I'm seriously considering quitting Lego.

[BrickG]

Lego.

Here is my inner turmoil.

I like LEGO. I like the idea. I like the minifigures especially.

Here's the facts:

I buy more LEGO than I'm comfortable with. Basically I start feeling guilty. I'm in a good place financially and running out isn't an issue but it feels like a waste.

Why does it feel like a waste? I buy, I display some, I never touch again.

I do occasionally enjoy building LEGO mocs. I'm not sure I enjoy it as much as I should though.

For one, I rarely actually get time to do it. When I have time it's usually spent on my computer, hanging out with people or reading or something else. The end result is me playing with my LEGO like 2 times a year.

Things that get in the way of me building are the following: My collection is big now. My collection is disorganized for the most part. Organizing Lego is a serious PAIN! There's too much! Last time I tried I spent days and still didn't do more than half. Then every time I build mocs it gets a bit more disorganized and then I have to organize again.

Then when I build mocs I almost never actually finish them. Building mocs is a long term thing and I have so many other things to do in life that I can't usually focus long enough to finish it. Instead they end up unfinished jobs as I get distracted by something else eventually.

I feel like I lack the focus, motivation (thanks organization ;p), and passion to really stick to it. At this point I buy sets and put 95% of them into storage after taking the minifigures out. This feels wasteful. It's hard to buy minifigures alone because it always feels like a ripoff (like getting only the minifigures for 50-75% of the price without getting the other tons of pieces).

The minifigures, my favorite part, even have their issues. I like them. Something about each new wave of DC, Marvel, Star Wars, etc make me feel a NEED to get them. But then I buy them and display them. And at this point I am basically thinking "and now what?" and can't help but feel like they're useless and empty. I almost feel addicted to them. Appeasing my childhood nostalgia or something. When I buy minifigures and Lego I do get a "that's cool!" feeling. I can spend hours in the Lego store just looking. But then it fades and feels kind of like a carrot on a stick. I'm only here to buy the next wave! It's unending and will claim all my money :P.

Then I've got deeper money issues that make me wonder if I should help people rather than fuel a barely hobby, but that's for another day.

I'm not sure what to do. On the one hand I do like LEGO. I enjoy it when I get them. But then after they go on display, or go in a collection that I fear to organize, they're not much. Sometimes I look at my collection and think "this is pretty cool" but at the same time I'm not sure I'm actually getting anything significant out of LEGO besides that. It feels kind of empty. But maybe I'm being too harsh on myself, letting myself feel guilty over money too easily. I have no idea. Last time I quit Lego I slightly regretted it because I missed a lot of neat minifigures and stuff but at the same time having gotten back into it I perhaps expect TOO much. LEGO isn't the key to happiness or anything of course and lately it's just felt more wasteful. Plus it's freakin' expensive especially now that I live in the UK where everything is ridiculous prices.

I'm having a LEGO life crisis.

[joeygunns]

Then quit.

Pretty simple, not rocket science.

[TR3K]

All I can say is don't do it you will regret it, I have been in a similar situation to yours a few time and every time I wished I had kept my LEGO. you could maybe set up a brick link store and part out the sets you have no interest in and that way you can cover most of the cost of your minifigs.

[Slobey]

Hi BrickG,

Let me first of all say that I think the majority of us have been where you are at one stage or another to various degrees. Like anything in life the passion ebbs and flows.

I have gone through 2 dark ages wherein didn't even look at lego and even sold my entire collection at that point. All I can say is don't give up entirely and get rid of what you have. If you have space pack it up and put it away, who knows where you'll be in a couple of years time.....

Another recommendation if you have the stomach for it is commit to organising your collections once this short term pain is done (I myself don't mind sorting) you'll find MOCing becomes so much easier to plan and execute. Maybe this will ignite the spark again.

Bottom line is, have a break if you feel you need to but don't make any long term decisions until you've thought about it for a good long while.

My 2c worth....

[Mutant Orc]

Well if the organisation and a huge collection is a problem, why not randomly select a large chunk of it all and then donate it to a charity or a childrens hospital or something like that.

The organize what's left, keep the minfigures and some parts and either store the rest or sell it/donate it over time.

I got rid of my collection some time in the past, and although now I think ' I liked that set, its a shame I still don't have it ' I don't feel bad about it as I've successfully amassed a new collection and the old one benefited a charity.

[CptPJs]

Find a way of organising that works for you (there's discussion on this site to help you), and then just put in half an hour here and there to sort it til it's done. I'm doing that very thing and my attitude has gone from "meh, I'll build later" to "I can't wait til it's organised so I can playyy!" I started organising a few months ago but I've never done more than two hours a day so I don't get fed up.

