How do you fund UAS?

I've struggled for a tactful way to ask this and I don't think there is one. So, with apologies, how do you fund uke purchases?

Couple of options:
Cash in hand (or account as it were)
Credit card
Seller's payment plan
Selling other instruments or things beforehand
Post-purchase "yard sale"
Some other method?

I'm thankful to say I got my most recent uke with ready cash. That felt good, because I've either put them on a credit card or used a payment plan before.

And those of you who want to share?F

If I can't pay for it, I don't buy it - as simple as that.

I may use a credit card, but it gets paid off in the subsequent billing cycle.

We get tips weekly at Starbucks, and I make sure that any dollar coins that get tossed in the tip jar are part of my tips. (No one else wants the weight, anyway.) The coins then go into the dome from a stack of CDs, and I just cut a slot on the top (I can see the contents). And I leave it alone. (I have to - it gets pretty heavy, pretty fast.)

The year my father-in-law passed away, we came home after 3 weeks of caring for him to find the refrigerator had crapped out. I paid for the new one from that fund.
Last year, when I needed to put a new electrical service on the house before the solar panel installation, the down payment from the electrician came from that fund.
I paid for my Donaldson custom ukulele from that fund.

As long as the soda machines, car washes, and postal vending machines in this area keep giving dollar coins as change, I have a ukulele fund. I only get 5-10 per week, but it adds up.

So that's how I buy new ukes. I'll be counting the coins soon - there's a resonator I'm thinking about.

I sold two kids and 3 grandchildren as well as a few brats that were in neighborhood.

Most of my purchases were from disposable income. I do keep money from teaching and gigging as well as any instruments I sell for the instrument fund.

As someone with only three ukes I hardly can say I have UAS, but - I've got a really strict "if the cash isn't there, don't buy it" rule (with ukes and just about every other non-emergency in life). The company I work for gives annual bonuses, and this year I'm planning to fund a uke with mine, as I have done in previous years. Last year, sadly, said bonus funded major repairs on my 15-year-old car...

Another player I know just bought a new uke and told me that it's what she does with her tax refund each year, which I thought was a pretty good plan.

I've purchased a couple of instruments on the devil's coin (credit cards) when there was a really good deal and I didn't have ready cash but new I could afford to pay it off if not immediately then pretty quickly. Most of the time though I try to just spend "surplus" cash - and that used to be fairly easy because I hadn't had a car payment in years and the rest of my debt is pretty light. I finally had to replace my wife's car last September so I have a payment again - not a terribly high one but it's still going to cut into the surplus funds.

I do have a lot of instruments (ukes and guitars) that don't get played enough. I should sell them but listing them for sale is such a pain that I probably won't do it until and unless I reach a point where I really need to start thinking about cash flow.

I sometimes get annual bonuses and this is one of those years. That should pay for most of the Boat Paddle 5-string tenor I have on order. My secondary sources of income have pretty much dried up so I'm getting tax refunds again the last couple of years - those have funded my last couple of trips to UWC and probably will again this year.

Everybody has priorities and I accepted long ago that mine are different from those of many others. I make decent money in my job but my home and cars (even the new one) are quite "below my station" if you will. I'm fine with that because a home is just a place to park my butt when I'm not somewhere else and a car is just a way to take my butt from home to that somewhere else. I simply refuse to have a house or car payment that is so large that it runs my life. I've got friends who make substantially less than I do who are working 60 hours a week to pay for a beautiful home for their ex and kids to fight over.

John

I don't have a credit card and never will. I have limited income so I always need to sell one (or sometimes two) in order to fund my next purchase. That said, living off tap water and rice helps.

You've got me thinking....

SailingUke said:

I sold two kids and 3 grandchildren as well as a few brats that were in neighborhood.

Most of my purchases were from disposable income. I do keep money from teaching and gigging as well as any instruments I sell for the instrument fund.

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It helps to not have other expensive hobbies. I've cut back on golf, scuba, and driving (car pool saves me $30 per week).
I pack my lunch (it's healthier and less expensive).

Then buy some, and then sell some. You'll sell some you wish you hadn't, but you'll find some wonderful instruments.

