*Gulp* Ok, with my little collection I'm still far away from this...
I love the way you have all the information you need at a glance on one page. I must do something like that myself one day.
Confession time...
About five or six years ago, my older sister and I inherited a reasonably large sum of money. (Probably enough to buy a brand new small car).
She spent hers wisely by having a lovely new kitchen installed. (She has always been more sensible than me.
)
*ahem* I probably should have done the same, but I decided (perhaps foolishly) to keep my 1970's era kitchen, complete with its brown melamine worktops and orange doors.
I was at the peak of my interest in Playmobil at that time, so I convinced myself that I could live with the hideously outdated decor for at least another 10 years and spent a good proportion of what I received on klickies instead.
My current collection would be a heck of a lot smaller had I not done this. I look back on it as a rather crazy thing to do, but I am comforted by the knowledge that the money spent is invested, rather than wasted, and could be easily recouped (or even increased) by selling the Playmobil at a later date, if things ever got really tough. Hopefully, it'll never come to this.
In early 2006 I finally logged all my sets on a database so that I could have some kind of record to refer to. To save space, I would often store smaller sets inside the boxes of larger ones, but I couldn't always rely on my memory to help me find them easily afterwards. I've now included this info on my database.
I don't know how many complete or near complete sets I have altogether (since it's broken down into several separate lists), but I do know that I don't really have room in the house to buy much more Playmobil - not until some of the children leave home, that is.
Now that spending money and space is tighter, I really only buy sporadically - and then only when it is something very special to me... such as the Fairyworld sets.
It's difficult because I see lots of new Playmobil sets that I would love to have, but I know I have to resist temptation or there will not be enough money left to pay the bills.
And yes... I still have the same kitchen.