[ADVICE SOUGHT] How Do You Downsize? Marie Kondo Your Collections?
 

Hey everyone,

So a while ago there was a show on Netflix you may have heard of called Tidying Up With Marie Kondo. This woman is a Japanese guru at helping people declutter their homes but the show never really went in-depth into anyone with a collection of objects. Basically the idea is if an object does not "spark joy" it's time to get rid of it.

I ended up purchasing her book to see if it went over her process in more detail but it again glosses over what to do with collections. The only elaboration (and this is step 3 of her method, 1 is clothing, 2 is book) is:

1. CDs, DVDs
2. Skin care products
3. Makeup
4. Accessories
5. Valuables (passports, credit cards, etc.)
6. Electrical equipment and appliances (digital cameras, electric cords, anything that seems vaguely "electric")
7. Household equipment (stationary and writing materials, sewing kits, etc.)
8. Household supplies (expendables like medicine, detergents, tissues, etc.)
9. Kitchen goods/food supplies (spatulas, pots, blenders, etc.)
10. Other (spare change, figurines, etc.)

So my problem is this, I have like many of you a CHUG line of 1984-1989 spanning the toylines since Classics to Kingdom but I rarely ever let a toy out of my collection once acquired but I know I must this time. How do you determine what goes or stays? I'm trying to downsize my collection but for the last 48 hours I've just stared at my cabinet and it's such a daunting task that I haven't made any progress. Any advice/help from those who have been collecting longer than me would be really appreciated.

Thanks everyone!!

P.S. I used to laugh at the jokes about the spouses divorcing or getting angry over purchases but in my case, I think the HasLab Unicron is what broke the camel's back.

Re: [ADVICE SOUGHT] How Do You Downsize? Marie Kondo Your Collections?
 

Separating is tough especially when you've had so much history and good memories together.

First, I'd look for a good lawyer who can help arbitrate with divvying up your assets and deciding on custody of your children and visitation rights.

And then... Oh, wait, you're looking to slim down your collection?

Haha! I'd just get rid of the Marie Kondo book. That thing seems like a useless waste of space on your bookshelf. :rofl:

Re: [ADVICE SOUGHT] How Do You Downsize? Marie Kondo Your Collections?
 

You're going to have to inventory/list all the transformers you own, the condition of them/packaging if applicable.

Then decide how much you really want to keep each item. Most collectors don't keep every TF they've ever bought. It's constantly a buy and sell situation.

Your interest in certain transformers change, or you'll have to be more picky about what transformers series you buy.

Or if you keep buying mostly everything (Hasbro, 3A, third parties), you're just going to end up living in a warehouse/TF display museum, or you're going to have to rent a storage locker, which can become quite costly.

I think a difficult factor is packaging, it takes up so much space, especially worse if you display your TF and shove the box somewhere else.

If you're asking for advice, you should probably ask from those who have a similar housing situation as you. If you've got thought space in an urban condo, anyone who has a generous detached suburban house with tell you you can keep everything, which is definitely not realistic.

I myself have been listing TFs at my own home and at my parents home, realizing that I don't really have an interest in certain older toy lines, and I never even opened any of them yet. So it's gonna go, no point in my keeping them.

I've also decided to stick to official Hasbro products only now, I can't afford Hasbro and expensive 3rd party transformers.

Your partner should be understanding of your hobby, but not when it becomes an issue with interrupting your daily way of life or housing space. Something's gotta give.

I recall one member here has a rule that his collection can only fit in his Ikea glass detolf, as he lives in a tiny condo with his family. That's a difficult rule any collector would have to follow.

Good luck on your downsizing.

Re: [ADVICE SOUGHT] How Do You Downsize? Marie Kondo Your Collections?
 

I’m in the middle of downsizing too. I’m separating things into categories. Keeper. Goner. Maybe. A lot of my goner pile right now is doubles. Those are the easy choices. Next is stuff that I look at and know if it disappeared from the collection I wouldn’t notice or care.

Also at the same time I’m pulling everything off a bunch of the shelves and tossing them in rubber totes. Seeing and feeling the toy clutter go away a little feels good and motivates me to make the hard choices. I’m going to put the displays back up in a bit. And what sticks out as extraneous gets put in the goner pile.

