No-Buy, Low-Buy?

I'd say I'm on no-buy for dolls, not sure about clothes and accessories and such though! Then again, gotta start from scratch with wigs and shoes and eyes and things.

With the dolls, it's a matter of room. My apartment's not huge; two MSDs is pushing its limits. I certainly have nowhere to display them. (The off-topic dolls took up one of the few available spots, but it's in the sunshine anyways so...) Besides, I haven't seen any as immediately "Holy crap, I love those!" as the current two, which is now my standard for whether I'll let myself consider buying a doll. So for now, only casually looking at dolls and putting my effort into working on mine.

With clothes/wigs/etc, I'm just focused on getting the two of them set up for now! Once I've got some stuff I can't really make myself, I'll probably shift into trying to make things on my own. Work on my sewing skills, use up the random balls of yarn filling my stash. Hopefully I can work on destashing some fabric and yarn, because my storage for those is full!

 

I think I'm pretty good with the resin I have actually, so I don't really feel the urge to buy more.

But there are tons of other stuff I am eyeing on the crafting front!

 

I never did, but I am planning to! I've noticed that I am more stressed about having any more dolls now that I have around 10, and I think my ideal number is around 15. So now on it is only very specific OC dolls that I want to buy dolls for. There are only 2 more, all the other dolls are already ordered or booked with the artist. Sometimes I feel anxious about the fact that I only get to pick one female and one male more, and I need to pass on all the pretty future dolls in this era when everyone is sculpting something!

 

I am currently in a reeeally low-buy situation because I am also saving up for important stuff. So, I can only invest low amount in hobbies. I promised myself too that I won't get more than four dolls. Either I will buy another one until the previous dolls are completed.

 

I'm pretty much always Low Buy as I'm lucky if I get a new doll every year lol I just can't afford to keep up with most people in this hobby. I need to know where some of y'all work so I can get a job there too!

 

@M_Kun009 I simply graduated and got a job other than the scholarship lol Still, I don't own super expensie dolls, just average/slightly below the average (considering their price vs size ratio). Anyway, it's not about the quantity but quality, so perhaps your one doll a year means three dolls for someone else for the same money. Like everything in the hobby, this also depends on many things. I hope you're happy with every doll even if it's one doll per year "only"

That being said, yes, I'd say I'm no buy-high sell. I decided to declutter a lot and not just my bjds, but my barbies too. I now look at my collection and like it a lot more. It has a lot more of those dolls I looove and not just 'I guess I kinda like". My current crew still needs some refining/trimming but I'm doing fine and having my share of fun. I noticed I like having fewer also because I don't like it when one doll gets all the attention and other get none. So, when I dress them up, I always want to make sure that none of them "feels" unfairly treated and dressed worse than the other ones. However, since I sold many of my dolly clothes, I have barely few to clothe my dolls. So, the fewer resin butts I have to clothe, the prettier each of them is dressed lol

But I got to say, I am really happy. I think I'd been low-key addicted to purchasing new items and always having something in the mail/checking the tracking number etc. Now I try to prolong the 'nothing in transit' moments and order things only when I really, really need them (so particular craft supplies to finish up some projects or particular type of dolly shoes I'd been looking forward to buying for ages).

Often, I also upgrade and exchange things. E.g. recently I bought a pair of shoes (and yes, I'd promised myself no more of these) but they were super similar (and even better!) than a pair I'd wanted to buy when the seller informed me that it's sold out. However, I have another pair among my current doolly shoe collection that I should part with as soon as this one arrives. Kind of 'one in-one out' rule, except for that I like to go by "one in - as many as possible out" lol

And now I look at my decluttered collection (the topic on 'refining it has inspired me) and I love it soo much more I don't need other dolls when those I have make me so happy

 

I went through a several year stint of no/low-buying. I'd get maybe 1 doll a year plus an outfit, wig, and eyes, then promptly stick them in my dolly cabinet and not touch them again. Recently I've gotten into a high buying period, but that's because I finally decided to do a big declutter on the dolls I wasn't interested in anymore and transition over to fleshing out the projects that I actually enjoy. It's amazing how many doll funds come rolling in when you decide to sell half your collection on a whim!

 

Nope. I mainly do layaways. (Stretch out the payments, and helps with the wait time tbh.) So if I see it and have the down ill get it.
The time in-between the layaways is my 'no pay' period I guess cause I go through period where there just is not any sculpts that jump up and yell 'buy me.' (Im thankfully very picky, despite having little impulse control.)

I probably should do a no pay for a few months though. I recently threw my entire bank account and my kidney at dollchateau and have four new dollies coming in that will all need outfits sewn and faces painted. And I wanna focus on them for a while rather than worrying about new anything. D:

 

I am still waiting on two dolls to arrive. One is from a preorder from December, and the other has been stuck in customs. I just bought several dolls, and I am iffy on the last two I got. I am not really feeling them and debating on selling them. After this though I am going on a no buy, because we want to move, and I don't want to have to move even more dolls than what I already have.

 

I don't know if I well answer but as I'm difficult in my choices of dolls, I don't buy news dolls often (after all, 2 off dolls topic last year and one petdoll this year... ) but I wish to take care the ones I already have. And, I think, we appreciated more your new dolls when they are rares.

