In my last blog I highlighted the reasons as to why you may purchase a shirt and if you do really need it. During a break in reflection, I had the opportunity to see what I had in my collection and collated some information. There were a number of shirts that I totally forgot I had (we’ve all done it), including a 1996 away shirt from Juventus. I picked this one specifically, as I saw one online recently and considered the purchase. For whatever reason, I held back and decided not to. Later on in that week, I sorted through my shirts and found the exact same shirt that I saw on twitter. This was a bit of a shock to myself and due to this (near) moment of forgetfulness, I decided to sort everything out properly.

Fast forward to today and we’re in a position to buy another shirt that we’ve identified. This could be on your ‘want’s’ list, or it is something that has really taken your fancy. Either way, we’re now making an approach to the seller.

Before we do this, we previously created a small checklist to specify about the potential purchase and new addition;

Have a collecting philosophy
Does this new shirt fit into the collection?
Does it add value?
Do you need it to complete a set or enhance your chances of reaching an objective?

> I’m now a conscious collector and making purchases that I need, which I mentioned in my last blog post. If you are an unconscious buyer, you may default to ‘auto pilot’, where you may just make rash decisions and buy shirts that you don’t really want, or need <

Before making a purchase, ask yourself those 4 questions and see what position it puts you in, as you are then questioning your first decision.

You then need to finally ask yourself a further 2 questions, which require an honest and accurate answer;

Do I NEED the shirt?

Or……

Do I WANT the shirt?

Needing the shirt – Objective

You have specified that you need this certain piece to fulfil a space in your collection and it’s contributing to a larger intention.

Wanting the shirt – Subjective

You see a shirt that you like for whatever reason. You now need to determine if it’s going to fit your philosophy or are you just going to make the purchase, because you like the colour for example. This shirt might not necessarily contribute to your overall intentions.

While there is no consequence for the above actions, this process could again help you understand where your collection is moving and if your purchases are contributing. If you don’t have any objective of what you want to achieve (team X shirts), your individual intentions (purchasing) are some what lost and going into different directions. This could obviously lead you down other paths that you don’t necessarily need to walk, but it was the want that took you there.

These decisions as we know, will have a financial cost, so consider the walk you wish to take, what direction it is going and where it will end up. By doing this, you will finish those collections that you NEEDED!
One point to note with this, is that a philosophy can always evolve as this is simply your how (application) of the original what.

What – I want collect team ‘X’ shirts

How – By purchasing them online

There is nothing wrong in assessing where your collection is going or even expanding it. My advice is, have a plan and save money on stuff you don’t really want.