Anyone bitten the bullet and cleared it all out??

[CapnJim]

Never started over completely from scratch.  Painting -wise, I started out in 15mm, then went to 20mm, and now I do 28mm.  I still game periodically with some of the 15mm and 20mm stuff.  I've only ever sold 2 sets of minis. I did do up a bunch of 6mm cold war stuff, and ended up selling it years ago.  I also dabbled in some 28mm Old West and Anglo-Zulu War stuff, but sold them years ago too.  As it turns out, I should have kept the 28mm Old West stuff, as I am now back into that... 

Soo while I have started from scratch in each scale, I can't bring myself to part with any minis I already have, scale-regardless...

[ithoriel]

I have sold stuff off from time to time (usually in response to those bills with the pretty red writing  ) but wholesale clear-out? Never!

These days I have vastly more figures than I could ever paint and am still planning new projects and adding more figures and terrain.

I live on my own, I have space and cash enough to cope, so why not.

Clearing it all out ... I'll leave that to my kids to arrange when I'm carried out of here, feet first, in a pine box!

[has.been]

Clearing it all out ... I'll leave that to my kids to arrange when I'm carried out of here, feet first, in a pine box!

My Step-daughter & Son-in-Law helped clear out my Mother-in-Law's SMALL flat.
It involved moving two display cabinets to my Wargames room (to good to give
away). They took one look at the room & told me that I had better start down-
sizing... NOW !!!!

[ced1106]

Not worth it. I make more money at work and my investments than selling off stuff. Then there's when you sell or trade something and find out it's eBay value is about ten times as much. Besides eBay, BoardGameGeek lets you put up your collection and stuff for trade, and I had some *really* good trades, at least as I'm much less interested in my RPG stuff and more interested in miniatures.

That said, if there's a gaming flea market and you want your unloved games to go to a good home, go for it, but try to get some friends to share the table. The setup before buyers come in is the best time to get bargains. Got a ton of Magic, GW, and D&D Adventure games that way, from the same guy even, at different events at the same store. If someone else brought their kids, it's a great way to foist stuff onto -- er, introduce -- a kid into the hobby. Ask the organizer if they have a "free stuff" table -- I got rid of several boxes of CCG's that way, and the guy who took 'em away was really happy to try a new game, and I don't miss the cards. I probably brought home more stuff than I tried to get rid of, but it was better stuff, or so I keep telling myself.

Also, if you get kids coming over for Halloween, give away unloved games, comics, trading cards, etc. Their eyes pop out (: you get rid of junk, and you're not stuck with candy afterwards.

Nowadays, I accumulate MORE written stuff, but it's all on the hard drive. The only miniatures I've gotten rid of were Epic scale, and I know I "lost" money on them (got them used, myself), but I'll never play anything that's not 28mm. Someone's going to write an agnostic solo ruleset for the miniatures I have, so I better keep 'em, just in case!

[ithoriel]

My Step-daughter & Son-in-Law helped clear out my Mother-in-Law's SMALL flat.
It involved moving two display cabinets to my Wargames room (to good to give
away). They took one look at the room & told me that I had better start down-
sizing... NOW !!!!

A clear sign from the gods that you should buy that army you fancied but couldn't justify the purchase of! 

[tikitang]

I have mentioned this elsewhere, but this thread seems like a good place to reiterate in more detail.

This week I had the biggest clearout of my life.

Between 2011 and 2015 I collected pre-painted 90mm scale figurines made out of PVC, produced by a variety of companies: Papo (France), Schleich (Germany), Safari Ltd (USA), Bullyland (Germany) and Plastoy (France).

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Back then, I was averse to painting (a problem I'm pleased to say I have now overcome), but had always harboured a strange love of collecting toys -- actual toys, geared for children -- something I had never really grown out of. I then discovered Song of Blades & Heroes (I think it was via Board Game Geek, which I spent a lot of time browsing in that era).

The idea of a wargame system that was simple to learn and didn't require a specific range of miniatures really struck a chord with me, and an idea exploded in my mind:

"Wouldn't it be fun to combine toy collecting with skirmish wargaming?!"

And thus began one of the biggest follies, if not the biggest, I have ever undertaken. Within four years I had amassed a collection so ridiculously large that I had to use an entire wardrobe unit just to contain it (I moved my clothes into boxes to accommodate).

Song of Blades & Heroes didn't satisfy for long, and I found myself on a fruitless quest trying to find the perfect wargaming system that could both be adapted for 90mm figures on a 3' x 3' table, and also be interesting and fun to play. To be fair, I did have some good moments (using Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader to simulate an Old West gunfight, for example), but overall the experience proved to be a huge waste of time and money. No rules system seemed to satisfy me. No matter what I tried, I never found lasting enjoyment from it.

