Is it my age or am I just too practical? Having grown up in a trailer park, going to thrift stores for fun, it never even crossed my mind that I would ever pay retail for nearly anything, ever. If something goes beyond retail, it might as well not exist in my mind.
I don't think...even when I was living paycheck to paycheck...that there was a pair of shoes that I absolutely *had to have* that was anything significantly above retail. Even in the early days...the thought of spending even $10 over retail was too much for me to bear. $100? Yeah no.
These kinds of questions are engagement traps, aren't they? Trying to make us think that the 'fun' part about collecting anything is all about how much money we can spend? Meh. Trying to make us think that the 'best' collectors are the ones that can hit that 'buy now' button on anything and not have it affect their lives in any measurable way. The 'fun' part about collecting for me has pretty much ALWAYS been about getting the best deal...which...I suppose, can be equally dumb, can't it?
lol