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I'm sure that some of you (or at least your wives / GFs) are familiar with Marie Kondo, the tiny Japanese woman who gets people to "declutter" their lives. The basic concept is that you go through an entire set of stuff (e.g. clothes, books, kitchen) at once, and decide what to keep (because the item will "spark joy" when you handle it), or not (because it doesn't). If you have a *LOT* of stuff (to the point that the excess has become something of an unruly mess), you rip the band-aid off and go through *ALL* of it in one fell swoop, and then you can be happy with whatever stuff you end up keeping.

So...

In my case, I'm starting to do that with quite a few of my armies (i.e. 40k Imperial Guard, Inquisition & Sisters of Battle; Necromunda Escher & Spryers; WFB Dogs of War & Empire). Over the past several years, I've been paring down my backlog, in no small part by getting rid of the large piles of 40k stuff that I don't need. This started by clearing out the things in shrink wrap, selling and trading as much as I could, only buying things out of the profits from what I'd sold. Also by shifting to better-contained miniatures skirmish games and self-contained miniatures boardgames instead of open-ended minatures tabletop wargames. But the best part was selling things and getting my money back.

More recently, in the past year or so, I've been enjoying getting the "good" stuff built, like my Kingdom Death : Monster minis, my 40k Imperials, my WFB Dogs of War. It's been enjoyable getting things playable, and I'd been getting quite a bit of satisfaction seeing the unbuilt pile shrink down as models were built, and it's lovely to see some of the things, Kingdom Death, especially.

Unfortunately, I'd reached something of a standstill with what I was building, and how I might store it. I'm really big on having my minis boxed for storage and transport, and I find a storage "home" for each thing I built. I was starting to reach a point where I would have to buy even more storage in order to keep building. I have a LOT of this stuff, with a bunch of Kingdom Death on preorder; however, as that would be a problem for Future Me to resolve, I didn't really concern myself with it too much.

In the past few weeks, I'd watched the show, and started thinking about what I really want out of my hobby, whether I should really saddle Future Me with that much stuff to do. I came to the realization that paring things down was the correct step forward, and so I started going through my armies, and reached some tentative decisions over what might "spark joy" and what did not.

So now, I'm going to be unloading even more stuff, getting my armies into an even more manageable state of what I really want.

Anyone else doing that?

Constantly. It's what keeps me constantly having money to enjoy on hobby stuff.

My wife's got most of Kondo's books in Japanese and a few in English, and we've tried to use her ideas and systems for a lot of tidying up around the house, despite the kids ever bothering to pick up after themselves.

I'm still trying to dial it back SIGNIFICANTLY. We have space for the stuff, but I'm getting tired of packing and shipping boxes constantly to clear stuff out. Plus after ebay, Paypal, and the IRS all take their cut... there's not a whole lot left for me to play with!

So now I'm trying to cut back on selling stuff off as well.

I too am trying to get rid of mass battle stuff and stick to either figures I really like or self- contained games. Although the games have gotten to be a problem too...

I'm trying to limit myself to Kingdom Death and Shadows of Brimstone these days. Between those two games there's more than enough hobby materials to keep me busy for a LONG time.

I've been getting rid of a lot of stuff I don't need for sure. I've never read anything about Ms. Kondo but had the same general idea a while back. Been trimming everything down by just keeping all my chaos stuff. I get the most joy out of converting and painting to make them truly "mine," and those are the ones I keep.

In the past few months I've probably sold 3 boxed games, multiple random sprues for every army imaginable. Certainly helps make all the other piles I have left seem much more manageable!

@highlord tamburlaine - it's cool that you got in on tidy early. For me, the selling isn't as much about the profit/loss, but the way it closes out: I had a thing I didn't want, and now someone else has a thing that they want *and* I have my money back,
____

@MegaDave - she has a show on Netflix which has been blowing up lately. In theory, it's not so much about getting rid of stuff per se, although it's a big part of the process. I see it as better aligning have vs want/need.

The wife watched it once and thought it was a good idea but has not caught the bug yet. I imagine she will catch it sometime though.

