Well, I am a new cell collector and not much 
younger than yourself =)

I had a little bit of money to first invest in 
this hobby when I sold off a bunch of 
collectibles from a past hobby.

Which brings up your point. In ten years will I 
still be inteested in this? Who knows?  =)  As I 
change, so do my tastes. 

The way I've found around over spending for cels 
is a budget.

Call it the geeky accountant in me, but I budget 
myself. I have a spending allowance every month 
for my anime hobby. I have a good job and as this 
is one of my main hobbies (hmmm, I just wonder 
how many hours I spend searching for cels . . . 
~_^) I budget what I consider a decent amount.  
When I go over that amount, I either have to stop 
buying or sell some of the cels I have to get one 
I want more. And I have to want it more to be 
willing to sell. That seems to help me frame what 
I really want.

Although many seem to disagree, I find it easier 
to decide to sell something I have in transit as 
it hasn't yet touched my greedy little fingers. 
If I tell myself it must be sold before I get it, 
I'm not as attached. And I MAKE myself sell cels 
until I am back down to my spending limit.

I also totally agree with the premise of framing 
the cels. Yes, it does get a little expensive, 
but you can get a standard frame (for A LOT less) 
and then have the matting cut to make your cel 
standard size. Yes, the matting is still a little 
expensive, but I believe the cels should be worth 
it to me to frame them. If not, when it's time to 
come back to budget, they are the ones I make 
myself let go to homes where they will hopefully 
be loved more.

I don't know how others feel, but that's my 
newbie 2 cents!

Elizabeth