How do you like to keep track of your purchases?

[KuroiTsubasa4]

I just finished updating my beast of an Excel spreadsheet where I keep track of cel purchases and I was curious, does anyone else keep a running log like this, and if so, how do you do it (programs, apps, format, etc)?

As much of a pain as it is to keep this spreadsheet up to date, it is really interesting to see my spending habits and which months I was a terrible person during, haha. I have everything arranged by date of purchase broken down by series and the purchase dates are color coded by year, so it's painfully obvious when I go on buying sprees. I have a column for actual cost as well as shipping, and oh man, does shipping add up. I also keep track of the seller I purchased each cel/sketch from. I do a yearly summary too and pin point which were the main pieces I bought per month, what was my total spend per month and what was my monthly average spend. It's kind of ridiculous...but I like organization, and color coding is fun XD

Other than Excel, I've found that the Rubberslug Private Info feature is really useful, but the date sections etc have been a bit buggy for me lately so I prefer to keep everything in my own log instead Though it was the Rubberslug feature that initially inspired me to do so.

So how about everyone else? Do you keep meticulous records, or do you prefer not to know

[JustVan]

Sometimes I remember it or wrote it down somewhere, but generally I don't remember when or where I got my cels. I wish I did. I don't know about something as in depth as what you have, but there are definitely somewhere I don't even remember how they got into my collection and I wish I did.

[zerospace]

The web software I wrote to run my gallery keeps track of this for me. There are hidden fields for cost & source, which I always fill in, and the software records the date/time I uploaded the cel -- I also wrote tools that will break gallery sections down to show amounts spent and they can be sorted by date added/acquired, and I suppose if I wanted to see things like how much I spent per month (a number that was more relevant many years ago), the data is there.

[Animechaos]

I don't keep track. If I knew I'd probably break down sobbing maniacally.

[KinoLRB]

I do keep of spreadsheet of what cels I have, but I don't document the prices or origin of sale.

[JWR]

I use 2 methods. Mainly I use the private area on RS to put date bought and price paid. I also do keep short written notes Describing the cel and price in a wire ring binder like what I used in school as a hard copy in case RS ever has a major problem.
I use both mainly for insurance purposes and not really to look back at my spending habits.

[lunacels]

I started keeping an Excel file, too! It serves as a directory for my gallery, in case Rubberslug ever goes under. It was painful losing all the data and scans in my personal gallery back in 2006, and I didn't want to take any chances this time! I have organized it by each cel (one per row), with the following: cel scan thumbnail, series, cel title, episode number, air date, animation director, cel description, animation director description, cel layers, sequence number, key cel (yes/no), purchase date, purchase source (including seller ID if an auction site), and cost (listed in yen or USD, whichever applies). When I started putting this together, I even went back using the Internet Archive, browsing the pre-2002 cel dealers and the comments and updates sections of my old gallery, and slogged through my old posts on Animanga and my Livejournal to see if I could place the source/cost from my early days of collecting (yes, I was THAT obsessive). It was kind of neat though, and a nice trip down memory lane.

But I have not sorted by cost to see what I've spent. I keep to a monthly budget, but I seriously do not want to know what it is over the long haul!

[zerospace]

I started keeping an Excel file, too! It serves as a directory for my gallery, in case Rubberslug ever goes under. It was painful losing all the data and scans in my personal gallery back in 2006, and I didn't want to take any chances this time! I have organized it by each cel (one per row), with the following: cel scan thumbnail, series, cel title, episode number, air date, animation director, cel description, animation director description, cel layers, sequence number, key cel (yes/no), purchase date, purchase source (including seller ID if an auction site), and cost (listed in yen or USD, whichever applies). When I started putting this together, I even went back using the Internet Archive, browsing the pre-2002 cel dealers and the comments and updates sections of my old gallery, and slogged through my old posts on Animanga and my Livejournal to see if I could place the source/cost from my early days of collecting (yes, I was THAT obsessive). It was kind of neat though, and a nice trip down memory lane.

But I have not sorted by cost to see what I've spent. I keep to a monthly budget, but I seriously do not want to know what it is over the long haul!

Wow. That's a LOT of information!! My system came long after I started collecting, by about ohhh... 5-6 years. To gather the data on my earlier purchases, I used emails and PayPal account records to track down how much I spent and who I bought the items from. My oldest records are the least complete, but I can't imagine attempting to track down ALL of the stuff you record, luna! Color me impressed! I do like recording where I bought everything, though. I even note the cels I buy at conventions, so some of mine are noted like this: "AX 2007 -- *insert booth name here*"). If I buy from a private collector, I note it something like "private collector -- *name*" or however I know them (first name, eBay username, Beta username, Animanga username, etc).

At the peak of the size of my Gundam Wing collection, I once pulled up the spreadsheet showing how much I had invested in art from the series and it scared the crap out of me. Needless to say, I have NOT done that since. I can stomach looking at what I paid for individual cels, but the totals are downright scary. I guess the only solace I can take in that is that the money was spent over a long period of time (currently about 14 years, since my first cel purchase was sometime in mid to late 2001).

[cutiebunny]

I have a spreadsheet for my Kobato and CCS episode 40 backgrounds. I originally created this so I could register the background on to the sheet when the Kobato stuff arrived in bulk. I wanted to keep track of how many backgrounds I had from each episode. With exception to episode 19 & 22, I did not sort the artwork into episode-specific folders, so everything is sort of clumped together. More work for me to do once I finish scanning that Pile of Shame, I suppose.

