Lulls in collecting?

[GRock]

I'm currently in a "lull". I'm picking up a card here and there, but I'm not scouring the net daily. Maybe when the National rolls around and I'm in a giant room full of goodies, I'll be jump-started.

[JamesGallo]

Lulls are I think the norm in any hobby. Since my collecting it rather um diverse especially with cards I haven't had this happen just yet. When I had almost complete my Cracker Jack set, I was like what now, and have since continued with several other sets that have kept me going.

I think there is a general lull with the board for whatever reason and that would slow things down for me as I used to get a kick out of checking the BST 100 times a day and seeing new stuff, now stuff is either not posted or stuff stays on the main page for days....

James G

[barrysloate]

I think in general most collectors spend more on their collections than they really should. So economic necessity forces them to take breaks. It's often impossible to keep up the pace of buying cards regularly unless money is no object. And for most money always is an object.

It's good to take a break now and then. You come back to it with greater enthusiasm.

[T206Collector]

1. More specialization means fewer cards coming to market.
2. Our ever-dynamic wallets.
3. General boredom of past collecting philosophy.

[alanu]

I'm making an effort to not put any additional money into my card collection, so my current lull is caused by the need to sell cards before I buy more cards.

[rhettyeakley]

Leon, it's funny that you posted this because that is exactly how I am feeling right now. I will be setting up at the National this year (along with Rhys), and the last few weeks I have been getting things out of boxes/storage and trying to get things somewhat ready so I'm not scrambling at the last minute, but it has begun to feel like a real chore! I think I may have OD'ed on baseball cards for the time being.
-Rhett

[Doug]

I have lulls fairly often. I usually either pick up too much too fast and run out of money or I don't pick up anything for so long that I just get bored and occupy myself with something else. Usually during my long lulls of no cards, I think about quitting, but I seem to manage to find something eventually that gets me back to it.

[ChiefBenderForever]

Whenever I start working on something new I buy a bunch of stuff and then get more selective so it slows down. Sometimes I just box everything up and put it away and don't buy a card for months. I have been selling so I can buy but for every 250.00 I sell I spend 700.00 but it helps the cause. I don't think I could ever just sell it all and quit, but taking a break is always refreshing, there is always cards for sale when you come back.

[sesop]

here is my standard lull:

i get excited about a series which is under-represented in my yankee type set- ie- i pick up a batter-up lazzeri. i find myself feeling like every other set sucks, so i stop buying yankees from the other sets i collect because all i want is yankee batter-ups, and dammit, they're nowhere to be found. so i do the only logical thing: buy non-yankee batter-ups like a madman. then it occurs to me that since i have several brooklyn batter-ups, i should add brooklyn to my collecting focus and pick up a few e90 brooklyn players. i go to vcp and make a wantlist containing every brooklyn card ever made and the emails vcp sends with yankee cards get lost in the midst of all the brooklyn-related emails. this trend goes on until (usually by accident), i stumble on a card i really want, which costs less than all the crap i have recently purchased, but more than i can spend since i just blew so much on stuff i really don't want. so i list the regrettable purchases on ebay, take a beating, get mad that i missed out on the scarce, highly coveted card, and buy something more expensive than the aforementioned "highly coveted card," which i didn't want or need nearly as much as "the one that got away."

then i take a few days off to re-evaluate things. during this period i have been known to (a) buy a rack pack of 1982 topps with a reggie jackson showing, (b) view smut online more than net54, (c) both.

idle time is the devil's something or other. so true. the moment my focus strays, i do something i regret.

[yazfan08]

I didn't read all the replies, so apologies if this has already been stated. I notice such lulls in the summer and in periods where I devote a disproportionate amount of energy on collecting compared to other activities. Basically, when I'm out of balance as to how I spend my time.