[Dharkan]

If you have money and space I don't see the problem with still spending money on Lego. You obviously like it but sad that you don't have enough time. But surprise! Most of the AFOLs don't have much time to play with their Lego.

[Robert8]

I think you need to be more selective when buying LEGO. I mean, you should buy only the sets that really appeal you. I you feel that you wasted your money or that you don't know what to do with them after building, it's probably because you bought them just for consumerism.

My advice to you would be this: if you see a set and you like it and you want to buy it, don't do it immediately. Go home and think about it for 1 or 2 days. After so, if you still want to buy it, then do it. If you only like the minifigures you can get them through Amazon or eBay.

If this doesn't work, then don't buy LEGO for 5 or 6 months and after that think about how you feel. If you don't miss it, then don't buy more.

I hope this helps.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Robert8

[Paul B Technic]

I have had multiple "mini dark ages" where I have felt like this, do you think you would ever want to get back in to it in the future? I always seem to come back to it....

[Guest RangerDog]

Hey, just put the lego in a dark site of youre house, and dont look at it (DONT SELL IT!!) And once you have intres again you can aagin with it.

[Steph 104th]

Don't quit, just display them or use them to MOC, if you get back into Lego I guarantee you there will be retired sets you will want. There is nothing to feel guilty about, I don't display sets, I break most of them down for MOC's so maybe I don't know how it feels but my advice is keep on.

[VintageLegoEra]

If u r really a Lego fan since long time and quite, then definitely u will regret as you start thinking coming back soon.

And you will regret too when u sell them and sometime u have to buy ur set again from the one u sold too....:-).

As u said, u dont have financial issue so what harm keeping them...;-)

[Tariq j]

Don't sell your Lego. You will regret selling it.

My advice is: Buy sets that you really truly want. If want a set for minifigures, get them of Amazon or Ebay. Also, go into Lego shops and look at the sets in person rather than a picture or video.

[LEGO Guy Bri]

You can always buy, build, display, resell to free up new space. Every story I've read about people coming back into LEGO, having previously sold off their collection, have always had regrets on doing so, so I'm on the bandwagon of don't sell your collection, or at least the ones that are really important to you. I too, have had similar feelings about my LEGO collecting. It's a hallow feeling. They're just accumulating now with ambition to one day build and display, but not in a near foreseeable future. It's kind of a love/hate relationship. I love the way they look, but hate spending money on them when I could invest, or save what I would otherwise spend on them. If I were you, like others have said, I would work at cutting way back on spending and only get what really appeals to you, but unless you are absolutely sure about quitting, theres a good chance you won't

[randomwalk]

I think that many adult collectors experience similar internal conflict regarding their LEGO hobby. There are some days when I think to myself "What am I actually doing? Why do I need all of this LEGO? They are just plastic bricks!". There are many good points raised in the above comments. Here are some things I found to help give myself perspective on the state of my LEGO hobby, and to help me from becoming overwhelmed.

- Unless absolutely necessary, avoid getting rid your entire collection. There is something inside of you that is drawing you to LEGO, and that won't go away.

- Take an inventory of what you have and organize your collection! You might be even surprised to discover that you own sets that you've forgotten about. I recently took one of my vacations to go through my entire collection. All complete sets were separated into zip-lock bags, and I made a google spreadsheet to keep track of the list of sets I own. Doing this was a lot of work, but it was definitely worth it. This process will force you to be reacquainted with the sets that you bought and you will reminisce about why you bought them. If you find sets you don't like, put them into a separate box for selling.

- If you want to get rid of some sets, attach some sort of rating (e.g. 5 is the best, 1 is the worst) for each set in your list. Then decide to sell the bottom 20% or something like that.

- Regarding acquisitions, make a list of sets or minifigs you would like to acquire (limit it to a certain number - say 5 or 10). Don't buy anything that is not on this list. You can also attach ratings to each set in this "wanted" list (5 - really want, 3 - nice to have, 1 - maybe). Restrict yourself to buying "really want" sets.

- Avoid impulse buys, even if they seem to be good deals. The other day I went to pick up a set from someone selling on craigslist. It turned out that they were also selling many other sets (at excellent prices) for themes that I don't even collect. Soon enough I agreed to spend more than double of what I had originally intended. Since I didn't have enough cash on hand, I had to go to the bank. The trip to the bank made me realize that what I was doing was ridiculous, and thankfully I came to my senses and decided not to buy those extra sets (they weren't even on my wanted list). It is easy to get caught up in the moment - take a "cool off" time to think about whether you actually need to buy a certain set.

- Restrict yourself to collecting only from certain themes. Again, this will help prevent unnecessary set collecting. If you have sets from a theme you don't like, get rid of them.

