I see many people spending a lot to get cels. . . 
Absolutely *NO* offense to anyone, I find myself 
just shaking my head and rolling my eyes a lot of 
the time. There are a lot of things that money 
can buy, and jokes aside - cels are the *least* 
important of those things money can buy.

I keep a $250 per cel "spending limit". If it's 
more than about $250, I shrug and keep going. I 
have bought only one cel for more than that (even 
that was still under $300), and a cel has to be 
*TRULY* incredible to make me even think about 
breaking my limit. The reason isn't because I'm 
broke. I have a bank account solely for whatever 
I feel like which contains a four figure dollar 
amount. The reason I keep the limit is so that I 
don't risk making foolish purchases. Things that, 
even if I can afford it now, I can't afford it 
later - like when a pet gets sick, or the house 
needs attention, or (to look further into the 
future) when I retire and I DON'T have a weekly 
paycheck to back up my spending.

Cels, anime, art in general - they're a very 
important part of my life. But I make sure to be 
constantly attentive that they are not ruling my 
life. . . Especially financially. That is why I 
can be "so broke!" without having a bank balance 
of zero. I'm responsible and I limit my spending.

The spending limit is also to aviod that "guilty" 
feeling. If I looked at my cels and felt guilty 
about them, I would never again be able to enjoy 
possessing them. . . Enjoy looking at them. At 
which point there would be no reason to own them. 
If you have to do things to convince yourself 
that you really wanted to pay "that much" for any 
given cel - if you have to rewatch the anime to 
remind yourself that a certain scene really was 
$XXX worth of important to you - that should 
stand out like a neon sign reading: "It wasn't 
worth it".

I was discussing cel prices with someone else 
fairly recently in private e-mail and one thing I 
said was this:

> People will spend what they want to spend in the
> name of amusing themselves - that is the point
> of a hobby. If I can be amused by spending $200
> when someone else needs to spend $1000 before
> they're amused, I consider myself to be the
> luckier. If someone else is amused by spending
> $20 where I need to spend $200, I am envious of
> their good fortune and/or attitude towards the
> hobby.

I still believe in that. If a cel is truly worth 
huge dollars to someone, who am I to critcize 
anyone for spending their money in the name of 
possessing something they will cherish for a long 
time?  But I don't respect the big spenders who 
have no responsibility - who buy and buy and buy, 
only to bemoan that they have no money and sell 
all those "dream cels" a month later. (Were they 
really "dream cels" to begin with?) In the same 
vein, I worry about the big spenders I see who 
buy things for huge amounts when they can't 
afford it, or who rack up big debts in the name 
of "keeping up" with the hobby. (Their lack of 
vision for their future needs WILL haunt them 
later.)

Bottom line is, you should let yourself feel what 
you are going to feel about whatever cel you have 
bought. You should enjoy it. If you can't, I 
suggest that you don't let it sit like a skeleton 
in your closet. Let it go so you can let go of 
the guilt. . .

Many Sharp Smiles,
--Drac