My problem is that most of my minis give me a spark of joy when I touch them, but I can think of a few that I could probably get rid of and use the newly freed up space to bring me joy instead.

I don't think her philosophy suits me personally. There's a whole heap of stuff that I regret having gotten rid of so much that it almost hurts whenever I recall it. I'm not sure that my feelings towards my possessions can be resolved to some binary joy/no joy value. For me, stuff tends to exist somewhere on a joy scale.

i did basicly the same for my unpainted heap of minis or "armies" that never got more then 2-3 units on the way.
im easy to distract, and have 0 patience for painting the same pattern on more then max 3 models at the same time. when i have reached that point i have to take a looong brake from the unit, cuz i will vomit if i paint a 4th model.

so i took some drastic moves, starting with from now on, never do an army that consists of more then max 12 models to get to 500 point when 2000p is the standard, and put primary fokus on skirmish games.
allso if possible, find games that sells prepainted minis. wile that stuff is far below what i can do myself, it is faster to improve a prepaint job then to paint from zero.

my unpainted heap of minis?
straight in to the trash bin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
dident matter if it was half painted or the shrink wrap was on.
this was my personal punishment for letting it all come out of control and for not stopping in time. lots of mony in the trash but in the end atleast when it came to my hobby, a big weight was removed.
had i waited in order to sell it all, i might have gotten a 2nd opinion/doubts and running the risk of not beeing able to get rid of it.
and there was something refreshing about this prossess. by the end of it, i was more happy then by the time i started it.

so what do i work on now?
adeptus titanicus. 3-5 models is 1 army. i have 3, so 2 to go.
starting a 500p stormcast for AoS, should be about 10-12 models where skirmish will be my primary goal now that new rules are out.
starting custodes for 40k. 500p is around 6-9 models all depending on what i choose to do. not doing KT cuz they dont support elites. should they ever, i will get a 3 man termi unit for KT.
warmahordes: 30 points of kador. that should be around 3 or 4 jacks, 3 man-o-wars, 3 mechanics and 1 caster.
tanks, the skirmish version of flames of war. 4 tanks is around 100p.

prepainted minis:
wings/sails of glory, SW armada.
possibly Dust if i can find more of their prepainted stuff. while Dust have recived some big neg hits to its rep in the past 3 years, the game itself aint bad imo.

 FrozenDwarf wrote:
i did basicly the same for my unpainted heap of minis or "armies" that never got more then 2-3 units on the way.

my unpainted heap of minis?
straight in to the trash bin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hardcore!

Me, I'm way too cheap for that.

But I get it.

Nope. If anything, the opposite.

I don't NEED ANY figures. It's a hobby. I could get rid of 95% of my figures and still have enough to play for the rest of my life.

However, I bought the models because I wanted them, and I enjoy having them.

I have figures I bought 20+ years ago that I still use. I have a mountain of grey (and now blue green and brown too). Later today I will build the reivers that came with Warhammer conquest last week. I didn't need them, and still don't. But I shall have fun building them and converting them so that none of my reivers are identical. I'll be painting for years to paint everything - but - I LIKE it.

Ms Kondo has a point - tidier makes things easier. Less can be more. But I've spent a load of time and money building my collection and I like big armies - and I plan to keep them.

I've been doing it in fairly major waves as I've needed the space. Hobby room became a hobby cupboard became the back of the garage.

The plan was to only keep 1 faction for a big battle games and 2 for small skirmish games, whilst only keeping 4 games (because I'll never be able to keep up with anything else). So I'm down to Malifaux (Gremlins), X-Wing (Rebels), Flames Of War (US) and Bolt Action (Soviets), plus a few minis I just wanted to paint or things that are rare. If I can buy them on ebay later for a few bucks, do I really need to keep them on a shelf in the garage unused?

Anything for a game I wasn't committing to, or was never going to get round to, or I'd forgotten about but not that excited about, has gone ever sold on or donated (there are a few school projects here for gaming).