I use the RS private section to record when I buy things. In some cases, I add the amount. I also have added information regarding what sequence mates or similar sketches from the same artist have sold for when auctioned online. Adding how much I've spent on items is pretty sporadic. In the case of the CCS backgrounds, I've never kept track of what I spent on this because I figured that they'd have very little resale value. The cels and original art, though, I've either written it down or remembered how much each one cost. I always remember where or from whom I bought the item from, including YJ sellers, so I never write that down. I remember a lot of stupid, useless facts. Trivia has always been my thing.

I do keep meticulous records of existing original artwork though, especially those that are offered as presents during various magazine promotions in Japan. I do it not so much because I hope it'll help me out for authentication purposes for a future auction, but rather, I like to know what's out there. I'd venture to say that the majority of cloud images I've stored are promotional ads from various magazines, convention charity auction previews or things posted to social media.

I really should get around to uploading the scans to an off-RS site in the event that the hamsters stop turning their wheel and something happens to RS. You'd think I would have learned this after Villagephotos disappeared without warning several years ago, but I am a slow learner.

[Jadeduo]

Wow, I never even think of this, I just usually log it on RS and I put the date of purchase in the Notes section as the DATE of purchase box stopped working 2 years ago

God it is upsetting to think about RS disappearing from the ether, and further proof I should start thinking about reviving the old site. Unfortunately the last time I had my own site my gallery was MUCH smaller... (I still have the framework but it might not work for where my gallery is now) Although Excel is not a bad idea, and I also enjoy color coding my work spreadsheets I might have fun doing it for something I like as well... This is a thought! ^_^

The last time I added up the total amount spent on cells was like 2007ish... so I don't even want to think about where I am at right now!!!

It's interesting to hear about what everyone else does ^_^

[Drac of the Sharp Smiles]

I'm kind of what Animechaos said.... I did used to keep track, but the records started to become long and complicated and without a lot of meaning. Complicated because it became hard to sort out individual prices for pieces bought in lots. Without meaning because the real point of knowing what you paid for something is to make sure you don't lose money on it when reselling it. However, cel markets aren't something that is stable. When I decide to sell something, the only thing that really matters for determining the price is the current market for that cel or sketch. Ask more than the current market value and the piece won't sell, irregardless of what I originally paid for it.

So while I do remember what I paid for some of my more expensive pieces, I don't write it all down. I probably should pick a point and write down anything purchased for more than a certain amount, just as a reference for anyone settling my estate if something happened to me.... However, that would still be rather pointless as I do sometimes (knowingly) overpay for things I want. In which case, you would be referencing the point above about the current market value.

[cscratch]

I started keeping a spreadsheet when I first started collecting since I am a big, big nerd when it comes to numbers. I collected as much information as I could think of (how much, shipping, who from, URLs, email addresses, conversion rates, etc.) & have added fields over the years (and yes zero, shipping REALLY adds up!).

A neat thing I started to see was trending information on when I was spending the most or certain months when more items were becoming available over the years. It also helped me plan a budget & see how much I was actually spending; one statistic that really helped me get a handle on how much was spending was a percentage of spending on cels against my net income. It was a real eye opener, let me tell you!

An added bonus for collecting all this data is that it was very easy to get my collection insured since I had all the information they needed ready to hand over.

[majinuub]

I use a program on my mac called home inventory. With it I'm able to keep track of things such as prices, dates and images of each item I own.

[zerospace]

I'm kind of what Animechaos said.... I did used to keep track, but the records started to become long and complicated and without a lot of meaning. Complicated because it became hard to sort out individual prices for pieces bought in lots. Without meaning because the real point of knowing what you paid for something is to make sure you don't lose money on it when reselling it. However, cel markets aren't something that is stable. When I decide to sell something, the only thing that really matters for determining the price is the current market for that cel or sketch. Ask more than the current market value and the piece won't sell, irregardless of what I originally paid for it.

So while I do remember what I paid for some of my more expensive pieces, I don't write it all down. I probably should pick a point and write down anything purchased for more than a certain amount, just as a reference for anyone settling my estate if something happened to me.... However, that would still be rather pointless as I do sometimes (knowingly) overpay for things I want. In which case, you would be referencing the point above about the current market value.

I don't keep track of this stuff to know what to sell something for, though it's a good reference point when someone asks me how much I want for a certain item if I'm taking offers. As far as lots go -- I actually add up the cost of the lot (including shipping & commission if a deputy was used) and then divide it up evenly among the items in the lot for the price paid for each item.

I keep track just for the heck of it -- so when I look at a cel in my gallery and go "gee, what did I pay for that again?", there's a quick, easy way to find the answer. I originally started doing it because I wanted to insure our artwork collection. But now I keep track just purely for my own information & fun. Sometimes I do like looking at trends -- like average price I paid for Heero cels in 2004 vs in 2010. How many cels did I buy each year and where do I tend to buy them from (if there's a trend there), etc. It's really just a way to keep it all organized, which is why my data is recorded in my gallery rather than in a separate database or spreadsheet .

[Keropi]

I just wrote the information on paper and then stuck the papers in one of my two "Cel Folder" paper folders where I kept all of my cel related information. My earliest sheets were in pencil, but after seeing how hard it became to read my earlier pencil writing papers I wrote everything in pen. Pen markings last a lot longer than pencil. Pencil marks only smear over time (even if it takes years and years to become noticeable)