currently on a exstemely budget need some advice
chris_settlemoir
Posts: 362
in The Commons
i am on a exsteme budget right now and im trying to pay off all my debt to elimate all my stress, should i just wait till all the f3 get super cheap and buy them up since i actually havent bought any the 8 set yet i want to but they come at the odd time for me and i really like them but i cant afford anything what would you guys do?
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i can't afford all the G8 line so I don't buy them. I have plenty of content and G3 still works and look perfectly good.
Only you can decide what's right for you.
My desire for more characters vs the reality of my budget led me to learn how to create my own morphs and characters - so perhaps that might be an option for you? I still spend WAY too much here, but at least I spend less now. lol
If learning to make your own morphs and characters isn't something you're interested in, then you can usually get some great discounts on the content you want if you're patient enough. :)
Again, though, only you know what's your situation is and what is right for you. :)
As Divamakeup said.
For me, most of my 3D money that didn't go into environments and shaders went into M/V4, G1 and G2 characters/skins/clothes. They work fine for what I'm trying to do with them, and the investments made into Iray, morph and skin conversion (GenX and V3Digitime's tools) gives me a huge base to create any character I like. I've pretty much skipped G3, and am now skipping G8.
Of course, I don't know what you already have to work with; if you are really "freshly" starting, or already have content like me.
Personally, I'd rather be rid of my debts than invest into G8, though I know how tempting is to allevate the tension with a bling new item.
There's just one thing for sure - there will always be a new thing, and there's always going to be another sale.
Paying off debt is always a good idea as once its paid you will feel better about everything, while you are doing that you still have your G3 Models to work with plus there is nothing to stop you transferring your G3 Characters to G8
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/176271/morphs-from-g3-to-g8
Like Diva, I have tried to break my Daz spending addiction by creating more of my own morphs etc which keeps me busy and takes my mind off spending
Please keep in mind also that there are a LOT of freebies available. When you're tempted to spend and you know you should pay off the dept instead, just go freebie hunting. :) It's fun and with products like "wear them all" you can wear a lot of older content on G3, and also G8 comes with the ability to wear clothes from G1, G2, and G3. There is a crazy amount of stuff out there that you can transfer to your newer characters. There's likely enough freebie content out there that you could render something new every day and it would take years to run out of content to render. lol :)
I find myself buying very little content from any store - much as I admire the wonderful things made by PAs. But I see that sales come around again and again.
Although I'm not in debt, thankfully, I'm always aware and worried about big things - my central heating is 21 years old - that's a big chunk of my savings about to vanish and I'm holding on for as long as possible. My old car will need repairs at any time - as cars do. I mainly do my own repairs but it still blows away a lot of cash. Dental bills are about to happen and the cost of everything just rises all the time.
When I look at clothing on sale I think of what I need for my own wasted body. How much life is left in my own shoes? How shabby are the things I wear? (ANSWER ....ahem, better not go there).
Depending on your debt, which is your own business obviously, just buy an occasional item until things get better. Don't forego things like having a haircut and eating decent food to own software items which will be on sale again. (I don't know if its that bad - no offence intended).
Don't forget Freebies if you are on a budget!
To find freebies that are not announced - Change "Sort By" to "Price Low-High." Do this every day. Unannounced freebies come and go, and sometimes you will find huge bundles for free.
Daz Deals Browser Add-On is a cool utility which sends you email notifications for Daz Sales. You can set each wishlisted item for a specific amount.
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/106296/announcing-daz-deals-browser-add-on/p1
Sign up for Share CG - Lots of freebies are offered there. You can click on Daz Studio and there is a large sort list.
Check the Freebies forum here in the Daz Forums as well - lots of good stuff there, plus a monthly freebie render contest.
Lastly, check out Renderosity - they have a freebie section as well.
I usually plan a year, or two years ahead. What will I use in two years? Wishlist that item when it becomes available in the store. And then wait. Since I won't use it for another year, it is very likely going to go on a good sale by the time I actually need it.
This may not fit everyone if you can't afford to plan that much ahead.
I'd throw whatever I could at the debt. The feeling of watching it reduce is a lot better than the feeling of adding to a stash of polygons and pixels while knowing that the 'super cheap' F3 will work out more expensive in the end because you'll be paying bank charges or interest on your debt for that bit longer.
In order to reduce spending, what I'd suggest (and what I do, most of the time) is...
Keep up a PC membership if you can afford it, as it pretty much pays for itself and gives you a handul of freebies to look forward to over the course of the month and lowers any spends that you do end up making. Wherever possible, my monthly coupons routinely go towards tools, utilities and even tutorials aimed at making my own content or making the most of what I've already got. Shaders can be useful too, but it's not that difficult to make your own with a bit of research and practice. I almost never buy figures now, and these days I don't just think 'How can I use this?' when I do buy ready-made content, but also 'What can I learn by taking it to bits and seeing how it was done?' :)
Keep your nose out of the store by distracting yourself - learn to get to grips with any one of the free modelling software programs out there, or teach yourself how to make textures in Gimp, for example. There is a lot you can learn in Daz itself, too, like how to make your own material zones instead. Pick one of those obscure-looking buttons or menu entries and Google it to see what it does. Learning to make your own stuff has advantages beyond saving you money. You can get exactly what you want, rather than wishing the product had included just a couple more features, and if you get good enough and quick enough at it you've got skills you can take to market and can earn you money. That would give even more muscle to your assault on the debt problem. Good luck :)
May I suggest instead of buying new f3 stuff, try to use up each and every item you already have and if at say 2 months time you still really want that specific f3 item, then buy it, - of course the exception is if they happen to go on a super duper cheap sale, then maybe it just might be worth it to make the purchase. Keep in mind though that sometimes marketing trick (promo images, etc) gets you and makes you want to buy when you don't really need it. Happens to me all the time. I buy stuff and 1 year later realize that I never used it.
