Did you ever downsize?

I am so glad to see this post, very curious to see what responses you get - I, too, am at a crossroads with my collection. I have never downsized, but recent events have compelled me to contemplate capping my collection where it is. Full disclosure, I am waiting on several doll orders (ugh, why do they take SO LONG?!), so the size of my collection will grow somewhat before I'm done. But recently I had a fairly traumatic experience - my glass doll shelving EXPLODED, for no apparent reason, causing resin scratches/chips to a couple of my dolls...miraculously there was not more extreme damage, but I will still be trying to assess and repair damage caused by tiny glass shards for some time to come...made me realize that there is a limit to how much maintenance, etc you can afford, and it is up to the individual to determine what a healthy size for their collection looks like. I have only ever sold one BJD, and I still sort of regret it. I think that's just me having a hard time letting go of things, but it has definitely taught me to "choose wisely" when it comes to adding dolls to my brood, lol. If I did "downsize", however, I probably would end up slowly replacing dolls until I reached maximum capacity again, though...think the only cure for that would be to stop looking! What is always fascinating to me is how you can look at a thousand different dolls and not feel compelled to own them, but then there is that one doll that you just have to have...what do you suppose that's about..?

 

I'm feeling like my collection is way bigger than I've ever anticipated, and I should stop. But the dang list never ends. I seriously went form 'no more than 8', to 23+ dolls.. with more intended. I want at least 3 more SDs. And they take up SO much room, that I know I shouldn't... However, I am with you-- downsizing is scary because I love each and every one of them, and have put thought into so many. ..

 

I have, several times--and once practically restarted my collection to go with mature MSD instead of SD. Everyone bonds with their dolls in a different way, so I can't say definitively that downsizing is always a good idea--but for me, I've rarely regretted it.

A few of my dolls represent beloved characters, and I wouldn't sell them (at least, not without the intention of replacing/reshelling them). Most of my dolls, though, are basically pretty things to sew for, and while I do love how they look, I'm not deeply personally attached to them. They serve as both muses and models; if I don't feel inspired by them anymore, it's time for them to find a new home.

Right now, my collection is larger than it's ever been (15 dolls with 3 incoming, yikes!) and I'm probably going to downsize again soon. I've got several floating heads and at least one project I've lost motivation for. I like the feeling that my collection is streamlined, easy to remember, and 100% joyfully inspiring more than I like the feeling of having a lot of dolls, but not everyone collects the same way! Your mileage may vary!

 

I tried, but I couldn't find good homes for the ones I put up for sale. (A lot of trade offers, but since I was trying to downsize, that didn't really work for me...)
And somehow just the thought of sending them off (and having them made pretty for the sales pictures and such) made me regret wanting to get rid of them, so when I had no takers after a few months I just put them back with the others. So now I have more than 40...
It still doesn't feel like a lot, though. I can see myself getting at least a dozen more. LOL!!

 

I (according to me) believe my collection is complete with my 8 big SD (65+ cm) dolls and 2 tinies. Sometimes as Seonak said fantasize about downsizing (just because I'm lazy and having less dolls would mean less work), thinking if I where to only keep one doll which would it be, but then I found I like each one for particular reasons and I couldn't choose, I'll miss the others.
Have worked on getting specifically my most favorite sculpts, what was more difficult is to figure which dolls I like but don't want to own and the ones I had to have (before buying them), so I have never really down sized my collection and don't think I'll ever will, but I have sold 8 dolls which on receiving them I figured they were not for me to keep (including my first doll).

 

The most I ever had was 4 dolls at one time, but I did end up downsizing to just one. It was a little sad, because I loved the dolls, but I wasn't doing anything with them, they were either hard to pose or difficult to photograph, and I'm not happy when I'm not doing anything with my dolls. So I ended up with one doll for a couple years and now it looks like I'll be back at 4 dolls sometime next year. xD I might end up downsizing again, who knows. I think it's interesting to keep the collection changing, especially since new dolls are released all the time.

