The benefit of hindsight on Black Friday...

I consider myself to be pretty good at holding out for the best discounts for lego, but lately I'm not having any luck (or skill) and keep buying at the wrong place at the wrong time.

First, 21303 and 21304 were bought last year, at full price, as soon as they were released; the Ideas theme was usually rather exclusive and difficult to get. Then, last month, they together with 21302 were in Tesco 3-for-2 (on top of heavy discounts)... I could have got all three with £75 but buying separately costed me £125. That was £50 lost already...

Then two weeks ago, I bought on ebay 42056, a set that probably is the only one in the past 10+ years where the box is seriously important... and of all things, it is the one that got damaged. Not only that, this weekend I saw it £5 cheaper on Amazon, which is £20 cheaper than its previous lowest (and when its availability was very patchy... now, at the lower price, it is always available!)

And next, 10214, that strangely is still out there 6 years on. There was hope lego.com could have it on 20% discount on Black Friday, but it wasn't. I ended up picking it at John Lewis at 10% off. Normally I wouldn't even think about buying anything only 10% off - have to be at least 20-25% - but (again) this set was meant to be exclusive and rarely you see it in any discount at all. They put it in a box more than three times bigger than necessary. I almost killed myself bringing it home. Then two days later, on Monday, lego.com made it 20% off... A 10% difference is otherwise not that big a deal, but it was on the most expensive set I ever bought! The first and only set with 4000+ parts! Plus a free exclusive set 40223 that probably worths £20 or so that lego.com offers, I lost another £40 here...

Eventually I did buy something 20% off on lego.com, 42055. Interestingly, I held out longest for this one when this is the one I really want and really couldn't afford to miss. I held out when it was £149 at Amazon (and elsewhere).  Together with the gift, surely it can't go wrong this time?

Still, I think of these as investments. Just like buying shares, often you buy when you think it is low enough, only to see it drop another 10% within a week... bad, but this happens to all of us.

But after this spending spree I won't be "investing" for a very long time...