Ditto for boardgames - will I every actually play it? No - gone.
That's made a lot easier by having kids - realistically if it takes more than an hour to set up / play / put away, then it's not going to see the table. If it's a huge box it's unlikely, so I've got rid of things like Super Dungeon Explore (which I loved) and kept things like Munchkin.

I regret selling some of it, but it's all easy enough to replace.

I did something similar, but it was before I ran out of space.

I used to have 1000pts of Armageddon Steel Legion that was fun to play, but I realised that it consumed an entire large GW carry case (old style) to transport, and I quickly realised that I physically didn't have the space to keep adding to it.

So I traded it for lots of terrain, which ironically takes up far less space!

 Ginjitzu wrote:
I don't think her philosophy suits me personally. There's a whole heap of stuff that I regret having gotten rid of so much that it almost hurts whenever I recall it. I'm not sure that my feelings towards my possessions can be resolved to some binary joy/no joy value. For me, stuff tends to exist somewhere on a joy scale.

This. The entire premise of her fad "philosophy" is a nonsense, and I'd say it's double-triple-extra nonsense when applied to a creative hobby where the "stuff" is literally the medium you work in.

In general terms, lets begin with the fact her ideas are grotesque in an age of such gratuitous waste - where do people think all those black bags of stuff they throw out go? Only a fraction of what you donate to a charity shop actually goes on sale, most gets dumped, and only a fraction of what you send to a recycling centre gets recycled, most gets dumped. So all that "decluttering" of "useless" stuff ends up in a landfil somewhere. Unless you're some kind of disturbed hoarder or clinical shopaholic - in which case you need psychological help, not a reality show "guru" - the vast majority of this stuff that's getting chucked could be put to other uses, uses that would mean you didn't have to buy some new object to be thrown away in future. Then there's the ludicrous idea that if an object doesn't "spark joy" once a week when you pick it up or whatever the daft standard she advocates is, it should be cast aside - whut? People's relationships with possessions are far more complex than that kind of simplistic, momentary binary. I own plenty of objects that bring me no "joy" at all, but they're tangible reminders of events I shared with people who're gone now; I own objects that I can look at one day and be annoyed by, or forget for weeks or months at a time, and then look at again and find all kinds of useful or pleasurable emotional experiences in it.

In hobby terms specifically, it's just plain dumb IMO. I still regret leaving my collection of 2nd Ed 40K books behind at home back when I first moved out for college that got "decluttered" by my mum. I hate that I don't have the first models I painted, or the first army I collected, just so I could take them out from time to time to remind myself how far I've progressed. You might have an army or a game system in storage for years without opportunity to play it, and what happens when that opportunity arises if you've sold off/thrown out all the relevant stuff? Not to mention bitz, christ how paltry my bitzbox would be if I got rid of everything that didn't present some immediate level of emotional attachment or usefulness at some arbitrary point in time, and how many cool models I wouldn't have been able to make.

TLDR - just because it's on Netflix with flashy production values doesn't mean it's anything other than a faddy daytime TV show, there is no inherent value in lacking "clutter".

 Yodhrin wrote:

 Ginjitzu wrote:
I don't think her philosophy suits me personally. There's a whole heap of stuff that I regret having gotten rid of so much that it almost hurts whenever I recall it. I'm not sure that my feelings towards my possessions can be resolved to some binary joy/no joy value. For me, stuff tends to exist somewhere on a joy scale.

In general terms, lets begin with the fact her ideas are grotesque in an age of such gratuitous waste

No, the truly grotesque thing is unbounded accumulation of material things without end or purpose - in a word, hoarding. That is the fundamental idea, and the rest is simply tactics to align haves with wants/needs, and then ways to best manage what you keep.

For hobby things in particular, eBay demonstrates pretty clearly that there is a mature secondhand market, so there is no real need for it to go into a landfill unless you specifically *want* it to go into a landfill. I have netted $100s annually from the sale of unneeded toy and hobby goods. Even if I hadn't, not having to spend an iota of additional mental or physical energy on those things is pretty good.

