Alright, I know what you're all thinking. "This guy's a moron!" Well, that's true in a lot of ways... But please, hear me out.

This year has been a rather fantastic experience for Lego fans all around the world. So many great new themes and sets have been released, such as Ultra Agents, Juniors, Mixels and, of course... The Lego Movie. A theme that had been on hiatus has made it's presence known once more, in the form of Ninjago: Rebooted. Multiple Lego Cuusoo/Ideas sets have been released/revealed, such as the Ecto-1, the Research Institute and the (highly anticipated) Exo-Suit...

...But all of those sets cost money. And when you put all of those sets together, you've got over at least £600/$700 in plastic parts. That's a SERIOUS amount of money.

While this year has been one of the best years a lot of us have seen for a while, this is also one of the most expensive years we've ever had. I'm sure that a lot of people have already bought a ton of sets that they really like. But, what if these sets drain our wallets out of our money? What if we end up with no money left to spend on next year's sets?

I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on this. I just think that there's a chance that a lot of us might spend too much money, this year.

Good thought. A budget might help, say I wanna spend 200 dollars on lego then I could spend 100 on 2014 and 100 on 2015. So yeah I see your point this has been the a LOT of new sets this year, probably more than any other year in lego history.

To be honest, this will end up being the last year where I buy a large amount of sets, regardless whether I want them or not. Buying sets like Battle For Ninjago City, Ultra Agents Mission HQ, the Exo-Suit and Queen Beast Vs. Furno, Evo & Stormer is just going to drain my budget away.

My problem is all the themes I was buying... and I wanted it all! Then when I decide to stop and focus on just city building and CMFs, TLG announced LEGO The Hobbit and LOTR... and seemed to start releasing Modulars more frequently. Then, being disappointed in both the movies so far in the The Hobbit and some of the sets, I convinced myself I didn't need them all... but the only ones I want at the moment are the super expensive ones.

Luckily I had no desire for the BTTF set... liked the movie, but not thrilled with the set.... but got the Ecto-1, and want the ones that have been selected and not released yet... but I don't think they will be all that expensive.

So... yeah, every time I try to cut back, they somehow figure it out and add more stuff I "need."

I feel sorry for the Star Wars and Super Heroes fans. They have to pay so much money for the sets that they want. :c

I feel sorry for the Star Wars and Super Heroes fans. They have to pay so much money for the sets that they want. :c

True that. I fully collect LEGO Superheroes... It has been an EXPENSIVE year. Not to mention OT Star Wars, architecture, THE LEGO MOVIE... Jeez. But I can't complain, *almost* everything I've bought has been quality LEGO.

Thankfully my rest-of-2014 spending is quite small with the only must-buys being the Spaceship Spaceship SPACESHIP! and the Exo-Suit.

I collect all the Superheroes sets, the CMF's, and the modulars, plus another set here and there. I come into it thinking it won't be all that bad, but then I realize that superheroes cost a crapload to collect them all (these last four sets ended up costing me $180 alone) plus the other sets end up being around the $50 - $70 price range. Luckily, this gets to the point of the year where my spending isn't as frequent (just the Exo-Suit and a Star Wars set or two). I feel bad for the people who are invested in more than one or two themes.

Got around $600 worth of sets I want.

Got around $75 to spend.

True that. I fully collect LEGO Superheroes... It has been an EXPENSIVE year. Not to mention OT Star Wars, architecture, THE LEGO MOVIE... Jeez. But I can't complain, *almost* everything I've bought has been quality LEGO.

I collect all the Superheroes sets, the CMF's, and the modulars, plus another set here and there. I come into it thinking it won't be all that bad, but then I realize that superheroes cost a crapload to collect them all (these last four sets ended up costing me $180 alone) plus the other sets end up being around the $50 - $70 price range. Luckily, this gets to the point of the year where my spending isn't as frequent (just the Exo-Suit and a Star Wars set or two). I feel bad for the people who are invested in more than one or two themes.

