Do You Know How Many Stamps You Have?
 

I've been making a catalogue of my stamps on Evernote. While I love being able to easily find what I am looking for by keyword, it has lead to an embarrassing realization. I have 599 sets of stamps. This includes wooden, clear, and digital. Some are individual stamps and some are in sets, but my goodness, I didn't realize I had that many. I think I have a problem. Am I alone in having this many stamps or am I in good company?

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
I have an Excel spread sheet that I enter my stamps, inks, and tools (dies, punches, etc.) into. At the moment, it says I have:

1758 SU! Sets/Wheels
3503 Non-SU stamps
5,261 Total

Now, I have purged some in the last couple of years (donations to charity sales) and forgotten to update my spread sheets, but I'm sure I'm still within the 3,000 range.

My kids are gonna hate me when I die.:rofl:

:monocle::roll::rofl:

Oh, and that doesn't include the sets I've gotten with the UK magazines I've bought over the years.
Let's see, I have 14 3-inch binders full of those, of which 3/4ths of them have sets with them, so there's probably another 50ish sets.

And how many of those have never seen ink??? I know so many of mine have not. It's an obsession.

Is that a total of sets or individual stamps?

Maybe one set.:roll:

I actually stopped myself from going to Barnes & Noble to see what was new there because I haven't used but maybe one or two of those sets.

Funny you should ask that question today. While I have no idea exactly how many stamps or stamp sets I have, but there are many. My children will tell you I have hoarding tendencies and I won't deny that. I have many stamps that I have never inked, but I HAD TO HAVE THEM..... In the past year and a half I have been going through my stamps. I have given some to my sister and recently a friend from work has started stamping. I have loaded her up with all sorts of goodies. I still have oodles and I then discovered Unity Stamps and have fallen in love with a lot of their stuff (and I love that they always seem to have some sort of amazing sale going on....). That has added to my stamp collection when my goal was to downsize. Well, today I was heading to my stamp room to tidy up and then I was going to really buckle down and make some cards when my son mentioned a box of stamps I had under his bed. I used his room for storage last year when I was going through my stamps because he was out of town while was reorganizing. Clearly I had forgot about them, so he brought them out and I went through them. Not how I planned to spend my afternoon. I am not nearly as organized as most people - no spreadsheets or cataloging of any sort and I have finally come to the realization that I don't need the latest flower set in the catalog when I have a perfectly good flower set I can substitute for the new one (and truth be told, SU seems to have a lot of stamp sets that closely resemble retired stamp sets). I do know this - if I had to do it all over again, I would be far more selective with not only my stamp purchases, but also my supplies.

Pauline

Wheels, sets and individuals. I do have a column on the Non-SU! sheet where I put how many stamps are in the set,

the number is Yes, and similar to Regina's ( but, I counted my stamp sets as "1")
so, it really a made up number at this point. :mrgreen:

Ah! My long lost sister from another mother......

Me too.

And I may start inventory lists, but never seem to keep track of those, and consequentially end up buying duplicates. (Actually bought THREE of one stamp!)

I own many. Did I say MANY!!! I won't count as it would send my husband into a heart attack if he really knew. I have a full collection of Gina K Designs, The Stamps of Life (memberships are addicting), Power Poppy, Paper Smooches, May May Made It, Hero Arts, Penny Black, other clear stamps, then there are the SU. I have wood, clear, photopolymer, wheels, and an abundance of paper. My room is full. Then come the dies, punches, stencils and tools to use them. We will not count!! I am giving stamps away a few at a time. I love the Pay It Forward thread here as I can show what I have and someone can claim them. Recently it was baby sets as I rarely need a new baby card. This week it was graduation, engagement and marriage sets.

Too many! Oh my word ... way too many. Counting would cause nightmares. :wink:

That’s me too - you are slightly ahead. I do line out those sold or gifted.

It's good to see I'm not alone in "hoarding" stamps. I feel better now. I noticed that my most used category is critters. I know a lot of people hate them, but I love them. I have 220 sets that include critters. What would you say is your biggest category of stamps?

I probably have around 2000 or so.

My biggest category is, without a doubt, Christmas. I love Christmas stamps!

I am so the opposite....I've never liked having "stuff" because it feels burdensome (if you come with me on vacation, you will have LOTS of room for your stuff since I can live out of a backpack for a week or more lol).
The amount of sets I own is small relative to what's been "confessed" already lol. I own about 200 and have zero plans of buying more. The sets I own are 90% SU!, with a hodge podge of companies in the other 10%. My purchases are overwhelmingly consumables and I do actually use those up.
My biggest category of stamps are sentiments and quotes. I LOVE words and fonts! When looking at images, my eye is drawn first to the written word. The more text, the more I notice it. This goes for blog posts and social media posts, too. Graphics don't catch my eye - long, written pieces do.

Well let's put it this way. I think I have a dozen binders that are just stamp indexes. In very tiny defense I am pretty good at not having 20 of the same thing, like 20 roses. My weakness is for stuff I don't have any of...esp florals. Like I was happy when we got some proteas and dragon fruit. The indexes do help me not duplicate, but there have still been some whoops. I am consistent in what I like :roll:

Biggest categories-florals and holidays.