Eventually, after many an attempt to keep the ailing project alive, I just got sick of it all. I got sick of the stupid toys and sick of the amount of effort I was putting into them to make them work as wargaming miniatures. I buried them in a (large) corner of the attic for years and contemplated ways by which I could just make them all disappear.

Could I sell them? There were too many. It would take too long. I just wanted to be rid of them all in one fell swoop. Could I give them to a charity shop? Again, there were too many. Plus, I don't own a car. The logistics for transporting such a collection anywhere, in a usable state, would be a nightmare. That seemed to leave only one option: binning them all!

I live in a fairly industrial part of the city, near the docks. There are dumps and large public bins aplenty. But again, there were too many figures. It would take me too long -- possibly hours -- to walk to and from the nearest bin with a backpack, taking one bag of figures at a time. As I said I don't own a car. But then an idea came to me: we have a two-seater bike trailer we used to ferry our two oldest children around the city when they were little, but in recent years we've used it to cart goods around when we need to transport things too big for a backpack. It's really on its last legs and we'll be getting rid of it very shortly (probably within the next couple of weeks), but I thought I'd put it to good use one last time.

In the space of two hours, I had transferred all the figures (and all the 90mm TERRAIN I had bought as well) into nine black bin-bags and stuffed them into the bike-trailer. I then carted the bike-trailer to the nearest large public bin (about a 10 minute walk from my house) and threw them all inside, then returned home. The amount of determination and willpower it took to do that was colossal. Finally, after a whole decade of feeling "enslaved" by this collection, I had BITTEN THE BULLET and the job was done. Now, after all that wasted time, money and mental energy, it's all over. I am free.

Was this the best solution? No. Was it financially or environmentally responsible? No. But, I am now free from a burden which had come to dominate my mind and my living space to a detrimental degree, and that is what I needed.

Others in this thread have mentioned mental health. I don't know what exact mental health issues I am afflicted with, but I am of the belief that the desire to obsessively collect this monstrous horde of figures in the first place, the failure to derive enjoyment from it, and the huge difficulty I had in getting rid of it are all related to issues of that nature. I feel like ridding myself of that collection has cleared a path for a healthier mind and a healthier approach to this hobby, going forward.

When I first realised, years ago now, that this project wasn't working out, I had hoped that there would someday manifest a reason why I embarked on that foolish endeavour. Something to give it meaning and purpose, that would somehow justify it or make it all worthwhile. In the end, all I see is a lesson bitterly learned: the foolishness of hoarding stuff. That might have to suffice.

[fred]

Thank you for sharing! Seems a dramatic end, but clearly something that was the right option for you. And as you say now a weight is lifted and you can enjoy gaming again!

[Ben Waterhouse]

I give it away to charity shops, used to use eBay and so on, but I'd rather have someone pick up my stuff for a penny or two in the local hospice shop and get some pleasure from my things. I got rid of everything [not just hobby stuff, everything, year zero style] when I was 40 due to a drastic life change, but have built it all up again subsequently. I solo game now as I don't particularly like people apart from family and church, have done clubs and individual games with others in the past but not for me. I have/had mental health problems so I do occasionally stop all hobby stuff for a while. I think the saddest thing, gaming wise, was when I realised none of my three children were interested in having my stuff when I have gone, always very polite about Dad's hobby but just not for them. I have four Granddaughters who again are not interested.

[Reed]

Only big clear-out I've done was of White Dwarf magazines from 2004 to 2008 when I was a teenager, but miniatures not. I've been selling things occassionally during years, mainly to fund other purchases.

[FreakyFenton]

Hello,

I did once bite the bullet and cleared out my 40k stuff. I had two armies, one were Space Marines, who I had started to collect since a trip abroad and just liking the figures, another were some 40k Orcs/Orks?... well Greenskins.

I sold most of them to a friend, definitely not making back the money I had spent on them, but someone else was happy, and while it wasn't the exact sum back, I did get a good bit back that I could use for books or other stuff at the time.

The rest? Some odd bits and bobs for conversions all ended up in a big box that I took to a local tabletop flea market, organised by Michael from TWS ( a german tabletop channel) and that basically left most things ending up in other peoples collections.

While I don't mind the Space Marines, and I am happy to have parted with them, I do now and then think about the Greenskins. I had invested some time in converting them and giving them a unique look that I felt was now lost in part. 

