Has anyone ever tried to stop collecting?

[Yurusumaji]

I stopped collecting Pokémon for a year and right now I'm on a collecting hiatus due to an expensive tattoo I am getting next month.

I don't think I could ever fully give it up, though. I love collecting.

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

I've never tried. If I do, I'd make sure to not get rid of them, after hearing how people want them back and have to re buy them.

Never planning on it until I get them all.

[Foxtale]

sto.p col...llect...ting....Is that english? ;P

Don't think I'll ever stop.

[McKinley]

Yes. I haven't been actively collecting ponies since about 2006. I still love them, but my need and desire to buy toys is rapidly waning. And to be honest, I never really liked having a bunch of things cluttering up my living space (even cute and colorful things with brushable hair and adorable symbols on their bums ). With the exception of my three childhood ponies, all of my ponies are in storage, and have been for a long time. I plan on keeping many of my G1s, but all of my G3s are going to new homes. I don't know, I just feel like I had a great time diving into the nostalgia and acquiring the things that I loved as a child, but now it's time to move on. I'll always have a special place in my heart for MLP, but I don't feel like I need to buy the toys anymore.

[Sandi]

I haven't tried to stop, but I have tried to downsize. It hasn't worked very well.

[lochnessmomster]

Yes. I haven't been actively collecting ponies since about 2006. I still love them, but my need and desire to buy toys is rapidly waning. And to be honest, I never really liked having a bunch of things cluttering up my living space (even cute and colorful things with brushable hair and adorable symbols on their bums ). With the exception of my three childhood ponies, all of my ponies are in storage, and have been for a long time. I plan on keeping many of my G1s, but all of my G3s are going to new homes. I don't know, I just feel like I had a great time diving into the nostalgia and acquiring the things that I loved as a child, but now it's time to move on. I'll always have a special place in my heart for MLP, but I don't feel like I need to buy the toys anymore.

That sounds a lot like me, except that I am temporarily building up my collection at the moment.  It's not going to be a huge one that takes over my house, but I might eventually have a display unit and just feature different ponies from time to time while the others stay safely in storage.

[WinterBlossom]

I decided I was too old for ponies when I was 13.  My mother was overjoyed when I carefully packaged all my ponies and put them in the loft.

Less than 2 years later they all came back down, I was rehooked and they were well and truly back in my life.

After the line stopped in the shops I bought frantically at car boots for a few years, then I wen to uni, stopped buying, discovered eBay, started buying again in 1996, stopped buying many for a few years and got seriously interested again last year.

I never stopped loving them, and getting squeeful when a new pony arrived, but I did stop buying for about 6 years due to financial constraints.

Now I vary - I have other costs associated with my other great love, larp which takes most of my disposable income over the summer months, then I buy ponies in autumn/winter.  Fortunately, the larp community seems to contain a lot of bronies, so I can play one hobby off against the other to keep afloat in both!

Hugs,

WB

[banditpony]

Eh, I am getting to the point where I feel done. I will probably buy 2-3 G4 ponies by the end of this year...
and eventually I'll pick up the 2 G1s to fit into my "childhood recollection" category...
after that, shrug. I dunno.

I'm in purge mode though. I am only keeping ponies from my childhood, gifts, and flea market finds. (with the exception of baby sugarberry, german skydancer, my argie baby, and the japanese girls--- because I'd probably never find those second hand). It's making my collection a lot more special to me.

[rosesare]

I was pretty obsessive and had a big collection until we had a house fire about 6-7 years ago. A few really rare ones that I had just got in the mail and were on my computer desk melted, about half my moc collection had smoke damage so bad they had to be decarded if they even survived, and various other casualties.  During the process of sorting out the insurance stuff I went on a bit of a buying spree to deal with things but when i got the remains of my collection back the restore company that was supposed to clean the ponies that didn't get damaged beyond repair, and make sure they didn't get smoke damage from the smoke seeping in made an absolute mess.  Accessories were everywhere, the manes were a frizzy mess and they all had this chemical smell.  Some of them were packed in baggies with water still inside causing tail rust. We're talking about 1000 ponies.  I was so disheartened and frustrated with the whole thing that I started selling off my entire collection after having to thoroughly try to clean them all and soften/defrizz the hair. 

still have a couple hundred left to go through, but being at the pony fair last year really made me excited about ponies again.  I bought a bunch of pony art and have been peeking at ponies here and on ebay from time to time. I've watched all the FIM episodes and I've come close to buying a few here and there but I've held out so far. I've been looking to replace a few rares I'm sad about selling. 

I have a couple small bins of about 40 ponies that I really love or that have sentimental value to me that I had planned on keeping regardless.  I'll probably sell of my last few MOCs though. 

[lochnessmomster]

I was pretty obsessive and had a big collection until we had a house fire about 6-7 years ago. A few really rare ones that I had just got in the mail and were on my computer desk melted, about half my moc collection had smoke damage so bad they had to be decarded if they even survived, and various other casualties.  During the process of sorting out the insurance stuff I went on a bit of a buying spree to deal with things but when i got the remains of my collection back the restore company that was supposed to clean the ponies that didn't get damaged beyond repair, and make sure they didn't get smoke damage from the smoke seeping in made an absolute mess.  Accessories were everywhere, the manes were a frizzy mess and they all had this chemical smell.  Some of them were packed in baggies with water still inside causing tail rust. We're talking about 1000 ponies.  I was so disheartened and frustrated with the whole thing that I started selling off my entire collection after having to thoroughly try to clean them all and soften/defrizz the hair. 

still have a couple hundred left to go through, but being at the pony fair last year really made me excited about ponies again.  I bought a bunch of pony art and have been peeking at ponies here and on ebay from time to time. I've watched all the FIM episodes and I've come close to buying a few here and there but I've held out so far. I've been looking to replace a few rares I'm sad about selling. 

I have a couple small bins of about 40 ponies that I really love or that have sentimental value to me that I had planned on keeping regardless.  I'll probably sell of my last few MOCs though.

Reading this just made me want to cry!  Did the insurance company give you money to replace your ponies or did it all have to come out of pocket?  I suppose a situation like this helps you to sort out your priorities, but still... if that had happened to me I think it would have been too depressing to even think about getting back into collecting again.  They weren't ALL damaged, were they? :/ What a lot of hard and sad work trying to repair them.   

[Buffy]

I have stopped collecting a few years ago. I have had all the German and US ponies, so that was my time to say goodbye to my G1s ;-) So I have sold my whole collection, first the playsets, then the ponies, except my customs and my fave Medley.
A few years later I stopped collecting G3s and I'm still selling them...same here, I haven't sold my faves, the exclusives, G 3,5 Newborn cuties, mermaids and my fave Wysteria and Starsong.
Since about 6 month I started to collect G1 Butterscotch...