I have a yearly contract. That is part of the household money for utilities, car payments, insurance etc.

I teach at a state school so the pay isn't particularly huge, but it is the best job I have ever had and it always blows me away that I get paid to do what I love.

I teach overload every semester, I teach in the summer, and I teach over holiday break. That money is for my obsessions.

Since starting to play over seven months ago, UAS got me good and I've accumulated 8 ukes (one on the way), but all at highly discounted or Asia prices. They each sell for average of $350, and my average cost was $150, that's part of what motivated me to buy. I also don't have credit cards, but I do use a debit card that's only good for the amount of money in the bank.

I retired a couple of years early last year, Social Security and work pension, but the thing that opened up my cash flow considerably was signing up for the new health care, which cut my Kaiser cost from $860 to $270 a month. I also manage my mother's three apartment buildings, which means I don't pay rent, and that helps a lot as well.

Up until now I've been restricting my price for a uke to under $200, but now that I'm getting better, I'm thinking of taking a step up in the next few months for a $600-700 high quality ready built. Down the road I'm looking at inheriting the three apartment buildings with my two brothers, splitting the rental income, which should double my income, that might be when I go for a custom build.

I'm with Kurt -- my tips go into the uke/beer fund.

Interestingly, with two (young!) rugrats, I'm too damn tired most nights to do any proper drinking. Hooray for a growing uke fund!

Edited to add: I'm also a sometimes believer in the one-in-one-out program.

I keep my tastes within the boundaries of my pocketbook and order when the urge arrives. It's usually pretty infrequently, but when it does come, it's mostly in doubles or triplicate. Then I'm good for another year or so.

I try to get the best sound for the cash (disposible income to a point.) If I get too much cash wrapped up in a uke, I feel guilty about spending it and I don't enjoy it as much.To me its all about enjoyment. I have about 25 ukes that are all under 300.00 except for 2. If I can get a 1000.00 sound out of a 150.00 vintage I'm happy. I buy when I feel the need and have xtra cash. No credit!!

ksiegel said:

If I can't pay for it, I don't buy it - as simple as that.

-Kurt​

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words of wisdom.

I have a sugar daddy. He pays cash.

It's either my wife's Roth IRA or buy another uke...I haven't funded my wife's IRA since starting the uke.

If I don't have cash I don't buy it. Sometimes I institute a rule that if something new comes in something old has to go out. Not so much to raise cash as to reduce the amount of possessions.

I usually fund my ukes with sales of others, supplemented by savings and gifts, for example one of my ukes was an anniversary present. Luckily, my spouse is having a midlife crisis and buying a motorcycle. In exchange, I will get equal funds from the household account for a new uke.

Captain Simian said:

If there's something I want then something else has to go.

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That's what I do too; otherwise there'd be waaaaay too much instrument hoarding going on around here!

For me, for better or worse I was outsourced from my 22+ year IT job two years ago. Ironically I still do the same thing for the same company under a different master. But in any case I got a decent severance package.

So after 22+ years,I figured I deserved a reward and grabbed a couple of grand for myself before handing over the rest of the package over to credit\bank and home improvements. It's not like it was a golden parachute... I got a decent amount but after 22 years, it was only a portion of what the execs that sold us out like fodder got to line their own pockets...

In any case, That's how I was able to get a nice collection of the more expensive ukes, 3 Koalohas My Myamoe etc..

I also bought a $500 vitamix blender which I love but would never had spend that kind of cash on... if it weren't part of my severance package.

As for the rest of the collection and other instruments.

I save a small portion of my pay for discretionary expenses and try to save whatever petty cash I can find.

Luckily most of my other ukes are in the 200-300 dollar range, and to be honest I already have way too many so I think I; about done with UAS.

Although as much as I'm running out of room, there is always room for one more.

I play most of them on a regular basis, and for some reason I can't seem to be motivated enough to sell any of them...

But at 52, I'm happy with my music journey and having these wonderful instruments at my beck and call, including my classical guitar, a new electric piano and the Cricket violin... I would not trade all this even for a nice Sports car or a cruise.

I get to play music each and every day! life is good and you need to make yourself happy as long as it's reasonable and you can meet all your other responsibilities.