Heck, I have a ton of sets to get! And even if the builds aren't that great, they still have great minifigures in each set.

It's a banner year for Star Wars fans with one, if not two UCS sets, a new ISD, a new AT-AT, and a new Cantina...

Techinc fans have the most expensive set ever with the 42030...

The latest Modular was the first at a new, higher price point...

All those fantastic Lego Movie sets, including two major D2C sets...

...and that's just some of the bigger sets!

My wallet is crying, for sure!

Brain, do we need food to live?

NO WE NEED LEGO!!!!!

Oh, Ok.

BRB-Shopping!

But seriously. This is how any other hobby looks. You need to consider what you really want. For example: I don't want bricks from Agents mobile HQ, but I do want two female figs. That's why I'm going to get just them.

Bankrupt? Never! I save for things I want whether for this hobby or for other things. Granted I'd be able to buy better, more important things much sooner without LEGO. My issue has become City has many rather expensive ($40-100) sets out this year. I wish they'd back off those price points, especially considering how many pieces you get in the set. Case and point 60046 Helicopter Surveillance (2014) w/528pcs for $74.99 vs. 10222 Winter Post Office (2012) w/822 pcs for $69.99. For those wanting to say "Well the helicopter has some large pieces that translate to more expensive piece, there is the 1st gen. 3451 Sopwith Camel w/574pcs for $50 form 2001. It may not from City, but we don't have to pay extra for licensed sets from either

This is all relative to the interest of the fans. I personally have cut my Lego spending by a lot from previous years. I used to buy almost all of the large sets. However, due to the incredible amount of recent large sets, I started skipping some (starting by the Sydney Opera House) and figured I could do without it. This trend continued when all the other large sets have been released as unlike previous years I discovered I would not be able to purchase them all.

Here are the recent sets I have not bought which I would have normally bought:

Sydney Opera House, Fairground Mixer, Maersk Line Triple-E, Tower of Orthanc, Ewok Village, Sandcrawler, MetalBeard Sea Cow and The Simpsons House.

I am quite happy about the relative saving I made :)

This will without a doubt be an expensive year. Just my MOC alone is taking up a lot of funds, but its construction has been somewhat spread out in order to get other sets.

Parisian Restaurant was a Jan 1 buy. We also got the Hobbit sets.

Then, the Lego Movie sets came out, so we got Cloud Cuckoo Palace and the three vehicle 2 in 1 builds.

We bought the Batman Riddler Chase, Lex Luthor vs Superman, and the Batman Penguin encounter set.

Benny's SSS was a June 1 purchase. Then, the Ghostbusters set was another deemed "must have"

The Star Wars sets look appealing, especially those from the original trilogy. I would like to have the Sandcrawler, but we do not have any winning lottery tickets to cash in. I might get the Star Destroyer. Cantina and AT AT look interesting too.

My son loves trains, so we might have to get one of the new city ones.

After the beating my wallet will take from these, and gathering parts for the MOC, Christmas will be upon us. By then, we will probably have the next modular and the final wave of Hobbit sets upon us. Yes, it is an expensive year. With no Middle Earth or Lego Movie next year, we might not have to spend so much.

Very, very expensive. At the beginning of the year I only got a small TLM set. Looking at the other sets, the Ice Cream Truck was a must-have so I got that along with Bad Cop Pursuit. After I saw the movie I picked up the Business Lair, MetalBeard, and Cuckoo Land. Also got EVERY SINGLE CMF FROM THE SERIES. I saw that the must-haves were the Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! and the Ecto-1, so those were June 1st purchases. Soon I'll pick up the new X-Men set and hopefully the Exo-Suit. So far I've spent over $300 this year. I don't even want to think about what will happen with the new Hobbit sets.