I know some people feel that not having a lot forces you to be more creative. I don't know. That might be true for challenges but in general?

I have basically stopped the emails. I may be missing out on sales but that is fine. If I get a buying hankering...I can hit clearance bins. That is my other weakness...but it has been informative about doing retail therapy. I used to be all over the sales...not anymore. I am saving a lot of money but still spending more than I should. If I want to take a break from work, I don't jump on stamp sites anymore. I look at other stuff.

I also decided a few years back I am done with free shipping if it isn't a pretty low number. I am not spending an additional 30 instead of 7.00 on shipping anymore.

Looking at the gallery here is more than enough temptation for product! LOL

My biggest category is Christmas/Winter hands down.

Currently I have 684 -- too many. About 70% are single stamps because I don't like sets that have a lot of filler sentiments. Some I have used to death, and am close to passing them on to others. My favorite theme is flowers, which present my biggest challenge -- parting with any of them.

Too Many
 

All I know is that I have too many and it has become hard to create anything with so many choices. Am I weird/alone in this? My largest category is Christmas.

Do you mean weird/alone in that having too many choices freezes your mind? If so, then no! That's how I am.
When we had our kitchen remodeled, the designer asked me to pick out cabinets, gesturing to the 100+ choices he had on the store floor. I remember my eyes widening, turning to him, and saying, "Could you pick 5 cabinet styles for me? I'll choose one from the 5 you pick." He looked at me for a minute, then at my husband, who nodded and said, "She's serious. It really will help her." The designer did just that, I chose 1 style from the 5 he presented to me, it's been 10 years, and I still love them!

I totally agree that too many choices is difficult. I own way too many stamps and many rarely see ink. I part with a few at a time, but doing a major purge would totally stress me out. Most of my stamps are sorted by company and some have sorted within the company. It helps me to concentrate on one company's product at a time, as I rarely mix. Today, I used a lot of The Stamps of Life as I know exactly what I was looking for and knew they had it. I also used SU as I needed a masculine card and most of my masculine stamps are SU. Now, my Christmas and Autumn sets are totally separate as those are not used as much during most of the year.

Interesting that this topic is under discussion at this time... I've been purging A LOT of stamps recently and decided to do an estimate of how many were still in the mix. I tallied how many carrier sheets were in a bin X how many bins I had X average number of stamps per sheet. I then divided that number by 365 to see how long it would take me to use them all if I only used one a day (I know - you never use just one, and sometimes you go nuts all in a day and use a lot of them). It was eye-opening to discover that it was over 12 years! And that is AFTER I've purged anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 of the collection! Of course, I've been "collecting" for over 30 years, but still...

All of them have seen ink, since I stamp them for my index, but fewer than half have been used in actual projects - especially the sentiments. Oh - and I'm another one that freezes up with too many options, so I have to look ONLY for specific things, or at a specific section of the index, or other "work-arounds" like that. I have to have things more or less hidden storage-wise, but still accessible, for the same reason.

Going by Evernote, which does not include some stamps that have been pulled to sell, or that were filler in lots I bought for specific stamps... also counts some individual stamps that came in sets, but some sets as single entries... 7034. Digital stamps - 1097. It says there are 930 floral entries, but that includes dies, foil plates, stencils, and possibly beads as well.

I have more than a mere mortal has a right to own. I am culling the collection this year. Selling them on FB Marketplace. There are stamps that have never been used on a project. I do not purchase stamps now, and rarely use stamps for sentiments any more. I definitely want to de stash my collection.

Seems like I am in good (or bad) company...I have over 1200 SU sets and about 100 other brands. Never counted the individual stamps that would be scary...My largest category would be Christmas.
Goal this year is to purge and give Evernote a try.

I can't count how many I have but I can say it is waaaaayyyy toooo many! I can also say I am going through them and culling. It is hard for me to part with images I like and I a debating breaking apart sets to keep the items I like and get rid of those I don't. I have no order other than seasons for most and alpha for SU. But I need to get rid of lots. I am in the category of frozen because I have too much and many have never seen ink. I am a depression shopper...not good. I am unfollowing most blogs but even reading here I had to Goggle May May Made it and The Stamps of Life. See? A sickness. I am trying though to do better.

In the scheme of things, I guess I don't have that many - probably about 800 singles (wood, cling, plain rubber, and clear) and maybe 98 or so SU and other sets. I decided a long time ago that I am not just a card maker, but a collector of beautiful stamps, as well. I have tons of paper and cardstock - way more than I will ever need - but I enjoy looking at it, too. Nevertheless, my stashes could do with some downsizing. What a wonderful hobby!

