I have a theory that in the possession of most modellers of a reasonable age is a collection of 'stuff' that amounts to a value of at least £2,000. I will often mention this in passing and get an incredulous negative response only to get an update a short time later. This update usually not only now agrees with my theory, but often increases the cash amount considerably.
Running partially alongside this is the current hip movement of 'decluttering'. I'm not for one minute suggesting that we as modellers should follow any fashionable lifestyle trends (there are those who would say we have no life or style) but it is worth pondering on how much of this accumulated stuff we will actually use in a remaining lifetime. This is possibly worse for those of us who are scale tarts as we have to duplicate things, i.e. I have at least three separate boxes of wheelsets from 9mm gauge upward.
The pile of stuff above is just one cupboard which is currently being sorted; there are two more drawer units. I'm certainly not alone in this and some people are much, much worse, but there comes a time when you have to stand back and ask, 'am I really going to have time to build all the layouts that all these things will make? Is it time to sort out these shoe boxes and marge tubs and be sensible and realistic about what to keep and what to pass on or throw away?
I look at this stuff as potential projects. And my dreams. Realistically, I'll never build all the models I want, but I hang on to the dream of doing so. To give them all leads to a fashionable life of a giant telly which you shout at while drinking cheap lager - or as the lifestyle books would have us do, sitting looking at magnolia painted walls with smug satisfaction and an empty soul.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm...I'm currently doing a similar exercise as after over seven years together I am finally moving in with Sue at the end of March.
ReplyDeleteScale tart? Yeah, guilty of that...wheels from 6.5 to 18mm gauge and prospective projects from H0 US shortlines to British light railway in N-6.5 and everything in between...and that's without the various layouts I've already built.
Always unable to resist a bargain, I have also accumulated a stash of very diverse plastic kits in various scales; Sue's listing them on eBay for me and the first one (Airfix beam engine) is about to end...the suspense!
£2000? I know that if I want to raise some cash I can usually take some unwanted stuff to the Society Sales stand...raised over £500 very quickly just over a year ago for a new radio with hardly a dent in the collection, and that was just 009!
I'll probably start chipping away at the book collection soon, too....