Resist! How Do You Hold Off The Next Purchase?

[Bigeddie]

We've all been there, last month you got a new pen and you are very happy with it. This month you are looking endlessly at pictures and reviews of a different pen. At the back of your mind you know that you have more pens than you know what to do with, no more than a quater of which are filled at any time.

 

The object of my current desires is a Visconti Homo Sapiens - Bronze with a fine nib. I have done the FPN review search, Flickr and google images, I even know where I would buy it from... is it inevitable?

 

Have you been successful in averting, or significantly delaying, the next in a long line of purchases? If so, what have you done to push it back?

 

[Namru]

I get a mini statement from a cash machine. Soon sobers me up.

[ISW_Kaputnik]

A naturally occurring loss of interest seems to help. I haven't even thought of buying another currently manufactured pen in quite a while.

 

As for vintage pens, which are tempting, looking around at all the ones I already have, thinking about how few it's practical to keep inked at one time, and about how long it takes to rotate through all my favorites...well, it at least slows me down.

 

Of course, I just bought about a dozen vintage dip pen nibs and some cheap holders, so the addiction may simply be breaking out in other ways.

[redbike]

My collection of mostly vintage pens is now at 25. I never thought I'd have that many. My wife, son and friends think I'm nuts (though they admit that some of the pens look cool and write nicely). I realize that there will always be many more pens that look cool and write nicely. I can't have them all, so best to ease off on purchases, or at least be a lot more discriminating in what I do purchase.

[hari317]

I am of the view that if you are significantly interested in a pen and have the money in hand, why delay, just go for it. No point in delaying.

[georges zaslavsky]

I am of the view that if you are significantly interested in a pen and have the money in hand, why delay, just go for it. No point in delaying.

some there are others unexpected priorities in life before pens

Edited May 16, 2013 by georges zaslavsky

[hari317]

some there are others unexpected priorities in life before pens

when i say "money in hand", it means "money in hand to buy a pen", which comes after you have served your higher priorities. it is common sense.

[pajaro]

I think of how tedious it is to be constantly uncapping and capping a fountain pen. I think of how the screw-off/on caps are particularly tiresome to be uncapping/capping. I think of the fact that no matter what pens I buy, the few I like best will still be used exclusively anyway.

 

My collecting of stuff goes in cycles. For a while I will add to my stamp collection. For a while I will do something with pens, orchids, set up a fish tank, whatever, I am fairly losing interest in the pens now and will probably just use two or three for a few years. If I live that long. And so the glut of pens calls for a sell-off, which I don't have the interest to care about. The pens go from being items of interest to being one more group of junktiques cluttering the house.

 

Thinking now of building a new electric train layout.

[JustWrite Pen Company]

As a pen dealer I am constantly tempted to add a new pen to my personal collection. Every time I get a new range in or a new model I always look at them very carefully... and I feel the temptation. When I'm packing orders I tend to 'rediscover' pens that previously didn't really catch my eye. I'm constantly looking for new pens from all around the world for JustWrite and I often see a pen that I really like but am unable to stock for any number of reasons - but I am still tempted to buy it for myself, and often do.

 

So to help prevent my pen collection from becoming larger than my store inventory I've developed a system I call "Pending". There is one simple rule. I write down the details of the pen and the date I spotted it in a notebook called "Pending" and I cannot buy it until it has been in the Pending book for at least 14 days. Sometimes I buy the pen on the 15th day, sometimes the pen might remain "pending" for years, and sometimes it gets a line drawn through it because it no longer appeals to me.

[Paddler]

I have learned nearly all I need to know about fountain pens. Repair, restoration, and maintenance no longer interest me. New pens no longer feed the bulldog. I am using my pens to write. I am thinking of selecting my top 20 favorites and dumping the other 65 over the side.

 

[Snargle]

I have learned nearly all I need to know about fountain pens. Repair, restoration, and maintenance no longer interest me. New pens no longer feed the bulldog. I am using my pens to write. I am thinking of selecting my top 20 favorites and dumping the other 65 over the side.

 

If you do dump them, I hope some of us can be down in the water with nets!

[NewFPU]

My hobby has simply turned to another venue(for now). Watches & ink till September.

 

 

Myste

[jordanjay29]

I have learned nearly all I need to know about fountain pens. Repair, restoration, and maintenance no longer interest me. New pens no longer feed the bulldog. I am using my pens to write. I am thinking of selecting my top 20 favorites and dumping the other 65 over the side.

 

Selling or PIF? Don't be afraid to infect some new person with the FP bug.

[Raths]

When I'm really tempted to rush out and buy something, I just ask my wife and she tells me no...

[Gloucesterman]

A number of strategies work for me.

 

• If there is a pen show coming up that I will be attending, I use that to postpone a purchase.
• Remininding myself that a better pen, one that i want more, may be available soon and I can't have both.
• Choosing one pen to sell off and then use that money, or part of it, for the new purchase.
• Looking at my bank balance when coupled with one of the above usually helps me delay gratification.

 

As I mentioned in another thread, sometimes it's not even the pen that I want, but rather

getting something new in the mail, at a show or rarely at a store. I'll bet that for mny people, getting something new, that we like, generates those biochemical reactions that Feel Really GOOD!

Edited May 16, 2013 by brgmarketing

[Joker4Eva]

I look in my wallet, close it, and go to a quiet corner and sob.

[Third Gen]

Get Married!

 

It would probably be cheaper than pen buying in the long run.

[Blazing]

I am of the view that if you are significantly interested in a pen and have the money in hand, why delay, just go for it. No point in delaying.

Agreed.

[mAnuscript69]

I usually just wait a little. If I am still interested after a few weeks then I know I really like the pen. I find that not reading/talking about it constantly helps reduce the want factor.

 

These days it's rather simple for me: discover nice pen, lust over it, check bank account, refer to budget, crush all hopes of acquiring it anytime soon

[nxn96]

I think how one approaches this question depends on a number of factors other than budget (not that I'm minimizing the importance of being able to afford what one purchases).

 

For example, I'm interested in pens no longer in production; some vintage, some simply no longer being produced. That's a different situation from wanting a pen that's still being made. In the former case, when you see one come on the market, you have to make a decision as to "buy now" or let it pass and hope another opportunity comes along at a later point. In the latter case, unless it's an opportunity to buy substantially below market, it's not as if the pen goes away if you decide to wait.

 

Where you are in your pen journey is also important. Earlier on, when I would read about different pens and get interested in seeing one "in the flesh", it was harder not to buy. Over time, as a number of those "gaps" got filled in, the urge to buy started to wane.

 

Sort of related to the prior thought, after each "whittling down" exercise whereby I sold, traded or gave away previously acquired pens that no longer seemed "needed", I found I became a bit more "fussy" about potential new acquisitions.

 

Hope this helps