 

I regularly 'purge' dolls from my collection. This happened when I passed 5 dolls (all SD's) and I realized that I was easily overwhelmed. Besides, I wasn't really happy with my doll collection then. I still had dolls on my wish list that I really wanted to buy but was reluctant to because I didn't want to have a large collection. As a compromise, I decided that it was time for some of my dolls to leave so I can welcome new dolls. I did this after evaluating each and every doll (their pros and cons) and imagining if I can part with that doll or not. Ever since then, I now have 6 SD's (plus one incoming and 2 dolls on my wishlist) but the difference between my earlier collection and my current collection is I love all my dolls. Each and every doll I have has something unique to that doll and the fact that each doll has something different to offer is satisfying. But I think I'm still sticking to my limit of 10 dolls.

 

This past year I was at a low point in the hobby and was wanting to quit. I felt I had too many bjds, and dressing them was extremely frustrating. I sold at least half of my collection with no plans to buy anymore. That felt so good! I sold my two resin SD, just too heavy and awkward for me, plus quite a few tiny ones. Not too long after, I rediscovered my love for msd, and decided to get a couple dolls in that size (oops, more like four), and went crazy with OT anthro event dolls. My collection is back up to capacity, but I am allowing minimal collecting. I do wish I only had three dolls, but the ones I have are just so awesome, I can’t sell them! I do admit to putting some of my dolls into storage. I can’t sell them, but I don’t want them on display either. Too many dolls on display causes me anxiety, which leads to me being harsh with myself, and then I wonder why I’m in this hobby.

 

I have been thinking a lot about this too...
I love most of my current collection, but I keep thinking I want a smaller collection, or that my tastes are starting to go in a different direction. A lot of my current dolls are ones I have taken so long to collect or find on the second hand market. I know if in a pinch I could sell a few of them quite quickly but I might never be able to replace them if I regretted selling them. I don't mind selling sculpts or floating heads that I know I can get back, I have a hard time letting go of my rarer dolls even if I don't give them much attention. All dolls I have rehomed, I feel like at the time it was the right choice. It was probably to pay a bill or went to some adulting expense.

 

I've never had issues downsizing in the past (I've sold and traded around 50 dolls), but I have a really great collection right now and it's hard for me to let any go. I really have way too many dolls and I actually don't want so many, but when I start thinking about selling them I can't make the decision.

 

Oh yeah!! I started downsizing two years ago. I took what I thought was the logical approach - keep what I really thought I wanted to keep and sell the rest. I thought I had cultivated a nice collection of beautiful dolls, but what happened was no one wanted the dolls I wanted to sell! I ended up selling what WOULD sell and that turned out to be what I had wanted to keep! I also learned quickly, that like everything else I have collected over the years, you better be prepared to take a big, big loss!

 

I *tried* to downsize. And for a while, I did.

I started by weeding out all of my MSD sized dolls (except my very first doll who is a MNF, she stayed!). I decided that I preferred SD and YoSD sized dolls. And since the majority of my collection was MSD, that freed up a lot of space.

After that I kind of took a break from the hobby and didn't do anything with my dolls. But then (in 2015) like a dummy, I started buying a million SD dolls. So... now my collection is huge again and I kind of don't like it. I like my dolls so selling is kind of not an options since I don't want to part with them. But I'm totally out of space in my doll cabinet.

So I tried.

 

I have downsized more then once only to go crazy and add a few in a period of a couple of months. Recently I have more downsized in actual size not numbers due to developing arthritis in my hands. So big heavy guys will be here, but fewer and more as display then play.

 

I downsized my collection 2 years ago (or something like that). Over the years I had gone from preferring boys- to getting more and more into girl dolls. I found myself with a rather large collection (20-something dolls), half of the collection being boy dolls, that I simply felt didn't really inspire me much anymore- even tho they were drop dead gorgeous sculpts! >< I live in a TINY rubbish apartment and having such a large doll collection simply felt overwhelming, so I figured it was time for me to get rid of some of the boy dolls...since I didn't do much with them anyways.
And so I sat down, wrote a list (I like writing lists!) where I put the names of the dolls that I considered my absolute favourites- and the names of the dolls that I felt I could live without... and the dolls that I felt I could 'live without', were then put up for sale and adopted (these dolls were mostly my boy dolls).