That said, as she herself notes, if you are passionate about something, then it's OK to keep it.

But to say that it's a "fad" is the real nonsense.

When it comes to ones relationship with items there are variations on situations and personal viewpoints. Therefore one single viewpoint and approach will not fit all people. A good hoarding manager/organiser realises this and would adjust their approach to different situations.

What works for one doesn't work for another. Furthermore a basic theory can work at multiple levels.

For example saying that an item has to result in an emotional connection to it is one angle and its actually quite a tame angle. See joy of owning something might mean that you're really excited to use or own it now; or it might mean that you know its potential and are ready for it when you need it.

I think the key of this approach is to identify things within what you own where you go. "Oh You know I really don't need this at all. I don't enjoy owning it, nor the potential of owning it. I see no use for this thing in my life any more."

It's a casual approach for those who are overcluttered with stuff (or those who wish to avoid it) but who are not into the extremes of a hoarding condition. So I can see why this approach works for a lot of casual people. It's basically just getting people to sit down and sort through their own stuff.



That said I do agree just dumping stuff in the bin is not what I'd do - whilst it can take time I'd rather sell it through market auctions, charity shops, forums, facebook and such - ergo trade it away don't throw it away.

I will share that going through an entire army or game or whatever at once is indeed the way to get best results for that category. Setting everything in front of you and physically touching each one makes it a lot easier to assess whether or not to keep it.

I really can't fault her method.

I'd like to, but the act of selling the stuff is what puts me off; I'm just too lazy to want to bother with Ebay or whatnot.

(on which note, anyone want a Flames of War army? )

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
I'd like to, but the act of selling the stuff is what puts me off; I'm just too lazy to want to bother with Ebay or whatnot.

(on which note, anyone want a Flames of War army? )

If you want a faster sale, box it up so that its neat and take it down to a local auction rooms. They will vary a lot on what you will get and you might not get as much as going on ebay, but you can generally sell stuff pretty fast there. It's a good way to get rid of boxes of stuff and general items that you don't want to list on ebay or go through private trades.

In general with selling second hand you can sell fast and low or slow and high. It really depends how much value you want to get from something as well as how much time you want to put into it.

My wife has recently started watching Marie Kondo and has begun implementing her techniques.
If however she tries to Kondo my man cave divorce is on the cards.

I just think a bit part of her technique is actually making people realise what they own. I think many put stuff into boxes and storage and corners and shelving and forget what they do and don't own. A "Theory that works" can be all the trigger for someone just sitting down and going through their own junk.

Plus being winter and being cold and wet and dark outside is an ideal time to get those "Bored indoors" times when sorting out junk starts to become a more attractive idea.


*edit* Ok so I went and youtubed a tiny bit of it and I can see why it works. It's basically all about making cleaning up a low stress event and making it one where you identify and sort through things, but also aim to remove the stress element of "having" to throw things out or having to have a negative connection with things you throw out. To be honestly its basically how I'd approach sorting out in an ideal situation. However I know that other people often build it up to a stress point and then tend to just throw out anything they can grab without really thinking about it. They don't take time they grab and throw.

So yeah I can see why many people would respond well to it - it basically doing it the fun way. Seems odd to me only because its how I'd naturally approach sorting out and going through things and making choices.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
I'd like to, but the act of selling the stuff is what puts me off; I'm just too lazy to want to bother with Ebay or whatnot.

(on which note, anyone want a Flames of War army? )

Well, funny enough, I am the exact same way. I even have a whole bunch of FoW stuff I don't want too,

 Ginjitzu wrote:
I don't think her philosophy suits me personally. There's a whole heap of stuff that I regret having gotten rid of so much that it almost hurts whenever I recall it. I'm not sure that my feelings towards my possessions can be resolved to some binary joy/no joy value. For me, stuff tends to exist somewhere on a joy scale.

