BevHillsTrainer

New guy here with my Lego collecting “rules of engagement”

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So i have a little bit of a collecting issue.   Whatever it is I collect, and there are many things, I go waaay deep.  Too deep to be honest.   So as I begin my reconnection with Lego, I’ve decided I need some guidelines to keep me from going completely nuts.   This one is simple.  Only things with wheels.   Sounds simple enough but what this does is prohibit me from going down the Star Wars wormhole, making a city, or going crazy with mini figs.  Anybody else have any guidelines or do you all just have enough self control to regulate your collecting habits?

Of course as it stands I’ve built 9 technic and 3 creator sets in the last 3 months, so yeah…..🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤣

Edited by BevHillsTrainer

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Decide on a fixed budget, and do not go over it.

Then, everything you buy means there will be something else you cannot buy. Then, the choice becomes "A or B", which is much harder than "A or not A", because that last one is obvious (from a Lego fan's perspective).

Of course, it's easier said than fone, so, to help yourself succeed, find some (cheap!) reward you only allow yourself if you stay within budget for a given month, trimester, whatever. (Also called reward substitution.)

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Muuhaha, good luck my friend.

Sounds like a good plan only stuff with wheels on it. Like to know later if this works. Seriously though I have a monthly budget, if a set I want is over my monthly budget and many are, I actually don't buy anything until I have enough budget money saved up. Having said that though, I would not hesitate to go over budget for a very good deal, that is short lived, or unexpected.

Edited by Johnny1360

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2 hours ago, Johnny1360 said:

Sounds like a good plan only stuff with wheels on it. Like to know later if this works.

LOL it's not going to work at all because Lego is literally the world's largest manufacturer of tires every year! For 2021 at least 140 sets had wheels!

Try doing sets that don't have any pieces in medium stone grey, now that's a restriction. :grin:

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I don't (or at least try not to) get a set if my sole reason for buying it is 'just for the mifinigs'. I'm primarily here for the bricks and building experience, and especially in licensed sets many of the smaller sets drawcards are the named characters they contain, while the builds themselves are often lacklustre. Maybe I should get the sets as parts packs for mocs, but I prefer to design on Stud.io then order the parts through Bricklink. Sure it's more expensive per piece but I get just the parts I need rather than trays of unused pieces (especially as my mocs tend to stay built once they're complete).

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1. Only buy stuff that fits in my fantasy/castle world, which is loosely based on DnD/Forgotten Realms. So basically castle sets and a few Harry Potters (i.e. Hungarian Horntail). Thank god I have no interest in City/Star Wars, my bank would be calling me every day if I went down that path.

2. No duplicate sets without a very good, explicit reason (i.e. Rebrickables). Usually the only reason for a second set is for more minifigs/accessories (cheaper to go to Bricklink), or investment (not my game).

3. Recycle those boxes, zero reason to keep them once the seal is cracked.

Edited by woodford86

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On 7/26/2022 at 6:13 PM, BevHillsTrainer said:

Anybody else have any guidelines or do you all just have enough self control to regulate your collecting habits?

Probably not. I have this strong urge to have every LEGO piece in every color it was produced in my collection and I can do stupid things like buy an otherwise unattractive set just to acquire those elements. Otherwise I'm thankfully not a serious collector of sets or minifigs and lately I find that the more relaxed you approach this, the more enjoyable it is. I think after a few years I have moved beyond a certain point and the pressure of building my parts stock is no longer as high plus lately there have been way too many overpriced duds from LEGO, which also helps to stay away from some sets. As for your new year's resolutions: You likely will fail if you're really that OCD, so it would probably be smart to narrow down your subject(s) of choice even further. there's just too many "things with wheels" in the LEGO world... ;-)

Mylenium

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On 7/26/2022 at 6:13 PM, BevHillsTrainer said:

Anybody else have any guidelines or do you all just have enough self control to regulate your collecting habits?

I ran out of space = my attic under the roof. Very simple. That brings things to a grinding halt. Ms. Toastie won't allow any further occupation of living space - so: Resolved.

:pir-huzzah2:

Best,
Thorsten

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Yeah at this point “things with wheels “ has been limited to the large technic sets (1/8 and 1/10th scale) and some of the creator pieces. Or course I’ll justify the new helicopter coming august 1st because, hey, it has landing gear right?  🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤣

The issue I’m having now is I’m getting pretty caught up with “current”sets, which opens the whole chasing-retired-sets rabbit hole.  I’ll be getting the bugatti for sure, it’s still decently priced.  But the orange GT3 RS….I mean an un-opened set is 3-4x retail which is just more than I’m willing to spend.  So I have to go used, which means it’s most likely assembled.   That’s what feels weird.  If I don’t build it, have I really “earned” it?  Probably a separate topic, not sure what I’m going to do.

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Whatever you do it will be fun, that's the beauty of LEGO, one of my favorite things is there is no wrong way to "play" with it, so your experience will be different than others have.

Personally I steer away from overpriced retired sets, there's plenty more coming and more currently available than I will ever be able to afford, so that makes it a bit easier to avoid them. In fact many sets I only buy on sale, like 95%. Some sets though you have to just grab them if you see them though, lol.

Edited by Johnny1360

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On 7/26/2022 at 9:42 PM, MaximillianRebo said:

I don't (or at least try not to) get a set if my sole reason for buying it is 'just for the mifinigs'.

Lol I'm guilty of this, especially when it comes to Marvel sets. I'll buy sets just for the minifigs to throw onto the Bugle trying to justify that the parts will be useful in later mocs. I would consider myself lucky if I even ended up using 10% of those parts for mocs.

It's definitely wasteful, but Bricklink isn't exactly a good option either as I find buying minifigs separately can often cost 50% or more of the value of the set.

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I'm in the same boat and just starting to reconnect with Lego. Seeing this makes me think I probably need some RoE's too! It's not much of a 'limiter' but for now my aim/intention is to build MOC's that fulfil the following criteria:

  1. They will be built once and for display purposes
  2. They represent something from my childhood/youth when Lego was still part of my life
  3. They are a maximum of 2000 pieces (at the extreme end!)
  4. They are 'Sci-Fi' in nature
  5. They are something that, to my eye, display a true air of creativity and artistic vision

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On 7/27/2022 at 1:45 PM, Toastie said:

I ran out of space = my attic under the roof. Very simple. That brings things to a grinding halt. Ms. Toastie won't allow any further occupation of living space - so: Resolved.

:pir-huzzah2:

Best,
Thorsten

Hah! Glad it works for the Toastie family. Unfortunately my wife has a similar fabric buying habit so neither of us have a leg to stand on with the other.  It’s both good and bad!

Sticking to a strict monthly or annual budget is the only way to go for us. 
 

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