2018 Trading Card Goals

Over the last few days I've seen a few blog posts recapping the successes of 2017 card goals.  Before this, I was thinking about my 2018 goals after commenting on a thread on Net 54.  In the last couple of days I think I've finalized them in my head.  I think. 

I'm one of the lucky collectors whose "other" is accepting of my hobby.  My fiance isn't keen on buying me cards, but she does support my hobby.  I don't let it get in the way of paying bills or anything like that.  It's a hobby for me, but I haven't let it become an addiction. 

Our plan is to get married on January 29, 2019.  That is a Tuesday, but we share a birthday and it's obviously a very special day to us.  We're not doing anything big, but still need to save up some money for what we want to do.  This is why my first 2018 collecting goal is spend less money in the hobby and put the money away.  I don't know how much money I put in this year, so my success will be a guesstimated pass/fail. 

My action plans are simple and easily achievable.  First, I will spend less money on ePack.  I don't enjoy it as much as I did months ago.  I don't spend as much time on there.  I can do it. 

The second thing I will do is to stop spending money on things that aren't strong fits into my collection.  I've successfully stopped the Walmart and Target impulse buys.  What I haven't stopped are the impulse buys at the card shows.  Too often I spot a deal and get sucked in.  It's caused me to come up with new projects that I don't need.  I've also bought many cards to trade or sell that I still have.  It's time to stop that.  I can do it!

The third thing I will do take no time at all.  I'm going to unsubscribe from most of the daily eBay saved search notices.  I'm keeping ones that are for tougher to find items.  Some of the general ones will be gone, most likely by the time you read this.

My second goal is to sell enough on COMC (you can see my items here) so that I can have the 300+ cards waiting to ship to me mailed.  I use the resell mode on COMC so when I buy a card, I don't pay the built in 25 cent fee on the card.  I have to pay when it's time to ship, though.  I need to get my account up to about $80 and get these cards home. 

There are cards I'd love to acquire in the next year, but most aren't easy to find.  A lot will depend on the items even coming up for sale. 

AUTO RACING

I would love to finish my T36 base set.  Right now I have 22 of the 25 cards in the set.  It really just comes down to availability. 

Another racing collector on Net 54 is also looking for a copy of the Barney Oldfield.  If it even comes available, I know that I will have to leave my financial comfort zone of T36 cards to get it.  

After reading a couple of books about Lloyd Ruby, I became a fan of his even though I never saw him race.  I want to add his 1962 Marhoefer card to my collection.  The cards aren't easy to come by and when they are available they aren't cheap.  I haven't seen a copy of the card come available on eBay and need to begin a deeper search.  I found a picture of the card, so I do know that it exists. 

BASEBALL

I want to add one of the two T206(ish) Scoops Carey cards that I don't have, in an SGC holder.  

I have the two most common copies already.  What I need to finish the run are the T206 Hindu back and the T213-1 Coupon copies.  Like most of the items that I am looking for, availability is the key factor.  These cards just don't surface often and when they do, I need to have money saved up for them.  

My other baseball goal is to start this same project with Woodie Thornton.  If I pick up one this year, I will be happy.  Every project has to begin somewhere.  

FOOTBALL

Much of the start of this post came from a Net 54 thread, so I may as well just copy and paste my comment from there.  

"1) I’d like to pick up a couple of National Chicle cards. I only have one, so it should be easy to get a couple of new ones.

2) I’d like to get to 80% complete on my 1955 All-American set. I’m at 69% currently."

Since then, I've thought of a third thing that I'd like to do. It likely won't happen in 2018, but I really want to add an 1894 Mayo Cut Plug card to my collection.  Of any of the things in this post, I feel this one is the least likely to happen.  

HOCKEY

I need to finish a couple of parallel Blackhawks team sets.  I love any Blackhawks cards with red or black borders and I really love Prizm.  The 2013-14 set had both a Red Prizm and Red Pulsar Prizm parallel sets.  I need to finish those off.  I need ten cards between the two sets, so it can be done.  

I've been passively working on the 2013-14 Score Blackhawks parallel team sets.  I want to make some serious progress on this project in 2018.  Each base card has a gold, red, black and (red) alternate back version.  I have most of the gold parallels.  The reds aren't too tough to find.  It's the black and alternate back parallels that are tougher to come by, and more expensive.  

For some perspective, I've never seen a copy of the Alternate Back Andrew Shaw come available.  They are likely sitting in common boxes somewhere and someone has no idea what they have.  The black parallel of Jonathan Toews is available on COMC...for around $40.  That may be the last one that I end up with!  

We shall see how it goes.  As long as I successfully spend less money this year, I am going to be happy.  Accomplishing any of the other goals is just an additional bonus.  

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year (including $15 back on one Black Friday purchase last week).  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!