Reviewing My 2024 Purchasing Habits

I’m not sure I’m going to continue this post in future years. I cover my purchases in my pen collection stats post, and I go over my purchasing goals in my pen resolutions post (coming Wednesday). That means the only truly unique information in this post is the purchases by month table. Is that enough to keep this post going?

Moving on… how did I do last year? If you saw my stats or collection posts, you know I actually came in under my 36-pen goal!! Go me!!!

Technically, I also kept to my goal “to limit mainstream brand purchases to 18” with only 13 mainstream brand purchases. However, I didn’t keep to the spirit of the goal, as those 13 made up 56.52%, rather than the 50% or less I was aiming for.

Fountain Pens

I purchased 23 fountain pens last year, all of which were planned or well-reasoned purchases. Unfortunately, even the best-laid plans can go awry, and a few pens that I expected to love turned out to be just OK, or even not to my taste.

Non-Fountain Pens

I only purchased 2 non-fountain pens this year, the least since 2018! I love both of them, and can’t see either leaving my collection.

Sales

Perhaps I’m trying the wrong places, but I’ve found that the second-hand market is getting more difficult. I only managed to sell 5 pens in 2024 and donated another 2. I still have 24 pens for sale, maybe I’ll be able to find them new homes this year.

My “no same-year sales” still stands — 4 years running, now — although one pen for sale and one pen I’m planning to sell are from 2024.

Purchase Overview

Despite having such a hard time selling pens last year, 2024 saw my smallest net collection increase — 18 total pens, 16 fountain pens — since 2018. If I can somehow manage to sell all the pens I want to in 2025, I could, potentially, have a net decrease in my collection!!

Fountain Pens

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2024	0 ↓	2	4	0 ↓	5 ↓	4 ↑	3 ↓	3 ↓	1	1 ↓	0 ↓	0
2023	4 ↓	2	5 ↓	1 ↓	6	2	4 ↑	6 ↓	1 ↓	6 ↑	3 ↑	0 ↓
2022	6	2	9	2	6	2	3	7	2	5	1	1

Rollerball and Ballpoint Pens

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2024	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0
2023	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	1	2	0	1
2022	0	0	3	1	1	2	0	0	1	1	0	0

I still have no idea why I purchase more in May or why June saw more purchases this year. I’ll also admit to surprise that I tend to have fewer purchase in April — my birthday month! But, I’m not going to complain. I’m happy that I’ve kept up with with my thoughtful purchasing.

I also changed from standard to extended-release Guanfacine for my ADHD in August, which seems to have a bigger impact than I gave it credit.

Plans for 2025

With this year having gone so well, I’d like to lower my cap to 30 pen acquisitions — purchases and gifts — total. I’m sure I can manage, even knowing I have 4 pens in the works for next year already.

I want to keep my purchases to 50% or less from mainstream manufacturers.

I want to focus on selling pens. Ideally, I’d like to sell all 24 that I currently have for sale, but I’ll be happy if I can sell at least 10 of them.

And, finally, as much as possible, I want to save up for pens before buying them, rather than buying pens and paying them off. Depending on when my commissions are ready, that could be a tough one to manage, but I’ll try.

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Would you like me to continue this post next year? Do you have any purchasing plans for 2025? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you.

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