125 replies to this topic

[purpleparadox]

Have you ever bought LEGO in "secret"? For example, your parent or partner forbid you from buying more LEGO so you did it anyway without them knowing.

I've bought minifigs while conviently "forgetting" to mention the purchases. And it looks like you guys hide your purchases from your wives all the time!

Share your experiences/stories!

Edited by purpleparadox, 24 June 2012 - 07:07 PM.

[glenpinpat]

of course, if my wife found out what i really spend on Lego...well let us not go there.

[purpleparadox]

glenpinpat, on 05 March 2012 - 02:08 PM, said:

of course, if my wife found out what i really spend on Lego...well let us not go there.

I'm sure we all spend too much on Lego! Oh well, let's hope YOU do the banking instead of your wife!

[Sir_Basil_Ashton]

I just stopped telling my wife whenever I buy LEGO. It's easier that way. She has an idea of how much LEGO sets cost since she's taken my kids shopping before and she's bought LEGO for our nieces and nephews. A few weeks ago, she was locked out of the house. She went on a weekend trip with some friends and didn't bring her house keys. I was running late from work and since she couldn't get in the house, she went into the garage to look around.

When I arrived home, here's how the converstation went:

Me: Hi, how was your trip? Sorry you had to wait for me to get home.
Wife: Why are there so many LEGO sets in the garage?
Me: There aren't that many in there.
Wife: I counted 30 and stopped. Those were big boxes too.
Me: I bought them all on sale. They're all future gifts.

She didn't say anything else but gave me the "Yeah right" look.

[LEGO Guy Bri]

I don't buy Lego, just "car parts". Unless someone shakes the box, no attention is payed... Just got to make sure I get home first when the bank statement comes in though  

[Zeya]

I've got a small stash of used minifigs from eBay that need cleaning. I like to throw out bids on small lots of minifigs (never over $40 US or so). I smuggle them into the house and add them to the existing stash. It's easier just to avoid having to explain myself and why I'm dropping coin on dusty old plastic, lol. I know I'll weed out what I want and flip the rest on eBay for a slight loss anyway, so that's not like a big financial drain or anything.

I never try to hide new-in-box sets though.

[caperberry]

I live alone so the only secrets I need to keep are from myself This is actually quite hard because I can see right through myself. I recently banned myself from Bricklinking until I finished my current MOC. Suddenly, I seem to have bought a number of large sets and from PAB walls instead. Oops

[purpleparadox]

Sir_Basil_Ashton, on 05 March 2012 - 04:29 PM, said:

When I arrived home, here's how the converstation went:

Me: Hi, how was your trip? Sorry you had to wait for me to get home.
Wife: Why are there so many LEGO sets in the garage?
Me: There aren't that many in there.
Wife: I counted 30 and stopped. Those were big boxes too.
Me: I bought them all on sale. They're all future gifts.

She didn't say anything else but gave me the "Yeah right" look.

Someone will be in the doghouse!

Lego Guy Bri, on 05 March 2012 - 06:09 PM, said:

I don't buy Lego, just "car parts". Unless someone shakes the box, no attention is payed... Just got to make sure I get home first when the bank statement comes in though  

Sneaky, sneaky. I'm glad I'm not the only one!

Zeya, on 05 March 2012 - 07:40 PM, said:

I smuggle them into the house

You haven't been discovered yet?

Another question, what's your opinion on the ethics of buying Lego in secret?

[dr_spock]

No comment.  Just in case my wife stumbles across this site.  

[purpleparadox]

dr_spock, on 06 March 2012 - 01:35 AM, said:

No comment.  Just in case my wife stumbles across this site.  

Well, you ARE a "wife moderated LEGO nut"

[Legocrazy81]

I have before. Due to reasons out of my control, I live with my parents. A few times when I get in the driveway and opened the set and stuffed the bags in my pockets and threw the box in the back seat on the floor. I haven't done it recently. I'm a reformed open LEGO buyer.

[LEGO Guy Bri]

Legocrazy81, on 06 March 2012 - 06:35 AM, said:

I have before. Due to reasons out of my control, I live with my parents. A few times when I get in the driveway and opened the set and stuffed the bags in my pockets and threw the box in the back seat on the floor. I haven't done it recently. I'm a reformed open LEGO buyer.

I used to do that, if it was too big for that, it'd go in the waist. I've even gone as far as having it delivered to my work! Now just to the house  

[Cwetqo]

I bought most of them "in secret". Well, technically its not in secret, because she told me to hanlde it myself and just keep in mind what we can afford, but I still prefer to bring sets home in a way she dont see them, because I know that she would complain anyway, especially for bigger boxes. I buy most from money which I make extra (with repairing some computers, resellng lego etc...) and usually just sets which are very discounted or I get them thru my local LUG channels, so financialy at the time is not such problem as it is with space, which is used for lego.

So, in short: she knows i'm buying lego, and she supports my hobby, she just dont want to know what nad how much it costs.

[purpleparadox]

Cwetqo, on 06 March 2012 - 08:45 AM, said:

So, in short: she knows i'm buying lego, and she supports my hobby, she just dont want to know what nad how much it costs.

Well, by the end of the Superheroes and LOTR themes, even I don't want to know how much I'll have spent!

[Jargo]

My partner has learned not to ask about my purchases. I do occasionally 'sneak' orders from Bricklink in though. If the postman delivers while my partner is out walking the dog I'll take the delivery straight to my room and sort it into relevant drawers and then bury the packaging in the main dustbin. It's harder to hide bigger purchases. I just bought a few of the current city sets and they arrived in huge boxes so there was no point trying to hide them. It's not that I'm ashamed it's more a case that my partner worries too much about money needlessly. I'm just avoiding the protracted lectures about it by squirrelling stuff away. It makes life a little more peaceful that way.  

