How often do you declutter & organize your collection? Are you satisfied with the results?

Decluttering? I don't know her. I generally don't consider my dolls 'clutter', so I've never had to do that? All of my dolls are bought with a specific purpose in mind (they act as real-life stand-ins for the characters from my stories that live either in my head or in writing) and there are, like, 23 of them at the moment. The only reason any of them may get sold are a) I don't enjoy playing with the doll, usually due to restrictions related to size or poseability or b) they don't end up working for the character intended and they can't be repurposed for another OR a sculpt that is a better reflection of the character comes along and I reshell them (for example, recently I came across a doll that much more resembles my Soom York who is supposed to be her biological father than the one I had currently shelled the character in).

In terms of doll clothes, I used to sell a lot of them in the past while I was still figuring out the styles of dolls I wanted to collect, but since I've been here for over a decade this phase has long died out. Right now if I'm buying an article of clothing I do it with a specific character in mind, so nothing ends up being out of place.

In terms of organization, I keep my dolls displayed around the house and I fiddle with the little vignettes my roommate and I have created so often to repose them or redress them and create new scenes. Their stuff, on the other hand, is subdivided into several boxes by size and function (ie: msd tops, sd coats, accessories, props, maintenance stuff, etc etc) all tidily folded and placed into the living room's closet space. Keep in mind this is NOT the best solution though I've been improving it over time, as things do tend to get a little messy when I'm trying to redress more than a couple of dolls at a time and I need to spend extra time tidying things. A nice dresser situation with drawers or a dedicated 'doll-sized' closet with hangers for everything and space for shoes and other things would be much more efficient for organizing, so that's definitely something I'd like to do sometime in the future!

 

I don't declutter because I have reached what is the perfect-sized doll collection for me but I do reorganize doll's stuff once a year.
I take out everything I own dolly-realtes (clothes, shoes, props, wigs, etc.), then sort everything out in categories (like doll, season, type of item, etc.) and while doing that I start putting on the side the things I haven't used much in the past year.
When I've located those things, I try to figure out if I don't like them anymore or what was the cause that prevented me from using them.
Selling small things separately is hard nowadays (and what I own was note very expensive from the start) so I just store those things I don't have a use for anymore and I hope to get them out in packs in the future or even to give them as gifts in meets if I ever get to go to one again.

 

I'm about to do a serious reorganization. I'm just not happy with the way things are right now. I think I'm going with plastic underbed totes for everything. I have a couple I have wigs in, and a couple of cloth underbed organizers I have clothes in, but I like the hard plastic ones better. I may make custom dividers out of cardboard-that way I'll get things just the way I want!

 

Going through this right now!
Have been too busy with other things in life and now I'd like to downsize my collection a bit, hopefully re-home some of the girls.

 

How often do you declutter...?

Not often enough! I develop organizational paradigms, and next thing I know, they overflow. It's becoming more difficult to cull, as everyone either has the same stuff already, or it has no appeal to younger/newer collectors. Taking it to thrift shops saddens me, but I may have to go that route eventually.

 

The funny thing about decluttering, is it's sometimes like what happens with your phone after a while. You run out of space to update your apps, and the only thing you can do is delete some apps to make room; but all you have to delete, are the apps that need the updating...

So, yeah, decluttering is trixy business for me. I live on a postage stamp, and literally have no room to do much of anything. I could make some room by thinning out my lego collection; but those are sorted by type in a bunch of plastic bins. In order to sell them off (and get anything resembling a fair price), I'd have to build the sets to take to the local shop. In order to do THAT, I'd need room to pick parts and assemble... but there's no room at the postage stamp.

 

Sporadically, and usually when I'm getting rid of a doll.

I'm looking at my collection now with a more discerning eye, and I think I've identified another candidate to give away - assuming I can find a potential interested new-to-the-hobby collector. When I pick a recipient, I put together a package of stuff I no longer want/need that fits the doll I'm giving away.

Don't get excited, lol - the stuff I give away is usually old and doesn't resell well, if at all. I prefer to give old dolls away to a new collector to introduce them to the legit side of the hobby (and steer them away from the *other* side).

 

I am in the thick of decluttering right now. I hopefully will do so more frequently going forward. A lot of my dolls are going away, but I am at a standstill right now. Two of my Fairyland certificates got mixed up and I need to figure out which certificate goes with who.
I am on my way to being happier with my collection.

 

Decluttering? Organizing? What are these strange words you use?

