Overconsumption or hobbying?
TL;DR: I have 24 pens and 30 or more inks. I fear I'm being excessive and wasteful.
Over the past few months I have been reflecting on my pen collection and the idea of overconsumption. I consider myself a frugal person in most aspects, but I can't help to wonder if my fountain pen collection is more excessive than a hobby should be. I am the type of person who will buy one candle and not replace it until it has burnt all its wax away, but I find I've collected all these pens even though I many other perfectly fine ones. I started being interested in fountain pens almost exactly 4 years ago. I immediately bought 1 from Amazon, then 3 more within 2 months. After 4 years, my collection has reached 24 pens I've kept and over 10 I've given as gifts. I do use all my pens fairly frequently (although as of late I have no longer been filling all my pens at once. I can't use 24 pens consistently before they start to get crusty!). I rotate which pens I use. I have somewhere around 30 inks, not counting samples. I use my pens every day professionally and personally, yet I feel guilty whenever I feel the urge to buy another pen. As of late, I've felt regretful at the amount of cheap Chinese pens I bought early into my collection. They gave me a great deal of joy at the time, but I find myself passing over them for my more expensive pens nowadays. Whenever I feel the urge to buy a new pen, I feel some amount of shame considering all the pens I already have. Does anyone else suffer with this?