But but but... the sad thing is that I have actually ended up really, really regretting adopting out some of these dolls ;__; So my humble advice to anyone who wants to downsize- please please please think about this carefully, especially if we're talking about super-limited dolls that you won't be able to replace again ;__;

......Oh and my collection now has grown almost as big as it was before I downsized (I'm back to having 21...22 dolls?), and even tho I often think it would be nicer to have fewer dolls, well- I love all the dolls I have- even tho it feels rather claustrophobic living with this many dolls in such a tiny apartment! ><

 

I downsized quite recently (and it's something I've done with non BJD collections too). I got to a point where I felt like I had too many that I didn't really play with/appreciate them all. I know some people like to just display, but I like collectibles I 'do' things with. I got rid of most of my MSDs as I wanted to focus on SDs. I was worried I would regret getting rid of my first dolls (I started with MSDs), but actually I am glad as I used the money to upgrade my SD characters, and I see myself focusing my spending on perfecting the characters now rather than expanding the collection! I am glad my collection is smaller now (4x SD, 1 x MSD), I feel like the expense is more justified as I give them more attention!

 

I have!

At one point, I had a job that paid enough for me to have around $50 to spend per week on dolls, and I had a regular RP partner, with whom I created new characters for our RP world non-stop. I was usually buying doll parts or doing layaways weekly, and at most, I had about 38 dolls and a few random heads/parts. It was unbelievably overwhelming, and I felt like besides lack of space, most of my dolls didn't look good either because I was buying as much stuff as I could without caring about quality.

I decided I was spread too thin, and to sell off the ones I wasn't happy with or who got the least amount of RP/least fun RP, and focus on the ones I kept. It helped to set a number (Mine was 20--I needed to be under 20 dolls), then choose which dolls should fill that list. After choosing who I liked most, I made lists of the things they needed, then considered the rest to be "doll funds". Example: "If I sell X doll, that will be enough money to get a wig, some clothes, shoes and one nice set of eyes for Y doll." The idea of improving the ones I loved most was a lot of motivation for selling the others.

Also, space! When I had 38+ dolls, they were all just kind of piled around a spare room, looking like a mess. By selling off half of my collection, I was able to repaint the spare room, build some nice shelves meant specifically to home SD dioramas, and decorate each "room" for a remaining doll. My doll space looks SO much better now, and I don't feel overwhelmed and stressed out just stepping in there. I admire my doll space now.

It has now been about three years since I made the full change, and I currently have 14 full SD dolls, one MSD, one YoSD, one tiny, one YoSD head and a few tiny pets/creatures. Since selling off half the crew, I have mostly stayed between 15-19 dolls. That seems to be the right amount for me, though sometimes I do think about cutting back to 13 or fewer.

 

I know how you feel! I have so many dolls and sometimes I'm like OMG- how did I get here? But I hate the idea of getting rid of just about any of them for the same reason. I could never replace them! It would take more money than I have and it's a collection I've worked hard on for years. I have sold off a few of them, but at this point there aren't many more I could bear to part with. At least not right now.

Sometimes I'm torn. Sometimes I wish I had a smaller collection, but honestly the dolls I have I love. Each one is unique (at least to me) in some way.

I would say put some away for awhile and just sit on it for awhile. Unless you need money quickly (and even that's no guarantee) then you don't HAVE to make any decisions about them quickly.

 

I have 1 BJD but I was a doll collector before I found BJD I am currently in the process of downsizing my non BJD. I have taken a picture of all the dolls I have because I am in the process of making a list of who goes and who stays. I know this list will change so I do not want to go through the hastle of taking pictures while I decide. I have set a goal of dolls I would like to sell to by December 2018, I think that is a realistic goal for me because I can take my time to decide but also it would be great to reward myself by christmas time.

 

I've downsized a couple of times during my long journey in this hobby. And at the time I did it, I convinced myself that it was because having too many dolls was somehow making me nervous...that my angst was purely numbers-driven. However, in hindsight, that was not the true reason. Looking back on it now with more experience, I realize that what I was attributing to "too many" was actually a subconscious need for me to refine my collection. My first purge had to do with size refinement, my second purge had to do with story refinement. I know this because I now have a substantially larger collection of 35 that I'm completely content and exuberantly happy with! They all sit around in vignettes throughout my home, telling their stories, and none of them are going anywhere.