I second this. . . I own cels that I bought a 
good time ago which I would not be able to afford 
if they popped up for sale today.

Another thing that helps is having unusual cel 
sources - places or connections that other people 
don't know about. Remember, dealers don't lose 
money on cels, so whatever you see the cel listed 
for, it was bought by the dealer for less. Usually
from one of the aformentioned "unusual sources". 
(In which, incidentally, I'm including the task 
of going straight to Japan for cels.)

So oftentimes, people with the really incredible 
galleries *didn't* pay what you're thinking they 
did. They either got lucky, found an inroad, were 
there from the start, or just plain trade well. 
My guess is most people's collections are the 
result of a good combination of all that. And 
then when you have that working for you, THEN you 
can afford the one really pricy cel once in a 
while.

BUT. . . .  ^_~

This is not to downplay being wise (and sneaky!) 
with money! Save on heating by turning down the 
heat in the day and wearing more layers. (Take 
advantage of weather. . . Hot summer? Save on 
cooling by opening windows at night and shading 
them in the day, and don't pay for water for your 
plants when you can put them out in the rain. 
^_^) Don't buy food out - "brown bag it" instead. 
(You can save up to $15 or more per week on lunch 
if you bring it from home, AND you can eat more!) 
Wait for non-perishables at the grocery store to 
go on sale then buy them in bulk - and hang onto 
those coupons! Same for clothes. . . Unless 
you're dying for it, wait for a coupon or sale. 
Don't buy books unless it's something you know 
you want to reread - take them out of the 
library. Don't buy CDs and DVDs new - if you HAVE 
to have it, buy it used. Same for video games.

Also in the money department, nothing helps like 
having friends. My friend and I both wanted to 
see Trigun AND Card Captor Sakura. I'm buying 
Trigun and sharing with her, she's buying Sakura 
and sharing with me. It's like getting two DVDs 
for the price of one. In the realm of cels, you 
would be ASTOUNDED at how much you can save if 
you make it a habit to split shipping with a cel 
buddy - especially on EMS! Don't have a cel buddy 
nearby? You save money even if you have to tack 
on a little for domestic US postage for one or 
the other of you.

(EMS ship. =  /- $12US
Split /w buddy = $6 per -->You each save $6
       ---or---
EMS ship.   domest. US ship. =  /- $17
Split /w buddy = $8.50 per -->You each save $3.50

Three person split:
EMS ship.   domest. US ship. x2 =  /- $22
Split /w 3 people = $7.35  -->You each save $4.65)

It doesn't look like much, but it adds up and 
sometimes you'll find that once you get used to 
including one person, it's easy to include even 
more and then the savings really jump. ^_^

Also, if there's an auction for a set of cels, 
decide which one you like and see if you can line 
up buyers for the others in advance. Someone else 
might be watching that same auction but be 
drooling over a different cel. . . Voila! You can 
now team up on the auction, maybe bid a little 
higher to win, and STILL pay less. ^_^

See? There's lots of stuff you can do to save 
money here and there, which can then be put to 
more cels. ^_~

Many Sharp Smiles,
--Drac   (shutting up now. . . ^_^)