I tend to feel the same way, bitter regret over giving up stuff (even when I had to as I needed money to pay real life bills)

but also all of it does bring me joy, even those boxes of things I've not looked at for years, I remember the buzz when I got the stuff, the plans I had to build and paint them, the stories I began to make up about them (all minis need a story and a name)

now if it was boring dull things like clothes & other stuff for work work, general household paperwork, cleaning supplies those would be oh so easy to dump but nobody's encouraging you to do that

JP's Clean Your Room helped me out quite a bit. I simply keep everything boxed and rotate through it. I have a small 900/1ksqft place in a major center city and I need to shove my hobby area into a corner of the place. The first week of every month I reorganize everything and list a handful of things on eBay once a month. Smoke up, grab coffee and break down the thousand or so minis I have in cases/boxes. example: Anyone want to buy some Malanthropes that I wont paint for years since I already have one? Do I really need those unbuilt Deathwing Terminators after I sold my Dark Angels?

My thoughts: There is no reason I need XYZ model since the project isn't for well over a year away and my enthusiasm might drop off by then. Enthusiasm for a project is fickle

I can start new projects or deploy whatever I'm currently working on extremely easily.

There is around 300 points of Warmachine and 20,000 points of Warhammer 40k in this picture



I've added a cork board behind the painting area recently and a second glass case. The cork board has checklists/current projects and also a list of "what do I currently have in my possession"

No. Instead, I do not buy a model that I will not use or paint at some point. I am getting disturbingly close to the end of my unpainted pile from when I was a bachelor.

In fact, I use most of my stuff in a variety of games so each mini has more than one use. Yes, even 40K models or game specific models can be used in various generic rulesets.

I am afraid to get to the end of my painting pile. You know what they say about gamers painting their last figure.

 Easy E wrote:
No. Instead, I do not buy a model that I will not use or paint at some point.

What you use changes over time. As I've gotten older, I no longer revel in the vast collection, but rather want something smaller and simpler.

My girlfriend and I actually just recently started watching the show on Netflix, and we're set on taking some time this summer (once she's done her school year; too many projects and having to build architectural models means the apartment is a disaster) to "Kondo" the apartment.

I did make an effort in recent years to clear out my hobby. I sold a few armies that I didn't think I would when I moved back from Vegas, and basically cleared out everything I had in storage in Toronto.

Now I'm working to finish out my last project (Nighthaunt/LoN) for Age of Sigmar, before I go through a final round of trimming in the summer.

I did something similar a couple of years ago.

I never have and never will enjoy assembling metal minis, so I got them all out (even the single piece ones), kept particular sets or really cool ones and put everything else on Ebay.

And I massively regretted it.
It wasn't just the money I lost, I missed owning them.

These days, I try to be better about what I buy by sticking to certain ranges, rather than buying everything that looks cool, but I've accepted that just collecting minis is a big part of the hobby for me.

Want to reduce your collection? Easy! Move to the UK, the houses are so small over here that I had to get rid of lots of stuff. Once here you just dont have the space to add much more, so yeah "problem" solved…

As my paintint has improved, my productivity has declined. I'm now looking at the stuff I have waiting to be touched and thinking If I go at a rate of 2 or 3 models a month am I even going to get around to that in the next 5 years, in the next 10?

Not Kondo-ing, but I'm certainly loking to clear out excess and anything I picked up just to take a couple of models from that I've yet to bother selling on.

I purge every 10 or so years.

Took my 2 main 40k armies (12k+ points each) and sold them all piecemeal until I had only the barest of 2nd ed level armies left (let them go for a fraction of what ebay says they're "worth" - since I paid nowhere near that price when I got them, and I've had my value from them).

Other stuff I give away. Still others just get binned.
Gave away a pile of oWoD stuff a few years back.
Gave away a couple of old v:tm art/story books last weekend to a friend who'd been after them for several years now.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:

Anyone else doing that?

In 2007 I sold off 13 of my warhammer 40k and fantasy armies. 13 armies that were anywhere from 1000 to 3000 points each.

I had a full squat army. old chaos dwarves. metal sisters. among other armies.

Never regretting something more in my life.

I now clutter my life with as much warhammer armies as possible. If my wife doesn't approve, I'll find another wife.