Hobby Fund Painting Challenge

Hello. My name is Evan and I have a plastic crack addiction. After a recent eBay binge, I've decided I want to do something to get myself in check when it comes to my buying habits. I also need to go through my attic of destiny and clear out some "projects" that will never actually see the light of day, let alone a game. The 100+ unassembled skaven I have tucked away come to mind.

Where my wallet goes to die

Part of my challenge to myself is to keep momentum with painting. I've been using tournaments as motivation to paint, but I don't want to fall into the trap of picking an army because I have it painted and it would require less work. That is also limiting because it leads to binge painting a single type of model and paint scheme, which can lead to burnout.

To avoid this and reward myself for finishing projects, I'm going to implement a system similar to what Dale at Realm of Warhammer 40k is doing. Essentially, models have a point value based on size and complexity, with bonus points for advanced techniques and basing and the like. Each point translates into a dollar for the hobby fund. Since most models will be worth significantly fewer points than their purchase cost, this could also help to decreasing the grey tide.

Binge painting to buy that new Oooh Shiny!

The other part of my challenge is to reward myself for getting rid of things I will never use. If I sell an item on eBay or through other means, I can add 50% of the sale price to my hobby fund. To add some depth to this, I would like to paint some things and sell them to test the waters on what sort of return I could see. For models like this that I sell, I can put 100% of the sale price to my hobby fund, but I will not count the hobby points for these models (no double dipping).

The end goal of these challenges to myself are to help keep me focused on finishing models rather than accumulating more grey plastic and to keep my spending in check. The pipe dream here would be to make my hobby spending self sustaining, where I feel comfortable buying a model to paint and then sell at profit. That's unlikely, but a nice thought to pursue.