[klinton]

It feels to me like you're going about it all wrong, and thus your frustration?

The key to LEGO isn't in the finished model or in the minifigs. It's the act of building.

Granted, there are some models that you're going to love and want to keep on a shelf. Even those, though, I'd suggest taking down every now and again and tearing them apart to rebuild.

If you're just checking off lists and collecting minifigs, then I can see why it must feel tedious and unsatisfying.

For sorting your parts, take it in stride. Try sorting by set, assembling all the requisite parts for each set in a ziploc, and then moving on to the next. Each complete set is a mini milestone so it doesn't feel like a giant, insurmountable task.

Just have fun with it. No hobby should feel like 'work'. If getting back to basics doesn't work for you, then pack it all away and find something else to amuse yourself with. LEGO isn't going anywhere, and you can revisit it when you feel the spark again. :D

[grum64]

I'm in a similar situation as regards buying sets and not getting time to build them.

I have around 70 (and counting) Technic/Racers/Model Team/Star Wars sets a few of which I have multiples of, and have built only about 20. Between spending time with family & friends, non-LEGO projects and the time it takes me to build a set I can safely say there's every likelihood I, or my wonderful young Grandchildren, will never get to build everyone of the sets.

I sold 4 of my sets a few years ago thinking, like you, that they've been built and now are just sitting in storage. I can tell you now that I regretted it the very moment they were gone & I've spent the intervening years replacing those sets and yes, they're now just sitting in storage but I have them and that's my point.

To me, it's better to have the sets and know they're there if and when I or my Grandchildren get time/want to build them than not have them at all.

Just my opinion.

Edited September 14, 2014 by grum64

[Borador]

... Well, I ran into a similar situation. It seems to cost more than it's worth. Have you thought of using LDD? I looked into it, but haven't gotten to trying it yet.

Don't get rid of what you have unless you have to. That point is important.

Mini figures are addicting... I find holidays in which gifts are given are a good solution. Not perfect, since you can only get so much, but you never worry about what you spent on them. And having not spent anything on those few should soften the blow a bit for what you do spend money on.

But it wouldn't hurt to take a break if it has gotten to this point. Do what you want.

[SweetiePie88]

Seems like what you need to do is to narrow down what you buy to what you really want to get and also try moc'ing a little more. As far as organizing, what type of method are you using? When i starting organizing my collection, i had a basic system like bricks, plates, minifigures, animals, etc that was easy to deal with and expanded from there.

as far as the buying goes, that sounds a lot like what i was doing last year. What i did this year was cut back on a lot of my buying, worked on organizing my parts better, and began looking at rebrickable more and next year looks like it'll be the same thing also.

[The Kumquat Alchemist]

As someone who has gone through a similar ordeal, let me say that you will likely regret a complete renunciation of LEGO, but that it might be beneficial to get rid of a large portion of your collection, to make the remnants manageable.

When I went through my dark age, I knew I would regret getting rid of everything, so I took the messiest, most unused part of my collection, and got rid of it. About a year later when I regained interest, I was able to come back to the remains of my collection, sort it, and turn it into something useable. This has also made later acquisitions more easy to handle, since I already had a storage plan set up.

In the long-term, I'm not sure how I'd recommend dealing with your minifig collection habit. The only parallel in my life is my fondness for CCBS figures, and I've focused all of that passion into re-collecting my old Toa Mata collection.

Edited September 15, 2014 by The Kumquat Alchemist

[wilson3a10]

Good bye, have a nice day

[tedbeard]

...I'm in a good place financially and running out isn't an issue but it feels like a waste.

Why does it feel like a waste? I buy, I display some, I never touch again.

[snip]

... wonder if I should help people rather than fuel a barely hobby, but that's for another day.

How about this: keep buying what you want, build it, take out the minifigs and then when you are done with the brick dump it in tubs and donate them to local schools, day care centers, homeless shelters, wherever.

Just a suggestion to enjoy what you are doing and give something to your community.

[Chills]

I agree with most of the sentiment on this thread: don't sell your sets! If you're getting overwhelmed and not having a sense of enjoyment from collecting your sets I think it's time for a break. Put everything in dark storage, find another hobby, then when the time is right there will be a trigger that will get you back into LEGO again.

[dirk]

it's time to sell. if you have to ask, then it's time for legos to go. use the money for other things, enjoy life. time to move on.

[Borador]

How about this: keep buying what you want, build it, take out the minifigs and then when you are done with the brick dump it in tubs and donate them to local schools, day care centers, homeless shelters, wherever.

Just a suggestion to enjoy what you are doing and give something to your community.

That's... An excellent idea! I second this! In fact, I may consider it myself...