I collect Star Wars, LOTR/Hobbit, super heroes, and random stuff (like BTTF, Ecto-1, and some lego movie stuff) and I can say this has probably been my most expensive year since I first got back into Lego in 2009. The reason being the quantity of "good" sets, either sets I've always wanted or sets that are just really useful. Star Wars has seen some upgraded sets that I've needed and the LOTR/Hobbit and super heroes lines are virtually all brand new material.

The best part is that I only see all of this getting better. Like it or hate it, the Lego movie put the Lego brand on alot of radars in a huge way and was a strong shot in the arm for Lego financially. It's a themed line with recognizable IP that Lego doesn't have to pay licensing on. It's a total win. That I feel as though the Lego fan base will feel the effects of as time goes by because Lego will continue to do more to step up their game.

In any case - rich or poor, this is a great time to be a Lego collector as more product is being made, some of which may not have been possible before.

Well I'm not really into anything except Technic and some Racers (those looking like Technic). However this year started differently with Curiosity, Benny's SSS, abd really like to have some more of them, but those are expensive and raleased quite often, so just have to skip. There's no chance to get everything you want this year.

I'm a bad one to comment on this as I've just returned from the local Lego Store - I only went in for a couple of baseplates and to refill the PAB cups - and somehow managed to come away with the VW Camper

The way I handle it is to set a monthly budget and generally I'll keep with it (apart from this month).

So many excellent sets were released so far this year and many more will come, that 2014 is by far the most expensive LEGO year for me since I came back out of my dark ages in 2012. My problem is that I started with SW, but then I realized that I also like sets from other themes too, like Super Heroes, Architecture, Modular, City, LotR, Hobbit, Creator, Trains, ...

In addition I also bought some older sets this year like the Death Star some months ago. In total, I have spent in the last two years more than EUR 5K for this hobby. We will see what the future will bring.

The issue in recent years is that TLG have become much more minifig driven, and there are a lot of fantastic minifigs this year. I'm not convinced there's a lot of classic sets in 2014, but there are so many great minifigs, and they make up such a high proportion of the set value that you might as well buy the set.

I feel sorry for the Star Wars and Super Heroes fans. They have to pay so much money for the sets that they want. :c

This is the sad truth! I do buy quite a bit of Star Wars but since last year I've eased up on the Super Heroes. If I want a specific figure I would probably buy it individually. I'm pretty sure my Super Hero Collection has stayed the exact same for the last year. (I spent a lot on Super Heroes last year!)

As for the main issue. Personally I think most AFOLs are pretty financially literate, I think we should be able to control our urges! Although there will be sometimes where we will have to boil shoe laces for dinner just to get the newest Modular set .

I'm glad this year's SW includes a lot of great OT sets...

That way I don't 'have' to get them again!

I am not only spending €500 a year on lego technic but als on Raaco cabinets to store it all :)

There are a lot of factors that may affect when you make a LEGO purchase, which helps you manage your budget:

• When will the set go EOL? Some sets may only have one production run and so you may want to get those early, especially if scalpers are doing the same. But if the set will likely be on the shelves for a year or more, you can delay your purchase.
  For example, the Parisian Restaurant sucked me into the Modular Building line but I that will be the last Modular set I will buy because it will still be around for some time.
  

• Which store will you buy the set from? If the set is not a LEGO store exclusive, then you may be able to get better discounts from other retailers when they have sales or you have a charge card that offers cash-back or a discount. For example, I rather get 5% discount from Target than 5% VIP points from LEGO when purchasing smaller sets. And there are websites like ebates that give you cash-back for linking to the store through them. Then again, buying from LEGO directly is not a bad idea if you're going to use the savings to buy more anyway and that month has a nice freebie.
  

• It may be a good idea to set aside funds for a big one-time purchase because you never know when there might be a sudden sale or deal or coupon. For example, LEGO had triple VIP points on Black Friday, which is a good time to buy exclusives and large sets.
  
• And if you find yourself buying sets and then having them sit opened for months, then maybe you should spend more time building than buying.
  

Edited July 10, 201410 yr by badbob001