To build or not to build,that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler to complete a set or trade/donate the cards away. Of late, I have been struggling with this issue. My household is preparing for a move to likely a smaller house, and given the fact my wife detests baseball cards, it is a forgone conclusion that the old collection needs a major thinning.
This was evident during my recent Donruss spring cleaning (Yes, all those who requested cards, you will receive them...eventually). During that cleaning out process, I decided that I could complete 88, 89 and 90 Donruss because I needed less than 50 cards for each set. But, did I really need to complete those sets? Am I trying to complete them because I like them or because I was painfully close?
Which leads me to why I want your opinion. Do you complete sets only because they are your favorite? Do you ever complete a set because you already have 90% of it done, even though you never intended on building that particular set? I am curious what sort of answers I get to those questions.
I guess all of this leads to the fact that I have had a painfully difficult time shedding cards from my life. I have no problem trading them, or even giving them to someone who wants them, but to just get rid of them seems counter-intuitive. I know that I started the whole 1,000,000 Cards for Kids blog, and I have set aside copious amounts of cards to donate, but truth be told, I haven't dropped them off yet. It was/is much more difficult than I thought finding a place that would take them. Apparently, old cardboard of players that kids today have never heard of is a big issue with places that accept donations for kids. Plus, storage is a major issue for them as well.
I think my last resort will be to take them to Goodwill and let them sell the cards. Some kid might end up with them, maybe. Who knows, I even toyed with the idea of giving them away in bundles of a 100 for Halloween, which I may still do.
Anyways, I have gone on a tangential plane. Back to the building sets issue, I used to have the mantra that if I had at least 50% of the set completed, I'd go ahead and finish the set. I figured, at 50%, it'd be cheaper to collate it than to buy it whole (according to Buckett). But really, do I need a 1990 Score complete set? I think I'd be better off picking the Padres and HOFers out, and then making someone else's mother or wife deal with the clutter.
What do you think?
This was evident during my recent Donruss spring cleaning (Yes, all those who requested cards, you will receive them...eventually). During that cleaning out process, I decided that I could complete 88, 89 and 90 Donruss because I needed less than 50 cards for each set. But, did I really need to complete those sets? Am I trying to complete them because I like them or because I was painfully close?
Which leads me to why I want your opinion. Do you complete sets only because they are your favorite? Do you ever complete a set because you already have 90% of it done, even though you never intended on building that particular set? I am curious what sort of answers I get to those questions.
I guess all of this leads to the fact that I have had a painfully difficult time shedding cards from my life. I have no problem trading them, or even giving them to someone who wants them, but to just get rid of them seems counter-intuitive. I know that I started the whole 1,000,000 Cards for Kids blog, and I have set aside copious amounts of cards to donate, but truth be told, I haven't dropped them off yet. It was/is much more difficult than I thought finding a place that would take them. Apparently, old cardboard of players that kids today have never heard of is a big issue with places that accept donations for kids. Plus, storage is a major issue for them as well.
I think my last resort will be to take them to Goodwill and let them sell the cards. Some kid might end up with them, maybe. Who knows, I even toyed with the idea of giving them away in bundles of a 100 for Halloween, which I may still do.
Anyways, I have gone on a tangential plane. Back to the building sets issue, I used to have the mantra that if I had at least 50% of the set completed, I'd go ahead and finish the set. I figured, at 50%, it'd be cheaper to collate it than to buy it whole (according to Buckett). But really, do I need a 1990 Score complete set? I think I'd be better off picking the Padres and HOFers out, and then making someone else's mother or wife deal with the clutter.
What do you think?
