Is your hobby pile of shame bringing you down? Well, fear not! You are not alone in this, and clearing it is simpler than you think!
Well, like any meeting worth its weight, the first step is to recognize the problem. So, what’s a pile of shame?
Pile of shame, backlog, shelved, call it however you like. These are all these kits you bought at some point that are either still brand new or started but lay unfinished for weeks, if not months, with no end in sight.
From years of collecting models, to getting carried away on Black Friday and buying an entire Space Marines battle company, the sprues and armies of barely assembled models pile on and you are left with nowhere to start when it comes to hobby time.
Believe me; I am exactly like you in this regard, possibly worst: my pile of shame is sorted in different, smaller piles of shame.
You know how some people buy a model just because they want to paint it because it looks cool. Well, I do that with whole armies, with the delusion that I will play it eventually.
Pile of Shame No More!
We’ve tackled how to clear out your pile of shame before. But once it’s cleared, how do you avoid growing it back over time?
Here are my three favorite ways to make sure that once your pile of shame is gone, it stays gone.
1- “Always two there are, no more, no less”
Projects at a time that is.
I found that the times when I jumped into a new project every month, nothing would ever get done. So I stick with this rule, never have more than two ongoing project at a time.
If you feel the irresistible urge to start something new, either complete one of the projects you have started, or sell it.
2- Start before you finish
We’ve covered this trick before, as it works hand in hand with motivation.
Because we humans are programmed to finish what we start, hence the depressing feeling you get by staring at your pile of shame, we want to start on a project right before we finish one.
At lot of my piles of shame are born out of not having a clear idea of what I’m doing next. So I buy random stuff, thinking that that’s what I’ll work on.
It never is. And the piles grow.
But, because of our first rule, once you start on a project, you are locked in with either finishing that first one, or working on the new one.
3- Cash-Hammer
Get comfortable with selling models. This is something that stops most people. Wheter it’s from this little voice in your head that suggests future you will get to it eventually, or from a collector’s standpoint, many a hobbyists refuse to get rid of models.
And it should not be this way, as the constant weight of having an inescapable pile of shame far outweighs the eventual money setback of maybe, possibly, probably not buying a kit back 6 months from now.
Most local game stores will offer you decent trade in prices or in-store credits for your stuff. There’s also plenty of Facebook Groups or community Discords where you can buy, sell, and trade.
If nothing else, and you fancy yourself a pro painter, get on e-bay and offload your surplus models there.
