Too Much Stuff?

[Darth Broem]

Yeah, I really don't know what to do with my stuff.   I would like to clear out some space.  But like others have said I will regret selling it.  Then I think about just opening a whole bunch of carded stuff for more space.  But my wife and other friends think it's stupid to open them.  I should sell them if I want to open them is their cry.  Well I don't want to sell that badly.  So, it just sits in a box someplace and I get to take them out everyone once in a rare while when the wife is gone.  LOL! 

I will most likely just continue to get figures that interest me and maybe open them or not.  One day when I did my family can sell the stuff or pitch it or whatever. 

[jadesfire]

I realize that I, too, have to start being more selective in what I buy.  I am packing up to move and almost every tote I go through, I think WTF??  Did I really need twenty-two star wars toothbrushes??
I could cry to think how much food I wasted (not to mention cash) just to get every fast food premium item from '99 (more than one in almost all cases) plus baggies, boxes, posters, window clings....I think I was insane.

All of this has to come with me to Ohio for now but once I start to unpack there, most of that stuff will need to find a new home.  The killer in all this is we need to find a house that has a finished "great room" so I can display everything I am keeping like the way I have it now. 

I think my husband needs a medal of some sort in all this...maybe I'll give him that nice shiny gold one from Master Replica  .

[Ben]

If I got rid of my carded collection, I'd be golden, methinks. I used to have everything seperated out by line (even the McFarlane figures) but to save space, I packed most everything together. Vintage and modern MOTU reside in the same tote, as does vintage and modern GI Joe. LOTR takes up two totes. ML and McFarlane are in a couple of other totes as well, carefully packed so they don't break just sitting there.
The vehicles from SW, GI Joe, and MOTU are stored in about four totes, but there's also the Hasbro sabers and guns, disassembled Unleashed, 12", and stuff like that packed with them.

What I need is to find a better way to store my loose SW figures. I have like ten small plastic sweaterboxes (at least that's what it says on the side) seperated out thusly: The movies, Stormtroopers, Clones, smaller weapons/accessories, and large accessories. I do want to keep these seperated by film, so I think I'll just get some bigger boxes for those.

If I parted with the carded stuff, I'd have a lot more room, but I busted my ass to get some of those figures, so I'm not sure I'm willing to part with them. I know I'd get a pretty penny for the half-moon LOTR stuff though. Most of it's from the TTT segment, which seems to the most popular on ebay.

Since most of this isn't on display, I don't have to worry that much. It will come into consideration when I buy a house about displaying this. At this point there's just too much to display it all, even if you had a mansion, and if you did, it's unlikely you'd choose to decorate it with little plastic toys.

[Darth_Anton]

Without getting ito great detail, I'm in the same boat as a lot of you guys. 10 years worth of plastic adds up. I'm actuall starting to reach the limit, so even I'm interessted to see how it turns out.

[Rob L]

A few months ago I realised that the spare room which held my 500 or so modern MOCs was starting to look really stupid.  The generic nature of the cards meant I found it so hard to focus on any particular item.  And basically I had no more space for the endless lines. The final straw was the ROTS line which I HATE carded.  So my collection has been pretty much cut down to next to nothing...although I’m aware that an outsider would still call it excessive

Currently I have:

30 vintage Palitoy MOCs, mostly ROTJ and TL but all c8+ with clear bubbles.  This is my main line of collecting and makes me feel like I’m seven years old again.

The 12 VOTC figures carded.

Holo ROTS Yoda carded.

15 AFA-graded modern figures...I love the cases. Some variations and the odd exclusive such as Silver Vader and Sacul.

25 HTF modern figures from Ep1 to Saga

60 loose figures from the modern lines, mostly OT but also nearly all the clones released in recent years.  I display these in a glass cabinet. 

I don't regret dumping completism because I was keeping so many of my figures for the wrong reasons.  I looked at each item individually to decide if I still wanted it.  I know that feelings can change but to be honest, I've had pretty much every figure carded and loose since 1999 and I've had plenty of time to decide which items I actually want in my collection.

I've also gone off my LOTR figures so they might be the next to go!

[Loopy_Leia]

I do collect SW's figures but I don't really have that big of a collection, yet.  Plus, got to have money!!!  I collect snow globes mostly and I am running out of room.  I have soooo much stuff in general that I've had to pack most of it in the closet until I can get a cabinet to put them in.  I love to display my stuff for everybody who comes to my house to see and I can't wait to be able to do that.    Soon, I hope!

[Scott]

When we redid our basement, all of my stuff went in to semi permanent storage

Earlier this year I probably had around 16-18 Rubbermaid Totes full of stuff consiting mainly of:

Simpsons (3 tubs)
Other Figures (1 tub)
M.A.S.K. (2 tubs)
LOTR (1 tub)
Marvel (1 tub)
Kubricks and Minimates (1 tub)
Star Wars Vehicles, Beasts and Playsets (2 Tubs)
Star Wars Loose 3-3/4 Figures (5 tubs)

Plus one of those Kitchen Pantry Things full of Carded/Boxed stuff and a few shelves full of similar

I think I've succesfully got it down to around 13 tubs...

