This post is in reaction to the recent explosion in anger over a certain online international Blythe retailer’s limited number of preorders for a certain Blythe release with teal hair. And I think you all know who and what I’m talking about.

It’s not the most important thing in the world.

Say that out loud. Then repeat it to yourself again. And again. And again. And again. Until it sinks in.

Nobody needs that doll.

What you need is oxygen, water, food with nutrients, warmth, a form of shelter, and an ability to afford and gain access to all of that. You don’t need a doll. If the only thing that you have to complain about is the fact that you weren’t one of the fifty people who managed to snag a preorder from one website (and I’m sure other top shops will have preorders available too), you have an amazing life.

I hope you can recognize that.

You may want the doll. And you can probably get her somewhere else – either from another website’s preorder system, a certain big auction website, or even second hand.

It’s not the end of the world unless you make it the end of the world. Blythe isn’t a cheap hobby, it’s just not by its nature. The dolls are expensive, the clothes are expensive, the shoes are expensive. But none of them are necessities in keeping you alive and happy and healthy. You know what is necessary in keeping you happy and healthy? Not stressing over things. And holding onto that anger that you weren’t able to get a preorder or blaming a company for the number of dolls they had (which was beyond their control) is really not doing anyone any good – but most of all, it’s not doing you any good.

You have an amazing life. Don’t stress the little things.

I’ve been in the Blythe hobby since 2009 and I have not done a closet clean out at all. Well, until a few days ago. And it’s kind of causing some anxiety in me, because I’m antsy over the idea of mailing stuff out, and then waiting to hear if it’s arrived or not. I’ve going through the drawers of doll clothes and things a few times to make sure that I got out everything that I no longer want to keep. The dolls are staying, their stock (if I have it) is staying. There are some items that I would be very hard pressed to sell (vintage Skipper, gifts, my first ‘successful’ attempts at sewing, etc.) but it’s just so hard to part with all this stuff. Even though at the end of the day, I know it’s just things. My boyfriend had some interesting advice to give me:

If it’s something that’s worth more to you than the amount of money you’d get from it, you shouldn’t sell it.

Of course, he likened my attachment to doll things like his attachment to vintage video games. It’s incredibly insightful though. I think he was just trying to make it “okay” for me to not part with things, even if I do feel like that I need to do some purging. It’s getting a little out of control and it’s just all so much stuff even though I know there’s many, many (many) other Blythe collectors with a lot more clothes, shoes and dresses than I have. But he’s a smart cookie and I do listen to what he has to say. After all, at the end of the day, if it’s something that I wouldn’t miss because I love it that much, is it worth me keeping it?

For now, I’ve got what I’m keeping and what I’m selling and there’s no ‘maybe’ pile. If it turns into a maybe, it goes into the sale pile. If I need to think about it, it’s not worth it to me to keep because clearly I don’t want it that much.

What kind of tips do you have for people who are new to clearing out the dolly closet?

I recently came into a position in life where I’m seeking student loans. So what does my sister ask me?

If you don’t get the loans¹, will you be selling off your Blythes to pay for school²?

My knee-jerk reaction was no.

My secondary reaction, after thinking about it, was to add up the rough second market cost for all of my Blythes together. If I sold every single one of them at the prices that I was thinking about, it’s not as much as I thought it would be. It’d be just enough to cover one term (plus textbooks and other expenses). And the program is three years, so I’d only be able to cover four months with the sale of the dolls. And what after that? I’d have to find some other kind of financing.

Moral of the story?

Selling your Blythes is not always the answer when you have a pressing financial need. Selling your Blythes can be the answer to your pressing financial needs when you have a one-time emergency that needs cash now and there’s no other way to get it. But with longer term financial obligations (tuition, mortgages, etc.) it’s far better to have another form of influx of money because once you sell off all your dolls, you’d still have to continue to find money for the rest of it somewhere.

At least, that’s what I keep telling myself because I really don’t want to have to sell my dolls in order to go to school. And maybe it’s a bit naive, but for the time being I am exploring all of my other options for paying for school rather than selling off the dolls that are going to be getting me through school (I know all you dolly-types will know what I’m talking about).

¹ I haven’t applied yet, but my chances of securing a loan (non-private, thank goodness) is fairly good. If not, my parents are willing to lend me the required money to go to school (but not interest-free until graduation, weep).

² I am graduating from my current undergrad later this month, but I got accepted into a three year nursing program (BScN) for the fall.

A couple of days ago, my sister saw me organizing doll clothes – one of the many things that I do when procrastinating from studying… and she noticed that I had several dresses that I had made for my dolls lacked snaps and then she pointed this out to me.

“If you had the time to cut out the fabric and sew all these things up, why didn’t you add snaps?”

Umm… Because I was lazy? Because the dress stays on (for the most part) without a snap? Because snaps were designed by the devil? Did I say any of these things? Of course not.

“Oh, I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. I’ve been busy.”

Yes, because lack of time totally prevents me from sewing on tiny metal snaps. Although, to be fair, the snaps do kind of “complete” the clothing item. But I still believe that they were designed by the devil, or that little elves should help me with the sewing of snaps because I don’t like doing that part. But my sister took this to be the truth, until she found one of the Blythe dresses that I had made that I sewn on half of the snap and just never sewed the other half of the snap.

“What about this one?”

“That one? I was just lazy.”

Who else here hates (or at least dislikes) sewing on metal snaps? *both hands up for me*

I had this conversation with one of my sister’s friends recently. She had joined our family out for lunch because she and my sister had choir rehearsal afterwards. I had one of my Blythes with me in a carry bag and she had asked what was in it. So I showed her the doll that I had with me (a certain mouse doll) and then she started asking more questions about Blythe.

• What’s so special about them?
• How many do you have?
• Where did you get them?
• How much are they?

I explained the history and the eye mechanism (she thought the pinks were a bit “odd”). I have eleven. I mentioned getting them locally (Sophie was bought in an actual shop!), online, having them bought for me in brick-and-mortar shops overseas. And then I explained the overall range of prices. Which led to even more questions.

“Well, you said some people customize them, or whatever, why couldn’t you just get one doll and change her face whenever you want? Or put different hair on her?” which was followed by “What’s the most expensive doll that you have that isn’t a Kenny doll?”

Kenny doll. Oh bother.

Like parents do with their kids, I showed her photos of my Blythes on my phone. She didn’t really “get” the differences (probably hard for Muggles to tell from just photos anyways). And then there was the comment of “I think the newer ones look a lot better than the old ones. The old ones have more issues, why wouldn’t you just get the newer ones without flaws?”

She did seem to like Eden (Punkaholic People) though. And she did like the photo that I had of Mollie (Simply Sparkly Spark). But other than that, she seemed to think the rest were a bit too similar (EBL = SBL = RBL in her mind; Kenners were too ratty looking, hah).

Muggles.