Second Life Budget

[Emuna Zamani]

I was speaking to an acquaintance in Second Life, this morning and they were telling me about a new business venture that they were going to be entering into surrounding Animesh. It sounded exciting and I wished them well but I declined the invitation to join because I am taking on some new projects and anything more would reach outside of my Second Life budget. When he heard that I had a budget for Second Life, he laughed. 

I can't be the only one that practices budgeting in Second Life. 

[Skell Dagger]

8 minutes ago, Emuna Zamani said:

When he heard that I had a budget for Second Life, he laughed.

And, most likely, while you're living within your means thanks to careful budgeting he is probably juggling credit card debt. So who should be laughing here? Not him

[Bitsy Buccaneer]

34 minutes ago, Emuna Zamani said:

I can't be the only one that practices budgeting in Second Life. 

Mine's very simple: the amount I have to spend is the amount I've received through sales. It works for me.

[Cindy Evanier]

^^^ what Skell said.  

[WillowTenage]

I've never had a business in SL, but if I did I would keep a budget specifically for it.  As it stands, I do have a budget for SL, but it fits in with the rest of my first life bills as a simple monthly expense in terms of dollars. 

[MoiraKathleen]

I have an amount that I set aside each month for SL.   I quickly found out, when I first joined, that otherwise, it is very easy to get carried away with how much one is spending for SL each month. 

[Cindy Evanier]

39 minutes ago, moirakathleen said:

I have an amount that I set aside each month for SL.   I quickly found out, when I first joined, that otherwise, it is very easy to get carried away with how much one is spending for SL each month. 

This is true and I did the same because the first few months it was like monopoly money for me until I suddenly realised my bank account didn't look so healthy.  

[LittleMe Jewell]

Years ago, my husband and I agreed on weekly amounts that we get to do with as we please - our own personal 'toys/play' money.  So each week a set amount transfers from our main checking account into each of our individual accounts.  That is the account that I use to fund SL (and any RL misc stuff I might want).  I've never hit a point where I've spent so much in SL that I had to watch the balance of the RL account super closely.  

So, I do have a budget, sort of, but the account funding SL typically grows faster than I spend the money in SL - until Premium memberships renew anyway.

Edited January 12, 2019 by LittleMe Jewell

[Maitimo]

My SL money comes out of my RL entertainment budget, so it also covers things like booze, DVDs, movies, other video games, and any other "toys" or entertainment I happen to want. So the less I spend on other things, the more I can have for SL. 

[Bree Giffen]

3 hours ago, Bitsy Buccaneer said:

Mine's very simple: the amount I have to spend is the amount I've received through sales. It works for me.

That's pretty much my budgeting method too. 

[MirandaBowers]

I definitely started setting a budget for myself after iI started getting a little out of control. I’d make a ton of tiny purchases but then they’d stack up and amount to something I didn’t expect. I think it’s healthy to budget and be happy. At the very least it helps you spend your lindens in things you actually want and not wastefully throw them away because it’s comfortable to. 

[Talligurl]

6 hours ago, Bitsy Buccaneer said:

Mine's very simple: the amount I have to spend is the amount I've received through sales. It works for me.

Yeah, though not everything I receive is technically a sale, but I only spend what I can make in world. And having once won a pretty big chunk in a photo contest, and saw it vanish completely, I am pretty careful about not  letting my reserves drop to far.

[Sasy Scarborough]

16 hours ago, Emuna Zamani said:

I was speaking to an acquaintance in Second Life, this morning and they were telling me about a new business venture that they were going to be entering into surrounding Animesh. It sounded exciting and I wished them well but I declined the invitation to join because I am taking on some new projects and anything more would reach outside of my Second Life budget. When he heard that I had a budget for Second Life, he laughed. 

I can't be the only one that practices budgeting in Second Life. 

Did you ask for clarifcation on the laughing, aside from seeming rude, is it because he has an unlimited resource of money so thinks everyone is the same, or is it more of a oh wow people do that chuckle because not that organised?
I have never budgeted for SL I spend what I want to spend from what I make, and what is left goes out, I am old enough to remember when stipend was a much bigger deal as in people not shopping until it was stipend day, and with stores releasing usually on that day it was all very organised. I think you sticking to your budget is a great thing. I really like the examples, like separate accounts and misc. entertainment money etc. I have purchased twice in SL and the first buy when brand new, I justified it as the cost of a Sims expansion that I would buy without hesitation and some of them sucked lol so I thought if I spend 25 USD and I end up not staying, not really anything lost.....nearly 13 years later best 25 dollars I ever spent

 

[ThorinII]

18 hours ago, Emuna Zamani said:

I can't be the only one that practices budgeting in Second Life. 

I budget my SL spendings, too.

And I recently did cut my budget for SL down from €25 per month to €15 per month. That's enough for my premium fees -- and for some extra pocket money to spend on tips, or on buying stuff. The advantage: I have €10 more to spend in RL. That's not much, but when you have a relatively low regular income, every single extra buck counts. 😔

[kali Wylder]

before I started hosting I had two premium accounts and between them they paid for my land.  I didn't buy clothes I hunted for them.  The two stipends allowed me to tip. I'd buy  a few thousand Lindens about once every couple of months to make ends meet.  So about $60 per year in addition to the 2 premium accounts

Since I became a host my wardrobe has expanded quite a bit and I pay for clothes now instead of just enjoying the freebies.  I never have to buy Lindens anymore but I still have the two premium accounts to cover my tier, and I tip a lot more generously than I used to .