I'm not sure what I'll do with everything yet.  I've been thinking of selling the Simpsons, I've been thinking of selling the M.A.S.K. and I've also thought about selling large portions of the 3-3/4 stuff.  Who really needs 18 Darth Vaders?  Who needs 13 Luke X-Wing pilots for customs I'll never get to do?

I know I could use the money for our new house.  I know our new house will probably not have all of the hidden storage spots that the old one seemed to have

Of the stuff I have sold, say last year, for the most part it was turned right back around for new stuff.  Lately, I haven't done that, its been going to our bank account and I feel a lot more satisfied by doing that. 

So, long story short, I think I've finally started to kick the habit a little.  And its a good thing to me.  I think I'll collect the 3-3/4" stuff until the cows come home.  But I think the idea of buying vehicles and beasts and other stuff has long been extinguished.  So has completionism for the most part. 

If my kids dig the Sesame Street Line (I still haven't opened the Grover I got yet)...I think I'll get into that.  Marvel Legends and LOTR isn't really doing it for me too much anymore.  Simpsons is dead.

All of the nagging and complaining from my wife probably finally got to me, plus the accident and everything that has happened this year.  Its been a time of much soul searching and reflection and I feel good doing what I have been doing. 

The only real downside to thinning the herd is the time involved in doing so.  It takes so much dang time to sell stuff around the boards and on eBay.  I hate doing it...but I'm also starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel

[Jayson]

Let me know if you are going to part with that MASK stuff. I'd be interested in some/all of it depending on how much/what you have.

[Scott]

Can do Jayson

[Jayson]

Any boxed MASK stuff?

[Scott]

Yeah, nothing sealed though, but I do have quite a few boxes

[Brian]

It seems like we've had a few people here getting to the point where there was just too much stuff, and are either changing focuses, getting out altogether, or at least considering where they want to go from here with their collections.  I have been fortunate enough to have the majority of my stuff displayed in our office (Star Wars, Marvel, DC, handful of LOTR/misc stuff), but I'm getting to the point now where its feeling too "full" in there.  I'm considering what to maybe stop collecting, what to pack up, or maybe even what to sell.  I'm considering packing up things like the Burger King Toys, Prequel Trilogy vehicles (or many of them), and maybe chucking some more of the packaging/boxes I've kept (which is a whole other issue).  It kind of bothers me to have stuff and not be displaying it, but at the same time I like the neater display look where it isn't quite so overwhelming - and also envy some of you who have been able to cut back or even get out.  I think I'll always collect the Star Wars 3 3/4" figures in some capacity, and there are other interests as well (Spider-Man, some comic stuff), but I'm starting to reconsider what is really going to be displayed in here.  I don't need our little office to be puking toys .  Anyways, just curious if anyone else has changed up their display, their collecting, or just thinking about options for the future.  The Star Wars collecting has been a long ride, and a lot of stuff - it seems like sooner or later, unless you are someone like Sansweet, you're going to run out of space for things.

[Tracy]

I've been on a major "stuff" purge lately.  Not necessarily collections -- just "stuff".  With everything that's happened in the past year or so, especially the past few weeks with Shannon, I feel the need to clear out the clutter in my life.  The easiest way to accomplish that is to get rid of the excess stuff we really don't need and to pass it on.  It feels really good, actually.  Even the four year old keeps bringing me his things that he wants to "give to the kids from the hurricane".

[Jim]

I would love to quit collecting certain products but either cant determine what to stop or when I do quit/sell stuff I end up buying the stuff back at a higher price   I gave up army building about a year ago when financially we were strapped and I got laid off.  Then I found a much better job with more disposable income and have concentrated on nothing but catching back up on my army building figs.  This time  I only army build droids, imperials, rebels and clones.  Before it was everything.  But with no room available to display at the moment I am looking at boxes upon boxes of loose army builders   I had to have them but dont know where to put them. Its a never ending problem we all have.  I would like to cut back on my carded figs too but since most are complete numbered runs, I would hate to break them up.  But at over 600 MOC figs I really dont have the space to continue or should continue.

[SilverZ]

I've been on a major "stuff" purge lately.  Not necessarily collections -- just "stuff".  With everything that's happened in the past year or so, especially the past few weeks with Shannon, I feel the need to clear out the clutter in my life.  The easiest way to accomplish that is to get rid of the excess stuff we really don't need and to pass it on.  It feels really good, actually.  Even the four year old keeps bringing me his things that he wants to "give to the kids from the hurricane".

I've been having a similar change in attitude towards the crap I've accumulated in my life over the past several years, and have been working to shed a lot of it since I still refer to it as "my burden" as opposed to "my cool stuff". That includes old video games, laserdiscs, arcade games, electronics, and box upon box of random collectibles that aren't Star Wars related. I feel the need to be free from the less-than-important material goods in my life, of those things I no longer have sentimental or functional use for. It's a major task but with each thing I get rid of I seem to feel better. It's very liberating.