this I mean 5 players I do not have an auto of in a Cardinals uniform.  Matt Adams and Stephen Piscotty do not count, but Albert Pujols would.  I would imagine this goal will be helped out by the various Bowman products.

3)  Complete 100 trades - This should not be too hard as I know I made 75 trades on TCDB last year alone.  Add in some blog trades and other online trading sites, I might have topped 100 in 2017.

4)  Make 150 posts -  This one is pretty much self explanatory.  If I come close to the 100 trades, this should not be a problem either.

5)  Complete 1 of my remaining 1970 Cardinals Topps team sets.  -   I need to finish the 1970-1973 sets.  I only need the Ray Busse card to complete 1973, but have not found one in decent condition for a price I am willing to pay.  I need 4 cards from 1970, but Steve Carlton is one of them.  1971 and 1972 are not even close because of various short print cards.


To finish out today's post, I will show my last EBAY purchase from 2017.

This is my first Sierra certified auto.  I have a ton of in person cards from him, but I will not be adding anymore since he was traded to Miami.  I bought this off EBAY for $3.99 delivered shortly after the trade.

The Toles card was part of the auction, the Dahl was a nice throw in.  If anyone is interested in either one of these, shoot me an email or leave a message.