• Guest, Help The DPF Community Thrive - Join Our Donation Drive Today!

    We're launching a special DPF Donation Drive to ensure our beloved forum continues to flourish. Your support is vital in helping us cover essential server costs and keep our community running smoothly — This is more than just a donation; it's an investment in the future of our community.

    Join us in this crucial drive and let's ensure our forum remains a vibrant and dynamic place for everyone.

    Please visit the DPF Donation Drive Thread for details and instructions on how you can make your donation today!

Pin Addiction Rant!!!!

Status
Not open for further replies.
Pin Addiction Rant!!!!
BilgeRat

BilgeRat

New DPF Member
Rating - 100%
2   0   0
Messages
97
Location
San Joaquin Valley, CA
(No response to this thread is necessary. I'm simply venting!)

RANT ON:

I'm a relatively new Disney pin collector. While I did a little trading at Disneyland with CM's over 8 years ago, it was never that serious. BUT, I'm a pack-rat by nature, and there were SO MANY cool pins I was beginning to discover on the Internet. And, we got Annual Passports a year-and-a-half ago. And then it happened; I became addicted to pin collecting.

Unfortunately, I still haven't gotten my collecting habit under control. I want them all! I am unable to restrict my collecting interest to a narrow set of criteria. My interests are too varied!

I spend way too much at Disneyland on pins.
I spend way too much on Ebay buying pins.
I spend way too much time on PinPics.
Now I've discovered this forum. I began spending more time here last week. AND, I CAN BUY PINS HERE!!!! Hooray!!!! Another outlet for my excess money!

I think I need help. I suppose admitting I have a problem is a first step.

I'm guessing I need to narrow the scope of my collecting, lest I drive myself CRAZY trying to find them all!!!

So I'll start today. My main collecting interest revolves around surfing, and surfboards. Let's stick with that as a major emphasis.

But, I really like Dopey, and Doc, and Grumpy, heck, I like the whole crowd! Let's say I'm collecting Dwarfs, too. OH, and I guess I can't leave out Snow White and the Queen and the Hag.

I like pins that are simple. Just a character's head or whole body. No borders, no captions, no background, just the character. What harm can I do collecting those also. Afterall, how many Disney characters can there be? I wonder if I can collect one of each!

Jungle Book pins are cool. And Pinocchio. How about Lion King? Beauty and the Beast? Oh, heck why not collect something from each movie. There can't be THAT MANY pins out there, can there?

Yikes, I think I have a problem. Maybe I should just stick to surfboards and surfing pins! (Though collecting a few Dwarfs can't hurt, can it? And a few Pinocchio pins . . . . . . ) Oh, man, I need help!!!

RANT OFF
 
Calm down....Calm down.... there is a cure for this. You need to stop this addiction cold turkey. Here's how you do it, gather up your whole collection of pins and send them all to me. Now you will no longer have any pins and they will be out of your mind. If you have a relapse and start buying again then stop and send them all to me to get them out of your sight and out of your mind.
Trust me it works great! I have done this for several people now and boy has my collection grown! :lol:
 
Tbird said:
Calm down....Calm down.... there is a cure for this. You need to stop this addiction cold turkey. Here's how you do it, gather up your whole collection of pins and send them all to me. Now you will no longer have any pins and they will be out of your mind. If you have a relapse and start buying again then stop and send them all to me to get them out of your sight and out of your mind.
Trust me it works great! I have done this for several people now and boy has my collection grown! :lol:
Click to expand...

You're my savior! Pins are on the way. ;)
 
Feeling this a LOT! I only started three weeks ago and my spreadsheet to track my pins has over 300 entries in it now.

Why do I need a spreadsheet? I'm buying from Australia and shipping to California, so I can't even touch all the amazing ones I've ordered and it just makes me want to buy more! D:
 
Narrowing down to one or two themes is overrated.

I collect just about any domestic theme park, resort, or attraction theme. All Holidays. Movie themes: Alice, Dumbo, BatB, Frozen. And my husband collects Star Wars, Pluto and Rafaiki. And then there are Walt pins, Humphrey the Bear, and stuff that I'm forgetting.

There are just a few truths that go along with it.

1. You will never be "Caught up." I have one theme where I'm basically completist, Wilderness Lodge. I'm missing one old pin and one newer pin. But when I hear about a new WL pin I get panicked about how much it's going to cost to stay complete (almost). It's stressful! And this is for a not really popular theme. The poor Frozen and Tangled completists had to choose between a life of debt and continuing to stay complete! When a pin comes out in one of my other 147 themes, the reaction is more, I'll have to worry about that "Someday." Or more likely, I like to say, I "collect on the 10-year plan."

2. You will run out of space.

3. You will run out of money. But the good thing, is with so much variety to collect there is always something that isn't popular and so you can "catch up" with a bunch of stuff that is still going for retail, or even less than retail (avoiding, the counterfeits/scrappers becomes an issue).

Sometimes participating in pin forums feels like a competition. Are you complete, do you have the newest "hot" pins, etc? No one is going to judge you for how much you collect (other than the people who live in your house). Time will sort a few things out. You will get a better sense of what you really love, and what is satisfying to collect (some themes are just too hard, and people don't have the patience to wait it out and so giving a theme up, actually brings a sense of relief). And if you do reach a point where you give up something, suddenly you have traders! (people always ask how to build up their traders...it just ends up happening.)
 