I already kind of know character/mould doubles are probably going to be part of that as well as oversized figures that don’t scale with anything. I don’t need 4-5 movie Optimus Primes. Maybe two will do. I don’t need Cybertron Roadbuster. I have the Generations one. That giant Bumblebee, it’s cool but it doesn’t scale with anything. It’s probably gone.

Re: [ADVICE SOUGHT] How Do You Downsize? Marie Kondo Your Collections?
 

I was like you and had a CHUG line from classics to whatever at the time. Maybe the prime wars trilogy. Anyway I realized for myself I didn’t need multiple versions of the same characters so I tried to whittle it down to one version of each character that I liked the best. Usually in terms of scaling amongst the others and playability. So the leader class trio of seekers were an easy sell for example. And go from there.

I’ve also downsized based on shelf space. As CHUG became ongoing instead of random, I sold my unicron trilogy completely other than unicron and primus. Great toys but something had to go. And G1 is my fav era so…

So space and purpose and playability were my main drivers.

Re: [ADVICE SOUGHT] How Do You Downsize? Marie Kondo Your Collections?
 

Just throw it all under the stairs

http://www.cybertron.ca/boards/attac...1&d=1640672316

Re: [ADVICE SOUGHT] How Do You Downsize? Marie Kondo Your Collections?
 

You are starting on the path to Minimalism... or as I like to call it "Enoughness". Mari Kondo is frustrating to me because she doesn't deal with the issues of enough. She leaves people hanging on the doorstep of Minimalism without any true tools. Think about it... from childhood we are taught to buy stuff to find happiness. Yet stuff clearly does not provide that. But what are we supposed to do? We have no other narratives in our mind. Your struggle with what to do with your collection is very real and hard and valid. I recommend another Japanese author. Fumio Sasaki has picked up where Mari kondo leaves off
His book "Goodbye Things the new Japanese Minimalism " is fantastic and will help you. You are on the cusp of a new Era in your life. I wish you much success as you traverse this interesting freeing path.

Re: [ADVICE SOUGHT] How Do You Downsize? Marie Kondo Your Collections?
 

This has been an age long question... ive been downsizing for 10 years now and i have more than what i started with o_O

Re: [ADVICE SOUGHT] How Do You Downsize? Marie Kondo Your Collections?
 

The easiest way I downsized my collection (it's been awhile since a massive downsize) was these two ways:

1. Selling an entire lineup of figures I decided I was not as interested in (in my case, I sold my Beast Machines first, because they are Beast Machines... Then Unicron trilogy figures as my CHUG figures were taking up more space and I was more fond of G1/CHUG). Later, I downsized my 2001 RID to just one version of each character in the TV show (I sold the toy-original versions like the Cerberus bruticus) and recently I sold all my Beast Wars except for the show appearance characters, and eventually they too shall go, I suspect, as I'm enjoying Kingdom for the season one characters (which appear will be completed in Legacy) although I really like Transmetals/Fuzors/etc from later seasons.

2. Sell duplicates of the same character. This path may be most useful to you, as you sound like how I used to be. I used to buy every new CHUG type release and never sold any, which ended up meaning I had a lot of duplicate Primes and Megatrons and others. I ultimately trimmed to one of each character that I felt was definitive for me. Prime is a funky one because I still have Earthrise Op, Galaxy Commander Armor Seige Op, Ginrai as Powermaster Op, Star Convoy, and Legacy Laser Prime. Prime and Megs tend to be full of exceptions compared to say Starscream or Prowl, as they have alternate body forms that tend to have significance to me. As opposed to simply comparing Universe Prowl, Siege Prowl and Earthrise Prowl - they are all basically the same car done different ways. So I only need one.

I think #2 is probably your best and easiest way to downsize, IMHO, if you really have a "collect 'em all" CHUG collection, you definitely have the same character in different forms.

Re: [ADVICE SOUGHT] How Do You Downsize? Marie Kondo Your Collections?
 

I've been sitting around with this question for some time now. I've recently went through cataloging all the items and there are a lot that I haven't even opened, or touched in 5+ years. What's the best options to sell these?

To be honest, I'm not sure that's the best way to offload them - if I should BST them here, or if I should go through ebay/kijiji or Craig's list. I like the idea of getting the most for the figures, but I'm hesitant on the potential headaches; and I know, there'll be trade offs for either case.