Actually, I rather recently went through my doll clothes and accessories when I had to put some new outfits into the storage totes I use - got rid of a few things I knew I'd never use, found a few things that need to be replaced/repaired when I have time and/or space to do so, and got things basically split up into "things dolls wear" vs "things dolls use".

As far as the dolls themselves? 95% of the time when a doll comes to me, it's going to stay. Only in those very rare cases where I realize a doll isn't going to work for whatever I had in mind does it go back out again. I have one candidate right now that's probably going out once I finish the part swap I have in mind - I'm stealing its torso and wings for another doll entirely!

 

I never seriously declutter my bjd at least I never have done it till now I am in a process of decluttering and in the beginning I separated my faves and tried to decide what to sell starting with the spare heads and parts. I saw though that this didn't work so I now try a method my therapist and an organizer suggested , separate none and try to see what I now like not my past self so still spare heads and parts will go but also many of the dolls I considered favorites, I was surprised to understand that while I still appreciate the art of my notdoll dolls they don't bring me joy as also my eid dolls which I hold to sell to a friend. It was a surprise about my aletheia notdoll but fantasy dolls don't really fit with my mood even very subtle ones. I will post again when I have finished my journey but the success will be for me to just end up with less than 7 very casual dolls with zero fantasy, zero dark or sad mood , zero character connections just pretty and cute and styled very casual. Declutter is hard but doable my therapist says as every organizer I asked if it is not a hoarding situation one sould take small and steady steps and not panic. Anytime I panicked and sold stuff (dolls or otherwise) I wasn't sure I ended up buying more or longing more or hesitate to sell stuff I really didn't want but anytime I made each decision for each thing slowly and having weight my likeness of the thing no matter its cost or resale value I didn't regret and it made me more frugal wise in spending and appreciative of tidiness. P.e. I got rid most of my cd's slowly and wisely never regret it not bought any , got rid hastily many whodunnit novels and Agatha Christie editions because of a house move I regretted it I long for those thankfully I can slowly buy digital versions of most but I will have to pay again for them and it caused me both distress and probably some money in the future. So slow baby steps but secure and without looking back it's my way. I will post updates though

 

With dolls I try to maintain a low number so there's some 1-in-1-out involved to keep it from the collection growing overwhelming. I just know I'll enjoy them less if there are too many!

With clothes/accessories I usually take a good look at the stuff in the stash every 2-3 months and sell what hasn't been used in a good while or no longer sparks any ideas, especially when I want to buy something new (shoes, wigs, whatever). I'll try to keep the budget and space for the hobby circulating as much as possible so some clothes have to go out for a new pair of boots to come in for instance.

I tried to curb myself from buying doll stuff for a short bit and realised it doesn't really work with decluttering because things still somehow... keep arriving - letting go of things to bring in other things has been a better strategy so far, though!

 

Haha I alternate between manic desire to pack my doll boxes full with shiny new stuff for all my girls and anxious want to sell everything except one doll and one outfit. Usually when the desire to sell comes is when I declutter and organize to soothe that urge, though I rarely get rid of anything. I've decided I was okay with having more wigs/eyes/clothes than just one per doll (I used to have a strict "one correct set of everything per character" rule and uh... that didn't work) and most of the extra stuff I own now, I do like and see a potential use for in the future.

I'm contemplating getting 1-3 more dolls over the next few years and I don't know if it's going to make me feel worse. On the one hand, right now all of my dolls are different sizes and can't share anything (except for a random pair of underwear, lol). The new dolls I want would be matching sizes to the ones I already own so they'd be able to share the things I already own and like. On the other hand they'd all need their own character-appropriate stuff and I can see my pile growing even bigger...

 

I'm the same as Ara ... I'm tidy by nature and dislike clutter. I've organized my doll storage system so everything has its own "place" - that way I don't lose or misplace anything, and I can very quickly find what I want without having to rummage too long or rack my brain trying to remember where it is. I use modular storage (so I can easily add more modules without too much reorganizing), and inventory and label absolutely everything - I'm kinda obsessive about labelling .

I reorganize when I run out of space (usually when I receive a haul of new doll things), or if I'm taking too long to find what I want. I also use this time to destash. Not sure how long between reorganizing sprees - maybe 2-4 months?

If we're talking about decluttering BJDs... let's just say there's no way I can think of BJDs as "clutter" in the inanimate object/thing/possession sense, they have too much individuality and "self-ness" in my mind. And I don't let them accumulate anyway - I'm pretty quick to sell the dolls that no longer have raison d'etre.