I started keeping track of my stamps when I started stamping in about 1980's . Recently I gave a ton away to a assisted living facility, and my 'single' stamps were left at just under 1,000. (I probably gave away about half) I have NOT counted any of my stamp sets, and I do have several newer ones. Most of my cards are done with metal die cuts, and most of my sentiments are also dies. like someone else said: my kids will be so discouraged when they have to clean out my craft room after I'm gone...LOL

After my mom died, I was struck buy the large number of bins she had of artifical flowers that we had to go through. It struck me I should be kind to my family and start paring down. Over the past two years, I have gone from 749 stmamp sets + 199 individual Purple onion/Stacey Yakula stamps + 48 Art Impression Watercolor stamp sets.and NOW have 412 stamps sets and the same number of Purple Onion and AI. My current weaknes is dies of which I have 735 which is down frm a high of 804. I set a goal to halve those numbers by the end of the year, but......

It seems I am in very good company here!. I have been stamping over 30 years and have done my share of shopping but have also been given a LOT of supplies. I don't want to know how many stamps I have - definitely more than I need. Have started pulling stamps that I will never use, but it has only been a drop in the bucket and need to be more selective about what I keep. Am way more creative when I limit myself to a certain category or stamp set - too many choices seems to overwhelm me. Last year I started making 80 cards a month for a senior living center. My focus right now is using up the supplies I have. I occasionally slip up and buy a "just can't resist stamp set" for a couple of dollars at the local thrift store, but most purchases are for adhesives these days. I have no kids, so some strangers will hate me when I'm gone but I'm ok with that. :)

I am with a great crowd. I purged many floral and butterfly stamps. I refuse to purchase any more. There is a stamping magazine and I have bought a few. No more. I pulled clear stamps and placed them in clear envelopes. They are in sets for example, animals, kids, vintage, etc. The rubber stamps are in Crafter's Companion 3 ringer binders. Unity has great stamps but they are taking over. I placed matching stamps and dies in clear envelopes. I purchased organizing boxes from Scrapbook, etc. That is when I realized what a nut I am. I create cards for donations and personal use. I don't teach. So, why many stamps? Cuteness or a great sale.

12,596 stamps. (I count the number of individual stamps in a set) I record them in MyStuffPro.

but that doesn’t include the stamp set I got from C&9 2 days ago which isn’t entered yet and I have some old stamps that aren’t entered yet. May never be… ha ha!

I'm not going to count. I have a set number of bins and a few still have space. But these days, if something new comes in - something has to go. It got easier to NOT shop when I realized how good it feels to shop when i actually NEED something. Like I really needed new cutting plates and refill adhesive and it felt good to purchase those.

I've considered pulling stamps from sets and donating the ones I don't use, but I store my sets in pockets so I can just flip through the bins. I like that system. Does anyone know what the sheet is that stamps come on/with and where to purchase them? I might do that if I can put them on a fresh sheet and then into a pocket.

I'm afraid to count. But I'm sure it's not as many as some of you. I'm 99% SU, and those are the ones that I use the most. I have a few of Tim holtz ( crazy cats, crazy dogs ) power poppy, sweet n sassy, paper smooches, etc. But my real addiction is designer paper!! I'm 100% SU on that. I used to have a lot of other brands but always come back to su because of quality and designs. It's hard to find 12x12 designer paper in stores. The designs on those are usually so big they get lost on a card. Su makes theirs to be cut up and used on cards. And I have also been known to buy several packs of the same DSP on purpose.

I am not organized like so many of you are - so I have no idea about the number of stamps I own. I just know that I have TOO MANY! I have given several away, but need to give away/sell/donate many more. I estimate that to use all my stamps, dies, papers, etc. just once, I will have to live to be 200!
My favorite stamp categories are flowers and realistic animals and plants (not cutesie cartoon animals).
Betty

Here’s what I use in pockets. There are a couple different sizes depending on how much you think you’ll use. Amazon: Grafix P05DC0912 9 x 12”, Pad of 25 – Ultra-Clear .005” Film, Acetate Alternative, Glossy Surface for Coverings, Stencils, Color Separation, Window Applications, Transparencies https://a.co/d/5a5Hdbv

Oh! OH! and did I say OH! I am so happy I am not alone...let's just say hundreds and hundreds. Stamping' UP, other company sets, and singles from many yard sales..."oh I don't have one like that." Any one else? We were camping, and found a MEGA crafting yard sale. I scurried to my friends (alias-partner in crime) car with my treasures while hubby was out back of their house looking at tools. Thinking I had put them there with out him knowing...friend's brother pipes up..."Hey B, are those your craft supplies in C's car?" Hubby looks at me and just shakes his head. To say I am a crafter...well, yes. I admit it!

Yeah, I may need rehab of some.sort

I estimate I have over 200 sets. 90% or more are stamping up. I may have 50 individual stamps, maybe 100.
I used to love the thrill of the hunt when Michael’s had those $1.00 stamps!
it don’t make all that many cards and it saddens/stresses me that I can’t possibly use all my supplies!
i look at all the buttons & brads I never use any more and hate they’re just sitting there. I actually think I’l still use some of them. I look at all my beautiful ribbon and think I’ll never use it all.
It certainly doesn’t weigh me down so much that I want to sell or donate any portion of my supplies! I just need to make more cards!
I mainly buy envelopes, rhinestones/gems, glue, cardstock, adhesive, tools, etc. now. Maybe two new sets a year!