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No New Pens in 2022


brokenclay

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Happy New Year, fellow collectors/accumulators/hoarders!

 

For me, enough is enough. Acquiring pens was a stress release for me during the pandemic years, and while the pandemic (alas) continues, I plan to find some other way to deal with the stress and tension.

 

If you feel the same, please join me in celebrating not buying any more pens, but enjoying the ones we have, and perhaps getting rid of some of them. If you've already attained fountain pen nirvana, please come be a role model and share your wisdom.

 

I was about to say how many pens I acquired in 2021, how many I re-homed, and how many I still want to re-home, but then I realized that numbers are irrelevant. Got 20 pens and want to stay there? 2? 200? Good for you!

 

I have one more pen winging its way (crawling its way, maybe it had to swim across the Pacific - it was sent on December 14th) from Jakarta, but then I'm going to stop, because I've got plenty of pens I love to write with.

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I’ve got 20 pens at the moment and my intention is it stays this way in 2022. I tend to use only 5 of them frequently. So in the end I have to get rid of some I hardly use. For me a fountain pen is a writing instrument first and the aesthetics of the pen come second. So I’ll keep the best writing and ergonomically fitting ones and the rest can find a new home. 

Less is more and quality over quantity is my motto for this year. 

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Absolutely agree, I have six really nice pens in every width from EF to extra broad italic. I am not in a shopping mood anymore. Barring disaster and having to replace one, I am good to go.

 

Besides, over the years, my track record with new pens being worth keeping is somewhat less than 50%, so the chances of a new pen being any improvement over what I have is almost nil.

“ I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant”  Alan Greenspan

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2 minutes ago, ajoe said:

Besides, over the years, my track record with new pens being worth keeping is somewhat less than 50%, so the chances of a new pen being any improvement over what I have is almost nil.

Excellent point! I've found that to be true as well, which is probably why I've wound up with multiple Pelikan M200s when one would do.

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I will join you 🛡️ I got my first pen in September and did not expect to buy more. But I have 6 now with 2 still trekking across highways and international distribution centers. But that's it, plenty of variation here, very satisfied with the choices, and more than enough to last my lifetime.

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I'm in, too; the main thing keeping me from buying new pens is taking away time from the ones I already have and love.

"Nothing is new under the sun!  Even the thing of which we say, “See, this is new!” has already existed in the ages that preceded us." Ecclesiastes
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I have mentioned elsewhere that my pen resolution for this year is to end it with at least one pen fewer than I have now at the beginning of the year. That does allow for acquiring additional pens, as long as I get rid of at least one more than I acquire. 

 

One thing I have found recently is that having "Too Many Pens®" is becoming a source of stress in itself. I look at pens, think about buying them, and end up thinking "I don't need that, I don't even really want it," followed by not buying it. So getting rid of pens will provide relief from stress, especially if I can get rid of enough of them so that I once again feel like buying a pen or two now and then. 

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@Paul-in-SF I had the same goal last year as you. I was doing great until end of November, when I bought some expensive pens that I had wanted for quite some time. So this year I will need to sell some pens. Like you, I also don’t like the burden of having too many pens (anything north of 60 seems to stress me out). To help me achieve this goal, I will think of and focus on one pen that I still really want and sell enough to help acquiring it in the end. Wish me luck!

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By all means @como I wish you the best of luck. 

 

Since my previous post, I have rounded up the boxes for 20 pens worth selling individually. I have a few other vintage pens that might be sold individually without boxes, and a fair number that might do better as pen lots. All together, probably 50 pens that I had already identified that I wanted to sell. 

 

Now I have to take good photos of those 20, figure out pricing, and get them posted.

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I had the same goal for the year starting with my 50th birthday (back in August). That didn't even make it past six weeks. I have more than enough pens, but when new models come onto the scene — including two that turn out to be candidates for my ‘pen of the year’ — I just had to see for myself. It wasn't as if I really need(ed) another capless fountain pen, much less one that is a clone of the Pilot Capless Vanishing Point, when I already have more than half a dozen of the ‘original’ in different finishes, including the matt black; and some have been uninked and unused for months, and I even have a brand new 2020 LE sitting in its retail box in a drawer. Then, there was the issue of, “Hey, look, I can stack these three discount offers together, and get something for the equivalent of >40% off the normal price! The ‘catch’ is, to qualify for free international shipping which would otherwise cost quite a bit, I really have to add at least one fountain pen to the order and take up a large chunk of its total transaction value…”

 

So, I don't think I'm going to fool myself into think that's a realistic goal for me in 2022. However, I shall watch the pledgers in this thread with interest. :)

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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I have several resolutions planned for 2022 but gladly this is not one of them!

PAKMAN

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2 minutes ago, PAKMAN said:

I have several resolutions planned for 2022 but gladly this is not one of them!

+1

 

My pledge to myself is to "keep it reasonable". I get pleasure from the looking and planning, as well as the using, and there's already one new one planned. :happycloud9:

Will work for pens... :unsure:

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4 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

I have mentioned elsewhere that my pen resolution for this year is to end it with at least one pen fewer than I have now at the beginning of the year.

 

2 hours ago, como said:

@Paul-in-SF I had the same goal last year as you....  Wish me luck!

 

Best of luck, @Paul-in-SF and @como, an admirable goal.

 

27 minutes ago, SpecTP said:

I admire your declaration.. I hope your discipline holds up.

 

I'm hoping publicly shaming myself will be a deterrent to acquisition :-).

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I have reached a stage in my collecting habit where I have all the pens that I really want, so that I could make it a resolution to buy no more for 2022.  However, I think that I'm an N+1 person when it comes to pens.  There will be something to tempt me in 2022. 

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Not buying pens isn't one of my official resolutions, but part of my resolution to save more money this year.

 

In addition I am moving to Europe for a year and I plan on only taking max 5 pens with me (have not entirely decided which yet) and one bottle of ink for each. I am hoping that might encourage me to let go of a few more on my return.

 

I won't absolutely vow not to buy any new pens, because I couldn't pass up some of the amazing flea market finds I've seen others make in Germany...

 

The biggest stress producer for me is having unrepaired vintage pens lying around, so I may have to send a batch off to get repairs (that I cannot do myself) before I leave. 

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I already screwed that up unintentionally on the first day of 2022 by picking up 3 pens from an antique mall... 

 

My ultimate goal is to scale down to 6~12 , but I'm not doing myself any favors with impulse buys when finding something 'so cheap' for what they are (doesn't help I can restore them too). 

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10 hours ago, como said:

@Paul-in-SF I had the same goal last year as you. I was doing great until end of November, when I bought some expensive pens that I had wanted for quite some time. So this year I will need to sell some pens. Like you, I also don’t like the burden of having too many pens (anything north of 60 seems to stress me out). To help me achieve this goal, I will think of and focus on one pen that I still really want and sell enough to help acquiring it in the end. Wish me luck!


Ha! I only made it to August. Well done.
 

9 hours ago, SpecTP said:

I admire your declaration.. I hope your discipline holds up.


I do too. Declaration is a powerful tool.
If it doesn't hold up though, don't worry, you're in good company. 😇

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59 minutes ago, Tas said:


Ha! I only made it to August. Well done.
... 😇

@Tas Haha, thank you. I did buy lots of pens, but I also sold as many until November. Well it was almost Christmas and I got weak 😀.

37 minutes ago, lionelc said:

might have to give up fpn too - lots of enablers around here.

@lionelc No no, you can use FPN as a mental training ground. What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger 😀. In case it does, you’ll be in pen heaven anyway 😜.

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