I Won't Buy Pens The Rest Of This Year If I Just Purchase This Pen...

[vPro]

I guess everybody on here has thought that, many have said it and some have even sworn to keep it.

Yet, we keep searching eBay, local flea markets, asking our neighbors and think of our next pen. Our pockets don't allow us to buy more, our family members can't believe we spend so much on pens and our friends don't understand how we 'can't afford going out' but we keep flaunting our new pens.

 

I'm still only a few months into Fountain pens, but I see the same patterns forming as many on here speaks of. This month alone, I've spent about 200 on pens, ink and paper and took money from my food budget. I have a custom ground pen coming my way in a month's time, yet I could barely wait and to kill time, I ended up buying a vintage German pen from eBay. It was cheap, and I really wanted it - but I really can't afford it.

I think this hobby is simply feeding my greed and want for new, shiny things. Now that school's over, I don't use my pens as often as I do when I'm studying. But I still check eBay 569 times a day, check some national second-hand sites and check Facebook for pens.

I LOVE Fountain pens, but I really think I have to revise the way I buy and spend my money. I need to teach myself discipline and that I can't have everything my eyes lust - not even if I can afford it.

My collection has not yet exceeded 10 pens, but this post is kinda a wake up call for me.

 

Have any of you thought the same?

[SujiCorp12345]

Not really. I usually allocate money and am strict about it. If my budget was $100 a month, then if I wanted to buy a $300 pen, I'd wait 3 months. Any excess cash, I throw into a savings account to dissuade me from using it.

[gordonhooker]

Suji can you fax me some of your will-power please?

[shawndp]

Actually yes! My pen is the Pelikan 1000 in either B or BB... Ever since I have started dreaming of this pen I have pretty much stopped purchasing others... The big question is what will happen once I get my paws on it...

[Algester]

well ok there's going to be a problem with sheer wanton consumerism but eh... I found my will power because I stop believing in banks and my safe for some odd reason eats up my saved up money from time to time... I have more or less found a program for myself to balance my safe eating my money and my wanton consumerism

but so far I have acquired what I want...

F-C Ondoro in smoked oak for my bday is all thats left...

Edited June 24, 2015 by Algester

[fly_us]

first step. Stop going here. Otherwise you will fail again

2nd step. Stop using Internet, otherwise you end up in ebay and other classified pages again.

3rd step. Buy a new pen and keep asking why you fail your promise and make promise again

[Lam1]

Oh, yes. Exactly the same problem here. I'm also new to FP, and at the beginning of the year a set my pen budget at "X". Well, 5 months and 30+ pens later I've spent 16+ times that budget ... Let's just say it made a dent in my savings.

 

I also would like to have Suji's willpower.

But I'm trying to get there. My goal is no new pens until the end of the year and I just realized that I've actually already made 30 days without buying any new pens (all the while looking here, at eBay and a few other sites...). I did buy one nib though...

Like someone else suggested in this forum, we should start a "fountain pen anonymous" group!

 

Shawndp, you have to be careful with that M1000: Pelikans are known to breed very fast

Edited June 24, 2015 by Lam1

[ac12]

Don't even look at eBay or the other sites.

Half the problem is when you see something, so if you don't see it, you are not tempted.

The trick is to have the discipline to NOT browse to eBay.

Edited June 24, 2015 by ac12

[Algester]

no the simple answer tear down your credit card and close your bank account for life

or perhaps another method stop earning money find a way to break even for life without spending

Edited June 24, 2015 by Algester

[Lince]

I stopped last year around february but this year, this month, 18 months of no pens, ended big time.

A VP old facet style, a 149 and a Nakaya that will be around December.

Just three pens for this year.

Next year King of Pen!

[haruka337]

At a certain point, one realizes that this "pen-thing" is going to be a rather costly venture (progressively more expensive fountain pens, stationary, inks, oh the inks!). Once I hit the checkpoint of that cruel truth, I either had to reconcile myself with it, move away from this inky hobby, or be satisfied with lower-end models/brands and limit my ink purchases.

 

I chose to reconcile myself to my fate.

 

From time to time, I like to state aloud, for the amusement of my partner, that this or that will be the last pen-related purchase of the year. It's never true, but that's okay--I budget monthly for my fountain pens (as most of us seem to do.) and I'm tenacious about finding really good deals on pens/inks (save for one fountain pen). I make my generous budget stretch.

 

Once I purchase one more pen (Platinum 3776 Tortoise; matches my signature Ray Bans), I'm saving to blow all mah cash at next year's Pen Show in Los Angeles. WHOOOO!

Edited June 24, 2015 by haruka337

[NinthSphere]

I'm kinda there now. I look around & I have far more than I initially thought I would. I've accumulated some really nice pieces, some meh pieces, & overall, I'm satisfied. I window shop on ebay & a number of other sites, but there's not the same lust for certain pieces as there was, in part because I've learned more, in part because I already own examples of some of the things I used to lust after. It helps that my budget is shot until August.

 

For the remainder of the year, I'm looking to do a Scriptorium commission. That'll eat a not insignificant portion of my available money. Maybe I'll squeeze another pen in there, but I'm not sure what yet.

[Beethoven]

I Won't Buy Pens The Rest Of This Year If I Just Purchase This Pen...

 

[PS104]

Look at it this way. If you weren't spending the money on pens you'd go out and spend it on (as my father used to counsel me) "cigarettes, whiskey and wild, wild women"

[sidthecat]

It's legal and won't give you hepatitis - I'd call that a win-win.

[ac12]

Like an alcoholic, you have to own up to the problem and work it.

If you give in and keep buying pens, you like the alcoholic or drug addict will have a financial crisis.

[FayeV]

I Won't Buy Pens The Rest Of This Year If I Just Purchase This Pen...

Edited June 24, 2015 by FayeV

[WaskiSquirrel]

My budget saves me. So does forcing myself to wait on a pen I decide I want. After a week or month or so, that urge often subsides. If it's still there...well, as long as I'm in budget, I might as well buy it.

[fly_us]

I Won't Buy Pens The Rest Of This Year If I Just Purchase This Pen...

MD-8814_20150620174343_c8081b7b67eba262 2.jpg

Trust me, that pen won't help to to stop buying.

 

I said the same thing 2 weeks ago for the same pen. I finally gave up and bought it, and you know, i bought 3 more pens in less than a week after that.

[FayeV]

Trust me, that pen won't help to to stop buying.

 

I said the same thing 2 weeks ago for the same pen. I finally gave up and bought it, and you know, i bought 3 more pens in less than a week after that.

I'm sure you are correct. I picked up my first Pelikan M2xx back in August. It was supposed to be my "last pen" purchase for a long while. Then poof!!! They breed and I suddenly find myself with 3 more of them within a few weeks of that. Also hanging around here has been detrimental to my pocketbook. LOL

Edited June 24, 2015 by FayeV