I hade somewhat of a dark age (again) between 2007 and 2010, due to other stuff going on in life and not so much money to spend. But I was fortunate enough to make a trade that IMO was great. I traded my Santa Fee (10020) and two wagons for a GG and CC. Mine were built once and displayed. The ones I got for trade were pretty much the same, although the CC wasn't complete. On the other hand, the CC had some duplicate parts from another CC. All sets had boxes and mint instructions.
The only modular I bricklinked from scratch was 10190, Market Street. I built it with regular blue instead of dark blue, and I'm happy with the result.
As a female AFOL, it might interest you that my fiancée is not that interested in my Lego collection. I have most of the modular buildings on display at home, and he likes those. I've also bought him the Simpson house in august.. and he hasn't built it yet :) But he doesn't mind me buying Lego, and that all the closet space in our spare room is dedicated to my 800 sets.
At the moment I have all the available modulars except the PR, but that one is high on my purchase list!