 

I’m currently on a resin low buy stint, I have a small list of acceptable purchases if they pop up for sale, but I just headed back to school and have severely decreased my fun money leaving my doll hobby savings stagnated It was a tad depressing to decide but it’s only for a short time and I can focus on improving my face up and wig making skills

 

Everytime I tell myself to do a no buy for awhile and focus on my girls getting them dressed and completed then a doll I have wanted for awhile shows up. Then it all goes out the window.

 

Bringing this back up out of curiosity.

If you are doing a low buy or no buy for this hobby, what BJD stuff are you taking part in?

 

Good question!

I did my last round of buying for the time being a couple months ago (new doll) and have otherwise been trying to be low/no buy.

I've been participating in the monthly sewing challenges as best I can. I've got scrap fabric to use up, and it's fun to play around with fashion for the dolls. I like to redress everyone at least seasonally, sometimes a few times a season (like for early spring/late spring), and the more clothes, the better, right?

I'm also trying to do more photography with them. I took one of them out to a local garden a few weeks back, and it was a blast! I might have to go again as we start getting into autumn and get some pretty changing leaves.

And of course there's doll meets if you get a chance to attend them! I've loved getting to chat with other collectors in the area and ooh and aah over their dolls, it's so fun to see all the variety out there.

 

Now that my collection is complete (after nearly 20 years of collecting) I’m really focused on no-buy, but it’s certainly taken some work to get used to not constantly browsing for new resin after so many years. I’ve managed to do pretty well this year though, and when I got a yearning for a new character, I reused a body I already had and only purchased the perfect head at a bargain price. Working with what I already have is my new mantra going forward.

I’ve also been participating in the monthly sewing challenges here on DoA with an eye towards refining my dolls’ wardrobes. And I guess that’s how I’m focusing on no-buy, by working on refining my crew in general, changing or making wigs, redoing or enhancing faceups, redefining characters (with all the creativity that entails.) I utilize my posting in the yearly goals thread as my roadmap, constantly reworking it and listing my completed accomplishments to keep me on track.

And of course I hang out in the no-buy Brigadoon thread here: https://denofangels.com/threads/looking-for-doll-no-buy-buddies.860567/ That’s always fun and inspiring!

 

I'm always in low-buy mode, and I want to get down to no-buy eventually... which is proving to be hard!

Main thing I do is focus on playing with my crew, which is my favourite BJD activity. If my hands and eyeballs are on my dolls, they're not clicking through doll shops, or looking at doll news/social media and risking temptation. So I lean hard into posing them, taking pics, telling stories -- the creative labour occupies a good chunk of my focus, time and energy, and I enjoy it a lot anyway.

I'm less into the crafting/sewing side of the hobby, I find it harder and less enjoyable than photography (but still enjoyable to a degree). I'll dabble if I feel like it, especially if I want more clothes for the crew but don't want to buy it, and if I'm up for the creative challenge.

Community-wise, I try to stay in the areas focused on storytelling, photography and crafting. I especially love the BJD Games subforum and post there a lot, it's the first forum I look at when I visit DoA. The Photo Gallery is great, but when I'm there, I find myself passively looking at other people's doll pics. Whereas BJD Games prompt me to actively take photos of my crew and share them.

I do take time-outs from the online community every so often - the community chatter around new releases, planning for and buying dolls sometimes gets wearisome, and I don't always want to be around constant consumerist talk. (This happens a bit more in the Discord doll communities that I'm in, less so on DoA.) When I step away from the online community, I usually focus on my own BJD blog and website. That also puts my eyes on my crew, gets me thinking about their story and planning new photostories to blog about.

I have a small local group of doll friends that I hang out with - all of us take photos and craft/sew to varying degrees, and we routinely have meetups. Some are crafty days, others are photoshoot days. It's a nice way to see other people's dolls (they're "new" to me!) and engage creatively together. Not everyone in the group is Low/No-buy, but these are people with whom I can discuss doll-buying plans in a thoughtful way, that considers each other's hobby goals and financial situations. I'm very thankful that I have a local doll group to engage with, when the online community gets tiresome.

I should add that my low-buy is in regard to buying dolls only. I'm always up for spoiling my crew by buying clothes and accessories for them! But nowadays my crew is very well serviced, so I'm working on low-buying this as well - stick within budget and my own common sense, and keep an accessory/clothing wishlist that I refer to every time I get itchy to shop.

 

Oof, I'm finally hitting a no-buy for resin dolls (may continue to get OT dolls and/or props) because I've run out of space. I'm also hemming and hawing about selling off dolls who no longer spark joy. It's not really a seller's market so I'm in no rush. However I've been making a conscious effort to engage with my collection more. Mostly I'm practicing faceups and sewing, but I may also move more into serious doll photography instead of hobby photography. I didn't think I'd become a no-buy collector until I'd built my "perfect" collection but I don't practice this hobby in a static way so I realized there'd never be a "perfect" collection. That made it easier to stop chasing the new and refocus on the now.

 

im on a doll buy ban because i bought too many dolls too quickly & i now need to focus on bonding with them and customizing them, i like my dolls to have wardrobes and such so im going to focus on that for now as well as finding some outfit grails

 

I've been on a "buying" kick. I don't make actual purchases, and there's not much the online stores have to offer at the moment that I want to own. That said, I do enjoy browsing, choosing what I like, then going no further. Looking and imagining scratches my buying itch.

For more tangible things, I have so much fabric, and many many sewing projects to focus on.