{"id":14707,"date":"2025-01-03T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-03T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/?p=14707"},"modified":"2025-01-02T16:24:38","modified_gmt":"2025-01-02T21:24:38","slug":"2024-purchasing-habits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/2024-purchasing-habits\/","title":{"rendered":"Reviewing My 2024 Purchasing Habits"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

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

Moving on… how did I do last year? If you saw my stats<\/a> or collection<\/a> posts, you know I actually came in under<\/em> my 36-pen goal!! Go me!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Technically<\/em>, 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<\/em> of the goal, as those 13 made up 56.52%, rather than the 50% or less I was aiming for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fountain Pens<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Non-Fountain Pens<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sales<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My “no same-year sales” still stands \u2014 4 years running, now \u2014 although one pen for sale and one pen I’m planning to sell are from 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Purchase Overview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Despite having such a hard time selling pens last year, 2024 saw my smallest net collection increase \u2014 18 total pens, 16 fountain pens \u2014 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!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fountain Pens<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/th>Jan<\/th>Feb<\/th>Mar<\/th>Apr<\/th>May<\/th>Jun<\/th>Jul<\/th>Aug<\/th>Sep<\/th>Oct<\/th>Nov<\/th>Dec<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
2024<\/td>0 \u2193<\/td>2<\/td>4<\/td>0 \u2193<\/td>5 \u2193<\/td>4<\/strong> \u2191<\/td>3 \u2193<\/td>3 \u2193<\/td>1<\/td>1 \u2193<\/td>0 \u2193<\/td>0<\/td><\/tr>
2023<\/td>4 \u2193<\/td>2<\/td>5 \u2193<\/td>1 \u2193<\/td>6<\/td>2<\/td>4<\/strong> \u2191<\/td>6 \u2193<\/td>1 \u2193<\/td>6<\/strong> \u2191<\/td>3<\/strong> \u2191<\/td>0 \u2193<\/td><\/tr>
2022<\/td>6<\/td>2<\/td>9<\/td>2<\/td>6<\/td>2<\/td>3<\/td>7<\/td>2<\/td>5<\/td>1<\/td>1<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rollerball and Ballpoint Pens<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/th>Jan<\/th>Feb<\/th>Mar<\/th>Apr<\/th>May<\/th>Jun<\/th>Jul<\/th>Aug<\/th>Sep<\/th>Oct<\/th>Nov<\/th>Dec<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
2024<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>1<\/td>0<\/td><\/tr>
2023<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>1<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>2<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td><\/tr>
2022<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>3<\/td>1<\/td>1<\/td>2<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>1<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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 \u2014 my birthday month! But, I’m not going to complain. I’m happy that I’ve kept up with with my thoughtful purchasing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plans for 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With this year having gone so well, I’d like to lower my cap to 30 pen acquisitions<\/strong> \u2014 purchases and gifts \u2014 total. I’m sure I can manage, even knowing I have 4 pens in the works for next year already.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to keep my purchases to 50% or less from mainstream manufacturers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/strong> of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, finally, as much as possible, I want to save up for pens before buying them<\/strong>, 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for reading to the end, I hope you enjoyed my post. Make sure to subscribe to my blog<\/a> or follow me on Instagram<\/a> so you don\u2019t miss any posts. I generally post at least once a week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s time to review my 2024 purchasing habits and see how well I kept to my goals. I\u2019m also sharing my ambitious plans for 2025.<\/p>\n

Keep ReadingReviewing My 2024 Purchasing Habits<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[437,169],"class_list":["post-14707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fountain-pens","tag-end-of-year","tag-retrospective","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/2024-purchasing_featured.jpg?fit=288%2C288&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Z77k-3Pd","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12404,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/2023-purchasing-habits\/","url_meta":{"origin":14707,"position":0},"title":"Reviewing My 2023 Purchasing Habits","author":"Rachel","date":"January 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"It's time to review my 2023 purchasing habits and see how I did. I'm also sharing my plans for 2024.","rel":"","context":"In "Fountain Pens"","block_context":{"text":"Fountain Pens","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/category\/stationery\/fountain-pens\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/2023-purchasingHabits_featured.jpg?fit=288%2C288&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16381,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/2025-purchasing-habits\/","url_meta":{"origin":14707,"position":1},"title":"2025\u20132026 Purchasing Habits Review","author":"Rachel","date":"January 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s time to review my 2025 purchasing habits and goals. Spoiler: I didn't do well. I need to dust off and try again.","rel":"","context":"In "Fountain Pens"","block_context":{"text":"Fountain Pens","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/category\/stationery\/fountain-pens\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/purchasingHabits_featured.jpg?fit=288%2C288&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9112,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/2022-purchasing-habits\/","url_meta":{"origin":14707,"position":2},"title":"Reviewing My 2022 Purchasing Habits","author":"Rachel","date":"January 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"It's time to review my 2022 purchasing habits and figure out where things went off the rails. I'm also sharing my plans for 2023.","rel":"","context":"In "Fountain Pens"","block_context":{"text":"Fountain Pens","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/category\/stationery\/fountain-pens\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/purchasingHabits_IGSm.jpg?fit=288%2C288&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6521,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/2021-purchasing-habits\/","url_meta":{"origin":14707,"position":3},"title":"Reviewing My Purchasing Habits","author":"Rachel","date":"January 11, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm taking a quick look back at my pen purchasing habits in 2021. I didn't do too bad. Let's see if I can do even better in 2022.","rel":"","context":"In "Fountain Pens"","block_context":{"text":"Fountain Pens","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/category\/stationery\/fountain-pens\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/purchasingHabits_IGSm.jpg?fit=288%2C288&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6871,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/purchasing-habits-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":14707,"position":4},"title":"Purchasing Habits Update","author":"Rachel","date":"July 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"So... remember earlier this year when I said, \"I want to keep my pen purchases this year to 24 or less?\"","rel":"","context":"In "Fountain Pens"","block_context":{"text":"Fountain Pens","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/category\/stationery\/fountain-pens\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/purchasingHabits_IGSm.jpg?fit=288%2C288&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16326,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/pen-collection-2025\/","url_meta":{"origin":14707,"position":5},"title":"My Pen Collection Stats – End of 2025","author":"Rachel","date":"December 31, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019m sharing my collection stats highlights as of the end of 2025. I did my best to keep it short for those of you who aren't data nerds.","rel":"","context":"In "Fountain Pens"","block_context":{"text":"Fountain Pens","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/category\/stationery\/fountain-pens\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"infographic of the type of pen I bought by year","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/penCollection2025-01.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/penCollection2025-01.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/penCollection2025-01.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/penCollection2025-01.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/penCollection2025-01.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/penCollection2025-01.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14707"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14723,"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14707\/revisions\/14723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}