So I suppose what it boils down to is, if it has been lying around too long, and you haven't done anything with it? Sell a given figure or collection. But with collections you are unsure about? Maybe bag them for another month or some such and think about selling them. Sometimes, as for instance Jim mentioned above, stuff can be handy or useful after a while, and you might end up missing what you gave away.

I do also now and then think that the hobby is a bit of a drag and doesn't equate to much, but it is a hobby, it's meant to be fun and take your mind off of things, so I usually stick to the collections I have and expand them, now and then getting a new one if I can see myself getting enjoyment from it.


On a different note, on a trip to Faversham or some city in the South of England, I picked up a few old GW books, only for the clerk to tell me someone's mum had brought an entire collection (of figures and rules and the like) in for free and just handed them off while her son had been at university. I can't imagine what that bloke felt like when he came back.

[AdmiralAndy]

I give it away to charity shops, used to use eBay and so on, but I'd rather have someone pick up my stuff for a penny or two in the local hospice shop and get some pleasure from my things. I got rid of everything [not just hobby stuff, everything, year zero style] when I was 40 due to a drastic life change, but have built it all up again subsequently. I solo game now as I don't particularly like people apart from family and church, have done clubs and individual games with others in the past but not for me. I have/had mental health problems so I do occasionally stop all hobby stuff for a while. I think the saddest thing, gaming wise, was when I realised none of my three children were interested in having my stuff when I have gone, always very polite about Dad's hobby but just not for them. I have four Granddaughters who again are not interested.

What I would say to anyone like this is see if there is a toy auctioneers who could come look at your collection and take it away and sell it and you get a cut of some profits back from it, and save yourself a hernia, just a thought. As reading some of the blogs it seems like the financial commitment is the final block and not wanting to admit the feeling I was an idiot and have just wasted my money as bin all the old toys.

Hope you feel the better for it all Ben and well done on the self discipline

[Ben Waterhouse]

What I would say to anyone like this is see if there is a toy auctioneers who could come look at your collection and take it away and sell it and you get a cut of some profits back from it, and save yourself a hernia, just a thought. As reading some of the blogs it seems like the financial commitment is the final block and not wanting to admit the feeling I was an idiot and have just wasted my money as bin all the old toys.

Hope you feel the better for it all Ben and well done on the self discipline

Cheers, most days I’m fine. Thanks for your concern. The auction thing is food for thought too.

[Khusru2]

I've never been tempted to sell up and start again. I have put all my goods into storage for 2 years after a partnership break-up. And I didn't really miss it to be honest though I'm not sure why.
I sold some things I wasn't gaming with but have increased old armies and started new projects. But I still want to start more!

[Ragsta]

This thread has been helpful reading, really good to see the responses. My brain is… Interesting. I enjoy my hobby and the finished, painted results, but I really seem to dislike the act of painting these days. I’m now 40(!) and have done several experiments in recent times and each time it feels like biting tinfoil. But for me perseverance is the key - I now know that I will enjoy the end result!

Yet at the same time this makes mountains of plastic genuinely uncomfortable to be around for me. What I am currently planning is a clear out of all items I don’t have a proper plan for (no more whimsical projects or purchases until I can at least say ‘done for now’ on current toys!

I also now try to plan around my available storage and display space - that’s def helping me to self regulate.

It’s been said here already (and I’m so glad I read it!!!) but no more selling of painted models for me - I did that in earlier times for my original Eldar army and plastic Marines and I miss them now! Reasons at the time were okay I guess, but nostalgia is it’s own curse as I’ve ended up buying them back for future projects 

[eilif]

A recent observation on selling a collection. 

I mentioned earlier that my friend quit the hobby and cleared out 1000s of dollars in stuff by selling it to me for a fraction of that.  I kept about 30% for myself and I immediately began selling off the parts I didn't want to pay him the agreed upon sum.

It's a couple months later and I've paid him back and made a nice chunk of hobby cash for myself.  I've also got some great stuff, especially terrain, painted minis and hobby supplies.  Months later, it's been more work than I thought it would be and I've still got a big of two of stuff that isn't selling and will go to a local game store auction for a tiny fraction of it's value.  Still, a good choice for me I think, but a veryl big time sink.

My final observation is that for him -who didn't need the money, was through with the hobby and wanted to clear out the space quickly- to sell it himself piece by piece would have been a nightmare.  Selling to me for the stuff cleared out, got his painted minis into the hands of his friends (I made sure club mates bought those) and put a bit of cash into his hand.  A massive clear out via bulk sale  -even at a very at a deep discount- may be the best option for someone who wants to move all of their collection in a way that doesn't require a huge about of time and effort.

In the US there are a couple of companies that will do what I did for a slightly higher payout. Even by mail.