I could probably cover my premium accounts with my tips but it's already set up to get charged to my credit card.  I suppose I could cash out the lindens to pay the creditcard but that seem like too much work.

 

 

[iamyourneighbour]

22 hours ago, Emuna Zamani said:

I was speaking to an acquaintance in Second Life, this morning and they were telling me about a new business venture that they were going to be entering into surrounding Animesh. It sounded exciting and I wished them well but I declined the invitation to join because I am taking on some new projects and anything more would reach outside of my Second Life budget. When he heard that I had a budget for Second Life, he laughed. 

I can't be the only one that practices budgeting in Second Life. 

If their idea is good they wouldn't need money. It takes about $100L to upload a very complex mesh and $0 to publish. If what they do worth a dime they wouldn't need anyone to 'invest'. Say you advertise on marketplace that's $3k a month ish, so put it this way if someone can't fork out $3000L (approx $12), you probably shouldn't give them money. 

That's like a hobo coming to you offering you to teach you 'how to get rich in 2 hrs'

I only brought L$ twice, to start my own shop, then I have not had the need to buy L$ ever again. The consumer spending here is to put it this way, very generous.

In my honest opinion, someone was trying to pull a scam on you.

Edited January 13, 2019 by iamyourneighbour

[Sasy Scarborough]

3 hours ago, kali Wylder said:

I could probably cover my premium accounts with my tips but it's already set up to get charged to my credit card.  I suppose I could cash out the lindens to pay the creditcard but that seem like too much work.

 

If you have the tips to cover it, you could look at converting your money to usd from lindens and if you leave it there they take that for your account payment, tier etc first, that way you do not suffer any additional transaction fees, international fees if relevant and so on,  something to check on at least it could leave you more money to spend in the long run

[brodiak90]

My new year's resolution is to budget more on SL. I'm only a year in and at first it was so exciting to purchase expensive mesh bodies, mesh heads, hair, skins. Shapes, clothing, houses, furniture, tier and cars etc but the money quickly racks up, especially the small ones where you think it's only L$400.....

I now only spend what I get from Linden Realms which is enough to cover a small 250 prim dome and some pocket money. I now value lindens way more since L$400 is enough to pay tier for a week with pocket money leftover for shopping. 

You really do have to be careful.

 

[kali Wylder]

4 hours ago, Sasy Scarborough said:

If you have the tips to cover it, you could look at converting your money to usd from lindens and if you leave it there they take that for your account payment, tier etc first, that way you do not suffer any additional transaction fees, international fees if relevant and so on,  something to check on at least it could leave you more money to spend in the long run

That sounds like a good idea, I will check it out, Thanks!

 

[Rolig Loon]

On 1/12/2019 at 9:17 AM, Bitsy Buccaneer said:

Mine's very simple: the amount I have to spend is the amount I've received through sales. It works for me.

Same here.  Except for one time when I was out of town and forgot when the land fees were due on my estate (dumb, dumb, dumb),  I have only bought L$ twice in 12 years that I can recall.  If I don't have enough L$, I don't buy stuff.

[Pussycat Catnap]

I feel like you're using the word budget in reference to time and folks are reading it as money. Time... is not actually money.

I don't really budget my SL either way within SL, but in terms of SL itself yeah - I will purposefully stay away to reset perspective. And often I go into SL just to give my self some solo goofing around time...

SL basically becomes a respite from other things in my life.

[Janet Voxel]

Y’all are making me feel bad for doing $10 a week.

[Cindy Evanier]

Just now, janetosilio said:

Y’all are making me feel bad for doing $10 a week.

Nooo if you are happy with your budget, that is all that matters

[Emuna Zamani]

3 hours ago, Pussycat Catnap said:

I feel like you're using the word budget in reference to time and folks are reading it as money. Time... is not actually money.

I don't really budget my SL either way within SL, but in terms of SL itself yeah - I will purposefully stay away to reset perspective. And often I go into SL just to give my self some solo goofing around time...

SL basically becomes a respite from other things in my life.

I was referring to money.

[Prokofy Neva]

On 1/12/2019 at 9:38 AM, Emuna Zamani said:

I was speaking to an acquaintance in Second Life, this morning and they were telling me about a new business venture that they were going to be entering into surrounding Animesh. It sounded exciting and I wished them well but I declined the invitation to join because I am taking on some new projects and anything more would reach outside of my Second Life budget. When he heard that I had a budget for Second Life, he laughed. 

I can't be the only one that practices budgeting in Second Life. 

I think you shouldn't play SL without a budget because it's real money. You have to think of it in terms of entertainment -- you don't have enough likely in RL to go to movies and a restaurant or bar every night, so you don't in SL either. You can have a house and car and boat and fancy clothes and travel to exotic places etc in SL but it is still real money. 

I find a lot of customers on a budget, they choose cheaper rentals for that reason. If they lose a job in RL, they stop their premium and their rentals -- recurring bills are the worse when you have to cut down. 

More wives than you would think exist in this day and age of feminism are limited to how much they can spend by their husbands and can't have recurring bills on credit cards. So they live entirely on what they can make in SL from various money-making schemes, selling gatchas, working  rentals, or sex work. For that matter, their RL husbands might be happier letting them use the credit car for $9.95 a month.

A number of tenants pay me in small amounts daily from what they make. Some take out X amount of RL dollars to exchange at the beginning of the month, and when it's gone, it's gone, they don't keep buying more. Some aren't as disciplined but I think people are aware that in a virtual world the meter is running like anywhere else.

I am always trying to find even small ways of offsetting costs with dollarbies or tip jars or group fees or any other thing that reduces the outlay for tier.