I'm with Hope- Pins are a marathon not a sprint... There will ALWAYS be new shiny stuff that you can either go crazy trying to aquire NOW or be patient and get it for the right price/trade later-

I also refuse to be narrowed into a few collections- as in time, you'll get in the pattern of collecting.. the easy to get stuff, the medium then the hard then the impossible- once I get it to the impossible its time to move on until the elusive pin makes an appearance

We currently have over 30 active collections (its easier to say what we DON'T collect than what we do!) and quite a few things that are inching its way into a collection- we are lucky to have space to display 28 large boards in our house (and the 8 bags that hold the 'others') and while I refuse to count the # of pins in the collection nor the amount of money invested (divided across 16 years though..)

so enjoy it but realize we've seen SO many people come and go that make sure you do it wisely!

-em
 
Thanks for all the encouragement and suggestions! I may cut down on what I'm searching for. That way, I'll have more traders to work on what I really like! Thanks again!

vans4bkah said:
I see that you are in the San Joaquin Valley, not sure where. It looks like you have the collecting down, how about doing some trading? We have a group that meets every 5-6 weeks. Of course you can collect here also.
Click to expand...

I'm near Fresno. I may come up and check out your trading event!
 
I went batshit crazy when I started collecting for the first time this year. My husband was not amused... It's a horribly addicting habit.
 
Great advice and suggestions! I have been a Disney fanatic since my first visit to WDW in 1990 or so....new to pin collections....and totally addicted...started with Figment and other Dragons...and Aristocats... and Robin Hood and ....and....then I recently "found" Countdown to the Millienium pins...extra income is gone in a-pinstant....did hit a milestone today with final Chinese Zodiac pin acquired!
 
I will put in a vote for "narrow your theme". It can be as challenging and frustrating as collecting a lot of things, but it is helpful in focusing your spending decisions. :) Plus it's awesome to watch just one collection have the chance to grow!
 
I collect pins that I like. I do collect more Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean pins then others but I also just collect the ones I like of those. I also like space related and undersea related pins but also just the ones that I like of those.
 
We stick mostly to halloween and haunted mansion…but then my wife started on cinderella and pins of places that we stayed or events that we have gone to and skateboarding pins and….. wait maybe we have a problem too..lol. I don't think that anyone can be a completist in these as there are so many limited pins and of course new ones all the time. Just enjoy what you want as long as you don't get out of control and loose your home.
 
Now, now, no need to be hasty in the blame. We all know that the majority of our pin addiction habits belong at the doorstep of Disney themselves. I was perfectly content to just collect Cheshire pins. I like cats and it made sense.

Then I realized that Tigger was a lonely kitty, too, so he was added to the mix.

And then up popped Figaro. Well darn, can't forget him.

Then LuciferSi&AmOliverAllfivearistocatsPLUStheirmusicalcatbandAlmostEveryoneinTheLionKingJungleBookhasBagheeraANDShereKhanPrincessJasminehasRajahPeteSaborMittensMochiDinahCharlotteswhitekittenSgtTibbsPomPomPrinceJohnGideonMrWhiskersMrManchasAndHOLYMOTHEROFDISNEYGODSOrtensiaisacattoo!!!

Deep breaths!!!

But it doesn't even end there. Yzma (Emperor's New Groove) turns into a cat; Madam Mim (The Sword in the Stone) turns into a cat; Captain Amelia (Treasure Planet) is a humanoid cat and, despite popular beliefs, Stitch is more cat than dog. No, seriously. Dogs are eternally happy and want to follow you; a cat always does his/her own thing, just like Stitch does! And the movie scene that really caps Stitch as a cat and not a dog? When Lilo yells at him for eating her cake and Stitch spits it back out. Yeah, total cat move right there! So, we have to add an Alien cat to this ever-growing, limitless cat list.

But what, you may ask, does this have to do with anything? Well, my friend, it involves admitting defeat to the notion that you'll ever be able to truly narrow down or even limit your collections. Sorry, dude, the truth isn't always pretty. :D
 
I gave up pin trading about a year ago. Sold almost all my pins (stupid stupid me) and have gotten back into it this week. I REALLY need to curb the spending lol
 
BilgeRat said:
I like pins that are simple. Just a character's head or whole body. No borders, no captions, no background, just the character. What harm can I do collecting those also. Afterall, how many Disney characters can there be? I wonder if I can collect one of each!
Click to expand...

This. This is the harm that you can do. Be afraid...be very afraid...

 
Last edited:
What a great idea! The Mickey looks fantastic. I don't know if I would have the patience, but it seems like a lot of fun to do and then to look for the pins later. Congratulations.
 
Yeah, the Mickey frame thing is awesome! I've got a board with nothing but Mickey on it. Perhaps I should do something similar with Mickey's only! Crap, another thing list of things to collect!!!
 
Just an update: I was able to convince myself to reduce the numbers of different things I'm collecting! I have managed to reduce my PinPics WANTS from 1800 down to 1400 (so far)!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top