You know your doll family is too large when...

When I was focused more on quantity than quality. I realized I didn’t enjoy any of my dolls when I’d bought them because they were cheap and none of them had nice clothes or accessories.

I cut way back on dolls and started focusing on dolls I really wanted and good quality things for them. I had 39 trashy looking dolls with no bond, but now have 11 that meet my standards and I feel connected with.

 

When you can’t remember how many you own!

 

I was a bit the same. I bought a lot of floating heads when I was new to the hobby because it seemed cheaper than buying a whole full doll and now massively regret it, I don’t even know exactly how many I have. Since I started buying full dolls instead of loads of heads it feels a lot easier for me to focus on my collection.

 

...if you stop counting...

...if the dolls company name is good enough, because you run out on names.

...if your Instagram reminds you, that you own the doll already for over 4 years and you have to accept, that you never changed her outfit since then!

...if your doll list looks like something an insane has created!

 

When I run out of shoes ... or only have parts, heads or bodies. Or when some of them stop getting attention.

 

Man, I relate to so many of the comments above. There was a point when I stopped counting how many dolls I have because it was too high and I couldn't really do much with any of my dolls because there were so many of them that I felt overwhelmed. Some of them don't get changed for a year or even two. I felt really bad for having so many dolls and no motivation to do anything with any of them because there were just too many?

Anyway, I ended up reducing the collection (declutter video here if you're interested) because I realise it wasn't working out to have so many dolls that I can't pay attention to. Better to have less dolls and more time for each of them!

 

@madhatter! i always end up calling the dolls as their sculpt names >< only one of my dolls has his own name

 

I did a lot of that too, picking up a head here, a body there because I found them cheap. Sometimes even parts I didn't like much, just because I could get them at such low prices. I had some horribly matched hybrids just because I could make two or three cheap dolls instead of buying one really nice full doll. Nothing at all wrong with cheaper dolls if it's what you really want, but I was definitely settling based on the price tags. I was also creating role play characters for all of these dolls and it got to a point where even if I played a different character every single day, I couldn't get through them all in a month. Realistically, they were getting played maybe once every 2-3 months, so when I did get back to playing them, I had forgotten their stories and parts of their personalities. They all started to run together. Definitely a clear sign that I had way too many dolls home, and way too many floating heads that might one day get bodies. It can be cheaper to get floating heads with cheaper bodies, but if they all just end up floating forever, it's hard to have a good time with them. At least many of them held their value or close to what I paid, so I was able to get the things I really wanted.

 

I realized I had too many dolls when their clothing drawer good bigger than mine...

 

When you know exactly how many dolls you have, but it takes a few tries to even list them all off the top of your head. I inevitably forget about 2 or 3 of them each time I account for them. Swear I love them all though!

 

I honestly probably don't really have THAT many as I have only ten (seven with me, one that's technically my partners, two on the way) but my house is small so I'm getting to the point where I'm running out of space to display them which is really important to me >.>

 

@cian I loved your video and I love konmarying too I am a big fan of decluttering and I did the same with my collection, cutting in by more than a half it's a stresfull and long-term project, but it's worth having only the ones you love. So happy for you!

So, anyway, the moments I realised I have too many (nothing that hasn't been already said, I'm afraid xD)

(+) I tried to do a group shot. I had a huge wig box, yet I almost run out of wigs.
(+) I run out of shelf space to display the dolls
(+) I have no more space to store their boxes around the house

 

When I felt overwhelmed and uninspired just looking at my collection.
Through my time in this hobby, I've learned that I prefer to own no more than three dolls at a time or otherwise I get a little bit anxious just thinking about my collection. That's because one of my three dolls is always sitting on my desk and the other two are safely displayed in a cabinet, each additional doll just has no place in how I like to show them off.

 

When you finally run out of any available display space for them. This is where I am right now, so I’ve finally stopped actively collecting and am just enjoying what I already have. In future, I’m determined that any new character ideas I might come up with must be accomplished by repurposing existing dolls only.

 

For me, this point is reached when I can't enjoy them any longer. Sometimes I consider my even altogether 15 dolls or so to be a bit too much. On the other hand, whenever I look at them, I try to imagine having one of them put up for sale. And at the moment always the thought "but I like you so much". Okay, some I do love more than others. But I love also love looking at the entire group.

On the other hand, I have absolutely no desire to purchase even one more doll. I do not know what I would do with them. In some way, I am at an ideal balance and have absolutely no intention of changing this.

But there is still more than enough to do. As long as they give me ideas, everything is all right. If that does not happen any longer, then it may be time to rethink...

 

Space is my bottle neck.

And I think I am about at my limit mentally because I have a few dolls I occasionally forget I own when I say how many dolls I have.

 

When the group feels too big and only some of them have stories, and I feel overwhelmed with them as a group. I've still got more on the way, and I've realized I need to pare down my collection to those I love the most.

 

When you need your friend's help to count the total of doll you have...
When your friend don't even know how many doll you have, every time when you mention about one doll and your friend was like:" oh do you have this one?"