Porunga, you have reached what I described as "the selldown stage", where you no longer need the lesser cels because you have the Permanent Collection.
I seem to have joined the Jenn School of Scattershot Collecting (This is a compliment Jenn and you are not alone, but you are the one that made the comments that changed my outlook) where you buy what suits your fancy and it takes a lot longer to feel the need to sell off, because you don't have that many of any one thing
Dave
It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.
As the years go by, it seems that my limit tends to go up gradually. For the first year, I kept my limit to $100. After a while, it went up to $250. Then, just this past year, I spent $750 on a cel. It doesn't really matter to me that much, as long as I have the money to spend I may as well get something I enjoy.
I had been wanting to collect for many years before I actually started, but other priorities came first (buying a house and paying off all debts). I was just about there when I suddenly won a large amount of money.
I could suddenly get what I had been wanting for and dropped over $10 K in my first month.
In my 5 years of collecting I have never spent more than $150 (I think that was about 2 years into my collecting) for a cel in my collection. Not that I'm cheap or holding back or anything, I guess I'm a bit picky at what I buy. I'm willing to break that price barrier at any moment if I find a wish/dream/stunning cel... I hope my patience is going to pay off over time.
I have almost always had my eye on the rarer ones.... and I gradually increased my money spending.... first to $250-300 now im going over $500 and I'm bound to go higher. But I realize now it's worth it for the really good stuff.
I started into cels wanting FY only. Many people here may know that FY is incredibly pricey. SO the first cel that I started buying was $200. I bought quite a few FY cels before I started collecting from anything else.. so I was kind of used to it. It was when I didn't collect FY anymore that my collection really expanded.. because I could get a lot more cels for the price of one FY. It was such a nice feeling to get a primo cel from another series for like.. $30. lol
I voted the "six months" one though, because within six months of my beginning collecting... I "won" a cel that was just over 1k. *sweatdrop*
It was my dream cel, and I do NOT plan on spending that much again! ONce is enough!!
It took some time to find all of the sites and to get the lay of the land. And I started out with a purchase from Taro, so I wasn't over spending on cels(I think).
Of course I still have a hard time with the idea of dropping over $500 US on a cel.
For me the fun is not how much I spend on a cel but how good a deal I can get!
As for my collecting habits, I think I jumped in with both feet right away. My first cel was $150 and within a month I spent $250 on one cel. I thought that was a lot at the time but now that I seem to have culled many of the rage cels from the market, I don't see very many cels that pique my interest anymore. So when I see the ones I like, I'm willing to spend the money to get them, up to a limit of course. After all they are just paint on plastic.
Well, I was at the North Pole recently and 9 out of 10 elves think you're sane but you have to consider who they are using as a comparison. There aren't too many people up at the North Pole. Oddly enough though they all seem to have pilots licenses.
ohhh... you got grape mentos?!?!? I heard those are really really good and hard to get. You'll have to give me the name of your connection so I can get some. Care to share?
Don't worry about being OT Noriko. Soda is always OT and he never appologizes.
You have excellent taste!! I'd share my stash with you any day, but not with Soda. (No mentos for cheeky monkeys.) Anyway, grape mentos do indeed exist, but I think they only sell them in Japan and other parts of Asia. Although, I haven't looked hard enough here in the US to say for sure that no one sells them here. I got my stash of them from a VERY generous friend who has "connections" in Hong Kong. (BTW if you are in the market for a pet Llama, he can get you one of those too.) So happy hunting!! Let me know if you find any!!
Life is too important to be taken seriously.
~Oscar Wilde
It was such a nice feeling to get a primo cel from another series for like.. $30. lol 
At least I know that I'm sane now. There are people out there who understand. 
