1. I realized I had been "cheating" on my guidelines. I had so many dolls coming into my home in previous years that I wasn't listing them all. I rationalized this by telling myself, "If they may not stay, I shouldn't add them to the list." As long as they were NRFB, in the closet, and in the "consideration" stage, they were in Limbo Land. This freed me to buy as many dolls as I wanted without any accountability. Good for me, right?
2. But bad for my bank account. After remarrying, my husband and I focused on getting out of debt as part of plan for upcoming retirement. We got very serious and cut out many luxuries from our lives. We both actually paid off all of our credit cards! Somehow over the past three years, I had gotten myself back into credit card debt to the tune of several thousand dollars. ACK! I decided to sell a lot of dolls that weren't being enjoyed. By July, I had paid off my credit card and haven't carried a balance since.
3. This made me make some major collecting decisions.
- I would not purchase dolls unless I had the money at the end of the month to pay for them.
- I had to sell dolls in order to buy dolls.
- Any new doll had to be more desirable than the ones that I was selling.
- I would not pay high secondary market prices for any retail doll. CAP: $50 over original cost.
- I would never pay more than $325 for any doll.
This put some serious restrictions on purchases. This is one of the reasons that several dolls released in 2018 will not appear in my countdown.
- Jason Wu Special Release Elyse dolls are not included in my countdown because they cost too much on secondary market.
- The same is true for Summer of Love, Peace of My Heart, and Miss Behave Style Lab versions of Poppy Parker.
- Affluent Demeanor Agnes Von Weiss will not appear in my countdown because I prefer Queen of Everything which is currently in my collection.
- Public Adoration Eden Blair does not appear because her secondary market price is out of reach. I'm also not sure about the texture of pink hair. It usually feels coarser than other hair.
EDIT: One of my Christmas gifts was an empty box with an "I.O.U." in it from my husband. He explained that he had purchased me something that didn't get delivered before the holiday. It arrived this week and was Public Adoration Eden Blair, so she may appear in my list after all.
- Optic Illusion Giselle Diefendorf is not on my list because I'm still waiting on an e-bay coupon and didn't have the cash to pay for her this month.
Do I regret my decisions? Not at all. For once in a very long time, I am beginning to feel more in control of my hobby. I am less stressed and happier with my choices. All of the dolls I added to my collection this year were purchased at original cost (or less than $50 over retail). Using e-bay coupons, I was even able to add a couple dolls to my collection that I had missed over the years. I have managed to actually put some money in my savings account. I was able to be more generous this Christmas with family and friends. It feels good!
4 comments:
Bravo for you, have a nice year!
I have been doing this for several years, and in fact, had to sell several dolls that I did not want to sell to pay off medical bills because of debt. I think sometimes we get overwhelmed with all the wonderful selections of dolls that the companies, Integrity is most guilty of this- pelt us with all throughout the year, but also especially near the holidays.
I have purchased very few dolls this year, even though Mattel has come out with a few face molds that have seriously been tempting me.
I still have three or four Integrity dolls I have not deboxed. And , like you, I have so many dolls that many of them are not getting any enjoyment or display time.
I also found that instead of buying MORE dolls, it was more fun to buy smaller things for them, like shoes, handmade clothing from artists on etsy and ebay and props like furniture, for photos.
Being a boy, i could never play with dolls when i was a child. I started buying dolls at 12, playline barbies that i hide from my family. When i start working, i somehow tried to compensate an entire life of dolly draught with a puchase frenzy, action figures but mainly dolls. I could buy almost everything that was cheap enough, it was little money but so many purchases left me pennyless every SINGLE month.
Then i discover IT and it was an inflexion point. I started selling big time, barbies are so devaluated that i have to sell them way bellow cost, and even though, hard to sell .
I always loved your blog, by that time it was the only way i could get some information from impossibly beautiful, unreacheable little pieces of art in the form of dolls.
I joined the wclub and i never looked back, getting every single vanessa ever produced was my obsession, and i spent a BIG fortune on them, but it was worth every penny.
I feel i made an evolution, somehow at the same time with you, and your points of view discovered me completely unknown truths. One doll in, one doll out, the guidelines i try to keep and sometimes i cheat (but i try!!)
I miss your post about convention and the release of the big lines, and i guess that time is gone and you are happier with your collecting now, but i can not help but miss it.
Good for you, that is my goal for the New Year. I have so many dolls but not sure if they will sell because of the slow market. I prefer buying outfits and furniture to display in a scene.
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