After how slowly the first quarter of the year went by, it’s almost incomprehensible to me that we’re already half-way through 2025. But, here we are on day 183 of 2025, and that means it’s time for a mid-year check-in on my purchasing resolutions and wish list.
Purchasing
My rules for this year are:
- Pens
- Add 30 pens max to my collection (including non-fountain pens and gifts).
- Limit mainstream brand acquisitions to 14.
- Don’t buy pretty ink sticks unless it’s a friend’s collaboration.
- Save up for pens rather than buying on credit and paying them off.
- Sell at least 10 pens.
- Inks
- Don’t buy any bottles without trying a sample first, or at least seeing a swatch in person when it’s not possible to get a sample.
- Get rid of inks I’m not using.
- Use every “for use” ink sample at least once.
So, how am I doing?
I’m going to preface this by saying the first third of 2025 was NOT good to me, and I still have issues with purchasing when I’m stressed. So, I need to give myself some grace.
Pens
To date, I’ve added 17 pens to my collection, with 2 commissions in the works, and one pen reserved (all from Stanford Pen Studio). Surprisingly, that puts me only 1 pen ahead of where I was this time last year. But, it puts me 2 pens over what I should have thus far, assuming half of my limit for half of the year.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
Of those 17, in no particular order and with several instances of overlap:
- 3 were purchased last year, but attributed to the month they arrived,
- 1 was a wish list commission,
- 4 were gifts, one of which was completely unexpected,
- 4 are indie-made,
- 2 are vintage,
- and 3 were secondhand.
One of my pending commissions is also from my wish list.
I’m WAY over where I should be for mainstream brand purchases at 11, and I’m certain I’m going to fail that purchasing goal miserably because Benu has released several pens that I really want.
I’ve purchased 3 “pretty ink sticks” so far this year, but 2 were friends’ collaborations and 1 was the Hello Kitty 50th anniversary purple Kaweco Sport.
I was doing fairly well with saving up before buying pens. Unfortunately, when Luxury Brands decided to discontinue the Mountain Mist, I didn’t have the luxury — no pun intended — of waiting until I had money, I pounced on the next one I saw available so that I wouldn’t miss out. I also, unexpectedly, discovered a year of the dragon Platinum from Wagner that I jumped on, too, since I didn’t find one last year. It’s looking like all of my Stanford Pen Studio pens will be ready around the same time — which I wasn’t planning on — so there’s no way I’ll have the money for all of them at once. But, 100% worth it.
I’ve only managed to sell 3 pens so far this year, but I also haven’t been trying very hard. I need to work on that because I have 27 that I want to sell, and 6 in review to potentially sell.
Ink
I’ve failed HARD at my first ink goal. I’ve acquired 26 bottles of ink — four of them were shared half-and-half with friends — but only had a sample, or saw a swatch, of 13 of them. Thankfully, I’ve had no regrets so far.
I’ve technically done better with my second ink goal, as I’ve disposed of 7 bottles so far. But, with 26 bottles in, 7 out doesn’t mean much.
As for using samples, I think I’ve done the worst. At the start of the year, I had 114 samples in my “for use” category. So far, I’ve used 18, leading me to relegate 4 to the dupes bin and buy 7 bottles. I don’t think I’ll be using the remaining 103 inks in the second half of the year.
Wish List
So far, I’ve only checked one item off my wish list for this year. But, Benu, with their unrelenting gorgeous releases, has managed to add 6 pens to my list. However, I’m trying to decide if I’m OK buying pens mostly for collectability.
Existing List
☐ Stanford Pen Studio x Lana le Roux commission
This one is almost done, so I will definitely be checking it off the list this year.
☑ Tailored Pen Co Trekker
☐ Cypress Maple in the Forest
I’m going to have to save up for this, so it’ll be a while. I think it was about $800 when available.
☐ Drewnem Pisane
I’ve kind of started this one. I planted an idea that they’re going to test. If I haven’t heard anything by September, I’ll just commission one of the rainbow “braided” wood pens.
☐ Stanford Pen Studio x Zelna le Roux
Well, with three pens on their way to me soon, it will be a while before I can commission something from Zelna. I’m not sure I’ll be able to manage it this year.
☐ Stanford Pen Studio x Di Möhr beaded pen
Di has recently produces a bunch of gorgeous pens, but I haven’t had money at times they’ve been released. Hopefully I can change that soon. *fingers crossed*
☐ Various Benu pens
I’m interested in the London, Paris, and Venice Euphorias, as well as the Taurus Talisman. And they just keep dropping beautiful hand-painted pens, which are my absolute weakness. The Taurus is a definite purchase, but I’m trying to decide if I can weed out any of the city-based pens. I really don’t need them all, right?
Overall, I feel like I’m OK this year, considering everything that has happened. I’m certainly not doing as well as I did last year, but I’m doing my best not to beat myself up over that. My focus for the second half of the year needs to be selling pens. Wish me luck.
How have you been doing with your pen purchases this year? Have you sold any pens? Are you happy with the state of your collection? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you.
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