At what point would you start selling your collection?

[DaffyDilly]

You're skint, but you have everything worked out. Then something comes up and it's $$$ that you don't have. You could put it on a credit card, or you think you could sell a few ponies and cover it off. What do you do?

I'm in that situation now. Unfortunately, the $$$ is £200 for a tooth repair that I can't go without. My disposable income for the next couple of months is tied into getting my car sorted (accident repair and MOT).

I have some generally expensive ponies - Mimic, Mountain Boys - and a few customs by others that I know would fetch top dollar. But I can't bear to part with them! I know that it's stupid to get into debt rather than sell ponies but I guess I haven't hit my limit yet.

I think that my limit would be Daffy - if I needed the money for him then everything would go. Where do you draw the line?

[achab1984]

I understand both of the things your talking about. I hate to charge on my cc for stuff. But at the same time I not have the extra income either. And its also hard to part with a hard to find pony.

What I have done before was charge on my CC. Then I look around and see what I have at home. You can always try to sell other things then your ponies. I have sold clothes and a few items that I no longer used on facebook. Check and see if there are rummage sale pages around you in the UK. I think you might call them something else there?

[lovesbabysquirmy]

If I ever was in the situation of needing to move locations and having to pack up my belongings, I think most of my pony collection would probably get sold. 

[windsong]

If I'm short on funds and have to sell ponies, I'd start with the ones I'm not as attached to first. Or sell non-pony things, or handmade things. It may take a little bit to get the money to come in since it's mostly cheaper items, but it'll add up. I'd just rather not part with ponies I'm attached to or sell the expensive ones unless I would REALLY have to.

[Oneleo1]

I've been lucky enough to have never run into a situation where I need to consider selling the ponies I love most...but if I lost my job or something along those lines I would be forced to I think...

[reanna-mator]

I've asked myself this a lot lately, especially as I recently lost my job (I've got a new one, no worries). It's forced me to evaluate how attached I am to the 500+ ponies in my house, and which ones I would hold on tightest to. I ended up telling myself that in an extreme emergency, I would sell off most of them that I could get a decent amount for and keep a few favorites. Hopefully it never comes to that!

[Lorelei Redfern]

if youhave  no other choice then to sell. sell the ones your least attached to. or as soemone wise once told me.   sell what you can easily get back.

[Vintergatan]

Fortunately, I  have so many frivolous expenses now that I could cut back on if I need the money. But if it really came to that, I don't think I would have too hard of a time to sell quite a few of my ponies. I am strongly attached to some, and those would never go, no matter what, but the rest, I could live without.

That said, I'd probably not sell any of the very expensive ones I have because I'd never pay that much for them which means that, unless I find them in the thrift store, I would never own them again. Although, hey, I found two Thunder clouds in a thrift store, so you never know

[scarletjul]

If I really need money for something that's a necessity, like paying bills or such, I'm willing to break into my collection - and I've had to, on more than one occasion, unfortunately.  But so far, I've never had to sell anything that I cherish the most - and I hope that will remain the case.

[xeevee]

I don't know, it would have to be pretty desperate.  I am badly off right now, but not really considering it (logistically I couldn't sell much anyway, as it's all in storage across the other side of the planet).  I just feel that as soon as I did I'd regret it and end up spending more trying to get the stuff back and I'd be worse off.   I have a real problem that when I'm really feeling stressed out, I buy ponies to make me happy.  And generally what stresses me out is money problems, so it's a terrible catch 22.

[Honeycomb]

I have been there before, and I'd rather sell a few ponies than going back on credit card debt. Ever. And I'd sell ponies to cover medical bills for pets (if I had any pets nowadays). However, I think I would never sell childhood ponies, or ponies that were really hard to find. But who knows ...

[Nienna]

Oh my, what a terrible conundrum! Good luck with it all DaffyDilly

I've fortunately never been in the position I've even had to consider it. When we were hit with some unexpected bills I wanted to, but my husband forbid it and we just worked extra instead and it wasn't so bad as we thought (also, I'm crazy, and refuse to let our savings go below a certain amount so we *do* always have emergency money). I would find it really difficult at this point in my collecting to let go of stuff. I can't!

[Glitchie]

I am 33, almost 34, and I've been taking a class with my mom called Financial Peace University. It is done by a guy named Dave Ramsey who was a real estate guru and nearly went bankrupt. His whole thing is Live like no one else so later, you can live like no one else. As corny as that may sound, I think that I would rather clean up my set of ponies, and sell them off than live on credit cards with all the interest etc. In fact, while going through this class, they have you chop credit cards. We still have a few, but we don't use them. AND I think that if you really wanted to... if you got out of debt like Dave tells you you can in this class, and have disposable income and such, you could rebuild your pony collection with some searching.

It is going to take some time selling mine off because I want to make sure they are presentable, and in at least as good of condition as I can get them and have found them all before I really start getting too crazy with selling them off, but I've also come to the conclusion that I will keep some of my favorites just to have some of them here. Hope that helps, and doesn't come across as judging, that is simply what we're doing here at my house.

[Iceglider]

I would sell, but keep favorites if I possibly could. My childhood ponies are practically bait so it wouldn't be worth it to sell them. I would definitely keep them.

My mountain boy Thundercloud would be one of the first to go. He is not in perfect condition, but is still worth something to collectors. I would make sure I am not eating out, and make other cuts before I sold most of the others. We don't have cable or anything, but if we did that would go. The only service I would keep would be internet/phone. Then I would start selling other ponies. Especially ones I could get back eventually. I would have a very hard time getting rid of Ice Crystal and Copper Glow though.

I guess I would look through what you have and decide what you would be willing to part with first. I think I would sell some of my old game systems and games. Then sort out any ponies/other toys that I am not really attached to and start with those and see how I feel about it. If I could handle it at that point I would go back and reevaluate everything for more that I can live without. When it comes you your health, you are more important than ponies.

[dxgirly]

Honestly, I wouldn't want to sell any of my ponies, and would rather put myself into credit card debt.... but if that wasn't an option, I would start selling off my MIB collection. My loose ponies, though, those are never going anywhere in my lifetime.