Hey,
I can’t really advise you but I ran into some financial difficulties a couple of years ago and sold a lot of stuff, stuff I can’t ever get back with the current prices. It really sucks.
Juat something to think about. I hope everything goes well for you!
I just work harder and save up more money
I have a steady job in healthcare, but i will sometimes find myself selling off some random things to focus more on my main goals when the funds are needed. Over the years I pick up stuff randomly that are not necessarily my overall objective, or stuff I find as a good price. When the time comes to buy a big card on my wants list I’ll shave off some of the more “random” things I’ve acquired. Doing this over about 15 years makes me consolidate my collection every 2-4 years if that makes sense. I’m also extremely minimal and don’t even like having extra cards if they are not part of a specific focus in my collection. That make’s the “shaving” part easier.
This is how I started selling cards back in 2016. I ran out of funds but wanted to buy more cards and being a uni student at the time, income was really just enough to pay rent and food so I started selling cards which I don’t like as much or cards which I have duplicates.
If you only want the money to revolve in your cards (not spending personal money), its gonna be tough but doable and very rewarding when you look back. So good luck to you. Sacrifices have to be made.
I make good money through my job but have a family and other financial commitments so can only allow for so much per month on my collection. I made myself a promise that I would never allow myself to go into debt for my collection. This has meant that I have had to adjust my goals at times and settle for lower grades or a slightly worse condition raw card.
Buy the card not the grade.
This has totally changed the way I look at it and I am just as happy looking at my collection as I would be if every single thing was a psa 10.
I have sold parts of my collection I dearly love for things that I believe will bring me more joy in the long run. sometimes you are wrong, but it’s the best a person who can’t see the future can do
I understand you came here for advice but SHIT! You ran out of “funds”?! How the fuck do you not have the will power to just NOT buy something.
Not sure what your employment situation is but first option would be to get a job if you don’t already have one, if you are not on salary see if you can pick up extra shifts, or work overtime. If those are not an option and you have the time you could get a second job as part time. Again I do not know what your situation is and maybe you are already doing all this but I would make sure to have an emergency fund saved up, preferably 6+ months worth of your living expense. Also to create an expense sheet/budget sheet and stick by it, track what you need for rent/mortgage, gas, food, retirement fund, entertainment(buying Pokemon cards and staring at them blasting the Pokemon theme song in the background) etc.
Get a credit card or loan, buy what you want and worry about the repercussions later, the future doesn’t matter live in the moment.
** not really, don’t actually do this
haha its not like I’m broke and in debt but to answer your question I think that buying some cards for me personally is more emotional and remind me of how the anime and collecting cards got me through my childhood. I justify each purchase as something that brings me joy and happiness and money itself doesn’t do that for me. Of course you need money to buy these things hence why I’m asking what people do when they don’t have enough money to keep buying more cards and they don’t want to sell their collection. I’m not buying beyond my means if that’s what you were wondering. 
Thank you very much I think we were in similar situations I graduated in '15 but I didn’t start collecting till 2019 so I don’t have a lot to sell but the collection I was putting together this past year and some. I agree maybe it is time to let go some of the goals I don’t think are feasible anymore. Probably will scan the cards and make a collection post to keep my memories but sell some to keep my more important goals.
You sound fairly young. Get your financial house in order before spending money on luxury goods. For example you need an emergency fund of 3-6 months in case you lose your job. You should only be spending a small portion of your paycheck on cards
That being said, I would not sell anything you don’t think you can buy back. You may regret it later.
I think selling some things from time to time can be very valuable.
I sell some stuff regularly when I want to buy something new. I think what makes it easier is that I try to buy cards for the specific purpose of selling them later.
For instance, imagine in January I have some funds, but not really any particular card I want to buy. I ended up buying some PSA 10 shinings and 1st edition base non-holo cards for that month.
Now in June, there was a particular promo I really wanted to buy. So I happily sold these shinings to fund my next collection goal. Especially with values going up so quickly, it’s hard to make a wrong choice at this point.
Someone earlier said.
“Buy the card, not the grade”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^ This 100% ^
Alot of focus on high grade cards at the moment and rightfully so with how rare and valuable some of these are and they represent the pinnacle of the hobby!
However not everyone got in early enough to buy these rare and PSA 9/10 graded cards at reasonable prices. Now the cost has gone up substantially, not everyone has the financial capacity to purchase these cards at these current record price points.
There are alot of lower graded cards which look fantastic for display purposes, especially if the flaws are on the back of the card. . .
And also it’s still possible to pick up very clean cards at a fraction of the cost of even lower graded cards which in all honesty look amazing as part of a binder collection!
Over time I have gotten bored with the cards sitting here… the chase is better than the catch I guess.
I will eventually sell all my cards except chazza, hydro pump and giant lettuce.
It will happen when I find a worthy goal, because at the end of the day, I’ll always have the memories… the cards aren’t needed.
But back to your question… My funds are low, so I am buying beautiful cards from newer sets and older cards under $1000. If the psa grade is low, so be it… it’s still the same card, just without the ego.
If you sell the cards you have, you may regret it. The collection you spent a lot of time to build will shrink. As the prices increase through the years, you may not be able to buy those pieces back. You may also wish you waited longer to sell those cards because they could be worth a lot more in the future.
Out of funds and sell. So you get some temporary cash and buy more cards with it. What happens when you are out of funds again, sell those cards too?
My 2 cents is appreciate what you have and realize it’s okay to take a break. Sell what you won’t miss and buy what you won’t want to part with. You can try to buy ‘inventory’ to flip to fund your collection, but nothing is guaranteed and you may wish you had allocated that money elsewhere.
As a broke college student with no job, that still is able to afford cards. I sell my other collections that I don’t collect for anymore. Right now my Lego Star Wars collection is being sold off little by little. I kick myself for not collecting pokemon consistently a few years ago. I’m happy overall with my card collection though.
Take a break. This is a hobby. Enjoy what you have. If your at the point you have zero to buy the next card, and it’s worrying you. out of personal experience your over-stretching yourself
sell your spare, double and cards you don’t want to keep and use the proceeds to buy more whether collection items or cards to buy to sell to buy more you want XD rinse and repeat.
or accept you have no money to spend, don’t buy anymore cards…work your job and buy more.
Get your house in order sounds like he is about to die XD