...I'm in the same boat here budget wise. Fortunately I have my one major debt (student loans) paid off. However I am now retired living on Social Security so that means really watching the expenses, even more so than I did when I was still working at a job that didn't pay very well. I keep my PC membership up (via the 3 month one as 77$ in one shot is a bit much). I have been fortunate to hit deals on a couple ocasions when I renewed where teh 3 moth membership was half price.
I have most of the G3 base figures. I rarely bother with the bundles as they often tend to have too much fantasy or skimpwear for my tastes and the character morphs often don't appeal to me (I also have a fairly extensive of morph, shaping amd skin building merchant resoruces that give me a great deal of felxibility, along with Gen-X with which I can import legacy shapes).
I guess to of the "money saving graces" for me here is I am not a big fan of horror or classic fantasy which tends to be the majority of products sold in the store (for example I only have Mil Dragon and that is because it came with one of the freebie expansions) which definitely reduces the scope of my purchases. My primary interests are recent historical (19th - 20th century) and contemproary settings, parody, as well as near future fiction (particularly cyber future and post apocalyptic) along with a bit of Sci Fi (have a fondness for those atomic monster and outer space B-movies of the 50s). So my interests are rather focused which again does help limit what I buy. However, that doesnt mean I don't purchase expensive content (Stonemason and Howie Farkes sets for example).
One thing I have become pretty good at is kitbashing, using Hexagon and the Geometry Editor in Daz. This can go a long way to expanding what you can do with content you already have.
What you end up investing in this depends on what you really envision doing with this media.
i love all your ideas and so gladly appreate it
I third or fourth the freebies. You could probably do just about anything you wanted via freebies. Renderosity has freebies as well, and as several people mentioned, ShareCG is a great resource. Lots of free characters, clothing etc. PC+ is a must in my opinion as well, its worth every penny for just the freebies every month alone, and you can find a ton of items for less than $5, a lot of them are $1.99. The big PC+ sale is coming next month, I know I picked up a bunch of stuff for less than a dollar during last year's sale.
Blender. It's free. You have time, you can learn how modify your content and make morphs and your own content. After all, the new G9 is just around the corner. When you can afford it, PC+ is a great Investment.
OR
Do an internet search for information (or visit the local library for books) on frugal living. Some of it may be too extreme. Others can be implemented without a whole lot of effort, and may just be simply, "Wow, I never even thought about that."
..you can even find some freebies at sites like Turbosquid CGTrader.
there is always...sales
best advice, don't spend what you should not spend
stick mainly with 1 particular generation unless you have the tools purchased to mod clothing and hair to fit multiple generations
expensive stuff goes on sale sooner or later
folks who buy at full price have 1 of 2 issues.
Deep pockets or short deadlines.
Join PC+ great freebies, great coupons with PC+ every month you get 4 or so free models, 6$ to use on originals-even ones on sale but not just released AND 6$ off 18$ worth of PC+ items that are heavily
discounted because your PC+ and it only costs $8 a month - less if you catch sale.
there, my advice
I'd wait... But then again I'm really cheap.
Pay off your debt first then think about buying new stuff... Stress from debt is a real bad thing and it'll just kill your creativity.
Pay off your debt!!! If I was in debt, I would not be wasting my money on things that are not needed. If its not your debt payments, bills or groceries, I would not spend money on it.
Debt first, and grab whatever freebies you want from places like here, Sharecg, Vanishing Point ect. I make over $16 an hour, but am in a tight budget due to car payments and Internet bills slowly choking my finances. So, until that crap clears up, I only buy either super cheap stuff, or something I ABSOLUTELY need (like I needed JSDF type 10 tanks for my Godzilla fancomic, and found one on CGTrader. It was $30, but I have a TON of discount points there, so I only paid $21). But otherwise, freebies, man. You'd be AMAZED at what you can find freebie wise if you dig.
...another factor that is helping keep my purchase costs down is the release of G8 and all the content that supports it.
Definitely get the debt knocked down as quickly as is reasonable. But, don't ruin your quality of life in the process. That just makes the stress situation worse and stress levels affect you both physically and mentally/emotionally.
everyone here has given really good advice. one thing I would add to this is invest in a crock pot or instant pot. You can make multiple servings of whatever you like and freeze the extra servings to have at another time. This can cut down on the grocery bill pretty significantly and you will eat very well in the process.
I'm lucky. I love Ramen noodles.
Word. I like ramen too but mac and cheese is a staple here. Just as easy to vary by throwing in different types of cheese, spices, and meats, too.