I was just checking my finances and realized that I use about 627 SEK each month for Postcrossing. Thought it felt a lot first, I have to admit that is quite normal-ish amount for a hobby. It also surprised me how many things add up, it is not only the postage, but the cards cost too, the time used, pens, stickers, envelopes, gas if you need to drive to post…
How much you are using per month? Do you have a set budget or just go with the flow? Also do you count trades in forum and official Postcrossing under the same budget? How you take care to stay in your budget (because it is so easy to get addicted on sending postcards…)?
For me, I think I will now forward to cut the costs and set the budget at 500 SEK, because I have some investments coming up soon so I need to start to save up money.
I did the conversion to USD and what you’ve spent is about what I spent on my last round of stamp purchases. I’ve probably put in $100 or ~859SEK because I am just starting again and restocking my postcard collection.
I don’t have a set budget, I don’t write / send continuously. Some month it’s a lot and then the other month hardly anything… So I neither track tags, swaps nor official cards. November and December are always the most pricey months though (in November I swap envelopes for 1-2 advent calendar and in December I always fill up all my available slots).
I never calculated but I guess it’s somewhere up to €100 per month. I don’t think that’s too much, I don’t really have other pricey hobbies and cut costs at other points in life very effectively. I think it’s okay to treat yourself to a hobby that’s good for you. And especially in these times, communication over some distance really is the best thing you can do.
The price for stamps per postcard in Denmark is €4/$4,8/£3,6, so I used to limit myself to whenever I was travelling. With corona, that’s less of an option .
So on average about only £10 per month, recently as it’s Christmas soon I’ve spent a bit more than that, at least over your 627 SEK (Around £55) I think so far done £70 in all on postcrossing in the last month…
But I don’t keep track! It costs what it costs…
A single postcard anywhere worldwide is £1.45 a time for info, but recently sent two parcels with a third waiting to go to USA, they cost more.
I don’t track, what I pay for Postcrossing, but I’d set me a limit of 20€ per month by writing letters and sending postcards. in months like November or December it will a bit more, but its okay for me, because of that it is a hobby and it brings me much fun to send and receive cards (and letters from my penpals ;))
I really cannot say a number. Some months it’s about 100 € (~ 1020 SEK), other months more but there are also months when I spend almost nothing. From time to time I order a huge bunch of cards and stamps and this costs a lot. But then it lasts for some months.
And if there are other urgent investments we have to do I have to save the money of course.
I don’t track my postcrossing specifically but I do track all my expenses so that if one day my luck turns and I need to cut down on something, I’ll have an overview of where I spend most. And also to track how much money I save for travelling, which right now is irrelevant
So because of that I know that there are months when I’d spend, say, 50 sgd (that’s about 30ish euros) if I do a big stamp shopping, some months it’s zero, most months it looks like it’s only a bunch of dollars (between 3 and 10) if I come across a few postcards. I usually only buy a few postcards at a time, and rarely buy stationery items even if I love them (it’s kind of all or nothing… I can’t have them all so I’d rather have none ).
Postage is ssoooo cheap here in SG compared to Europe, but I don’t think I used to spend a lot more in the UK as I was simply more careful/less active due to cost and less free time.
And yes, it’s a hobby and most hobbies require some money invested… I think compared to many hobbies it is still reasonable, and it’s so nice that it is so adaptable, you don’t have to spend a lot all the time and you can just decrease or increase activity.
When I treat myself to more postcards or do a big stamp shopping I also think well, I don’t smoke or have other unusually high daily expenses, so this is my treat.
I probably spend around $80-100 USD per month if you calculate only the postcards that I send out for Postcrossing (i.e. cost of the postcard, decorations, ink, and stamps). I do, however, continually add to my stock of postcards and other assorted stationary items but I always look for sales to keep the cost of that down. I think this is fine since the only other fun thing I spend money on is books and my other hobby just involves writing on the computer.
oh i don’t keep track at all. i don’t even know how to. i barely send any postcards in the summer because i don’t have a lot of time, so around september or october i started with postcrossing again. i can’t remember when i last bought stamps, i have more than enough at home. but when i do buy stamps it’s always at least 100, so i don’t have to worry about having none.
and then i ordered some cards online for i think about 60euros? but that only happens 2 or 3 times a year (well and then i also buy separate postcard boxes and sometimes cards in stores) and the other day i bought way too many washitapes and stickers.
oh also. i have this string of lights i specifically bought for my christmas cards, does that count as well?
what i’m trying to say is. i don’t know and i don’t really wanna know. as long as i enjoy it and i’m able to pay for it i guess i’m good.
It cost $2.70 to send a postcard internationally, so it has added up. I only started last month and have sent probsbyl 20 cards already. But I want to recieve lots to start with. Now I have got on top of all the swaps I joined I plan to stick with official postcrossing and only join swaps that result in one card being sent at a time. Whether I stick to that plan or not is a whole other story.
I try not to think about it too much. I do get a lot of my postcards cheaply as I work in a charity shop and sometimes get some amazing cards for not much. I pay 1/2 price for my postage by buying through stamp dealers I am associated with. December is an expensive month as I swap Chinese New Year with 20+ others and pay full price for those stamps.
I don’t drink coffee, tea, go to the hairdressers, buy expensive clothes, wear make up etc. I’m a fairly low maintenance person so this is my little splurge
I have a strict budget for everything as I’m not in the greatest financial state
For Postcrossing and my penpals I set aside $20 each month (152sek or £15)
If I end up not using all $20 (rarely pfft) I set aside the leftover for the next month.
If I don’t budget myself I won’t be able to stop
It is a quite expensive hobby.
I don’t limit total cost, but I really try to keep my price per card down.
Stamps in France are 1.40€, so I try to keep the postcards themselves around 50 cents. It is VERY hard to find nice cards for that price, and sometimes I splurge, but rarely go over 1.50 for a card.
I don’t even calculate. In some months I may spend only around 20 € ($ 24,25/£18,04/205,04 SEK) in other the sum might be around 200 € ($ 242,46/£180,41/2050,37 SEK). I usually stock up stamps every time the Finnish post announces about a price rise (1-2 times/year). I also tend to grab an opportunity if I see there are bargains for cards (I buy most of my cards online).
I just calculated that I have spent around ~1700 € (~$2000/~ £1500/~17 400 SEK) on postcrossing this year (cards, stamps, stickers, rubber stamps), so the next year I’ll take it a lot easier because I want to spend on/save for other things (would like to attend the Bielefeld Postcrossing meeting as once in a lifetime experience if it’s possible). I have to admit that when it comes to stamps, I am a hoarder because as a Finn I have to live in a constant fear of annual stamp prices rises (there has been a hint about the next price rise coming in the beginning of 2021 and they say it’s because of coronavirus ) I want to make sure I can continue this great hobby in the future too (if the Finnish post doesn’t decide that they quit letter/card delivery altogether ).
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) I want to make sure I can continue this great hobby in the future too (if the Finnish post doesn’t decide that they quit letter/card delivery altogether 
). 