[dr_spock]

purpleparadox, on 06 March 2012 - 01:48 AM, said:

Well, you ARE a "wife moderated LEGO nut"

I can't be the only one around here.    

[IAmWillGibson]

This thread is rife with enabling.

I try not to buy anything in secret, because I have nowhere to hide it, so most of what I have is out in the open. I may not necessarily broadcast every new purchase, banking on the wife simply not asking "Is that new?" Which she generally doesn't. But she'll still give me the "You can't really afford this" which, you know, she's not wrong about.

And yeah, maybe I toss boxes as quickly as possible, and outside of the house when able. Oh, and I snuck off on a trip about an hour away from home one day in secret, but that was to get the big Alien Conquest truck on sale for, like 50 bucks! I'll do what is required to score deals, because the proudness of getting something for a good price is worth whatever mild shame I feel for doing it in secret.

[RPGer]

Nope, I can't say I have.  But I know that I'll have to soon.

[sharky]

Sir_Basil_Ashton, on 05 March 2012 - 04:29 PM, said:

I just stopped telling my wife whenever I buy LEGO. It's easier that way. She has an idea of how much LEGO sets cost since she's taken my kids shopping before and she's bought LEGO for our nieces and nephews. A few weeks ago, she was locked out of the house. She went on a weekend trip with some friends and didn't bring her house keys. I was running late from work and since she couldn't get in the house, she went into the garage to look around.

When I arrived home, here's how the converstation went:

Me: Hi, how was your trip? Sorry you had to wait for me to get home.
Wife: Why are there so many LEGO sets in the garage?
Me: There aren't that many in there.
Wife: I counted 30 and stopped. Those were big boxes too.
Me: I bought them all on sale. They're all future gifts.

She didn't say anything else but gave me the "Yeah right" look.

I'm glad she doesn't check the trunk of your car. I know how that goes.  

I have so many toys that whenever I get something new it's never noticed anyway.  I keep myself on a budget and don't spend over that, so it's not really an issue.  However, I feel it's best to keep things put away and not have it pile up and clutter the house.  Then the wife doesn't seem to mind.  If she realized just how many toys I have she'd probably get upset and feel I am wasting my money on unimportant things.

All I know is that when the LOTR sets come out, I have to "Keep it secret.  Keep it safe."  

[Sir_Basil_Ashton]

sharky, on 07 March 2012 - 03:26 PM, said:

I'm glad she doesn't check the trunk of your car. I know how that goes.  

I have so many toys that whenever I get something new it's never noticed anyway.  I keep myself on a budget and don't spend over that, so it's not really an issue.  However, I feel it's best to keep things put away and not have it pile up and clutter the house.  Then the wife doesn't seem to mind.  If she realized just how many toys I have she'd probably get upset and feel I am wasting my money on unimportant things.

All I know is that when the LOTR sets come out, I have to "Keep it secret.  Keep it safe."  

Normally my garage is organized really well where my wife doesn't notice when new sets show up. The only reason why sets were laying around in the garage was because I've been liquidating some sets to make room for LotR this summer. There's no way I can have the inventory I have now and make LotR purchases also.

[sharky]

Sir_Basil_Ashton, on 07 March 2012 - 03:43 PM, said:

Normally my garage is organized really well where my wife doesn't notice when new sets show up. The only reason why sets were laying around in the garage was because I've been liquidating some sets to make room for LotR this summer. There's no way I can have the inventory I have now and make LotR purchases also.

I'm kind of in the same boat as far as needed to get rid of stuff.  Although my situation is that I am looking to get rid of other toy collections in order to have room for more Lego.  Out with the old in with the new.

[tedbeard]

Mostly just Collectible Minifigs because I am tired of the looks that say "You really need ANOTHER guardsman/Roman/whatever?"  

[purpleparadox]

tedbeard, on 07 March 2012 - 05:01 PM, said:

Mostly just Collectible Minifigs because I am tired of the looks that say "You really need ANOTHER guardsman/Roman/whatever?"  

For me it's just "You really need ANOTHER minifig?" Because I have bad luck finding the ones I want.

[legomonk]

glenpinpat, on 05 March 2012 - 02:08 PM, said:

of course, if my wife found out what i really spend on Lego...well let us not go there.

LMFAO! So reading this post my girl friend is reading over my shoulder and says "and how much do you buy with out me know?" I am guilty of buying Lego in secret specially ebay purchases.

[SirSven7]

    

This thread is soo funny, I am quite a lucky guy I think, In the first year of our releationship me and my special lady had a bit of a chat over all the stuff I like and it turned out I was 'collecting' to a fairly expensive level; LEGO, Warhammer, Board Games, Metal Britains Soldiers, replica rifles and Musical Instruments.

We decided together to drop the Warhammer, Britians, Rifles and Musical Instruments (I had like 5 guitars, 2 basses, 2 banjos and many others) Keep what was special to me and sell the rest.

She said she would be in charge of the Board Games cause she quite likes them and I had free reign on my LEGO.

I have never hidden any purchases from her and I do ocassionally come home with a LEGO box or a minifig sitting on the table waiting for me (which she brought) she even goes through mags and online for me (she picked me up the Forestmens hideout on ebay only last week for £11.03).

I don't miss any of the other stuff and I am really happy my lady supports me, now all I need to do is get her interested in a set or two for herself then we will be a lifelong Board Game and LEGO couple.

Heres hopeing