Somehow I have survived the first four months of 2017 without making a single new music purchase. My wife & I are about to begin a 6-7 month whole-house renovation (while still living in the house). Between the enormous cost associated with that and the fact that my entire CD & LP collections are in boxes & will remain in storage until the project is complete, I couldn't justify the accumulation of more physical product. As someone who, like most of my fellow IMWANers, has spent most of his life buying music (sometimes nearly every day), this has been a very strange time. Thankfully we live in the age of Spotify, so I've been able to hear almost every album that's on my wish list, but I still feel like something's missing.

I actually packed my music collection in August 2015 prior to my move from New York to North Carolina, and everything has been in limbo since then as we shopped for a house. By the time renovations are done it will be more than 2 years without my CDs & LPs or a room to play them in.

Just wanted to share this with people who will understand my situation, and I'm wondering if anyone here has gone through a period like this.
I'm not looking for sympathy. When the work is done I will have a 300+ square foot media room with custom LP cabinets & CD shelves, an improved surround sound set-up, a new 65" 4K TV and my drums set up again (I've been playing an electronic kit for nearly 2 years to keep up my chops). Needless to say I will probably lock myself in there for at least 6 months just catching up on all the things I accumulated prior to my 2017 music-buying moratorium.

Cold turkey. I hope that you come through this ok.

Thanks. I have a good therapist who should be able to help me out.

Good lord - did Stephen King write this??? There should be a warning label!!!

Oh no...I wasn't looking to frighten my IMWAN friends, but I do take solace in knowing that others feel my pain.

I have such a backlog of new CDs that I haven't listened to yet--some of them purchased three or four ago!--that I decided to give up buying music for Lent this year. It was really hard...so hard to that, when the local Newbury Comics had a one-day 40% off sale for its anniversary, I cracked and bought four CDs. I did refrain for the couple of weeks that remained, but the day after Easter, I was right back at the store. "My name is Momo, and I am a CD addict...."

At least you're making an effort and you admit you have a "problem." Don't beat yourself up over a few random purchases. You'll be okay and you're among many others like you.

Music is good for you! Quit something bad instead, like smoking or Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

My skin would crawl.....

I'm with Rich.

I just have not had the money at all to buy things.

I've only made 3 purchases all year, and there are things out and coming out I must have.

I don't have the disposal income I wish I had.

And I thought Quitting Coffee was hard!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would have quit anything (or everything) else I could if that had been an option. I've had to turn down record fairs and walk past record stores for way too long. What's the point if you have to leave empty-handed? The good news is I have about 70-80 LPs I accumulated after packing everything up which have never been played, and a couple dozen music DVDs & Blu-rays with concerts or albums in surround sound, so once the work is done & my media room is complete, it will be like I just came back from the greatest shopping trip of all time.

...from giving up the Kardashians?

Sorry you've been musically limited as well, Pete. Hopefully we both emerge from this period soon. I've been okay listening to most new releases via Spotify, but there are a number of box sets, CD/DVD or CD/Bllu-ray combos and other special packages that I really want to own. I just can't justify the cost and I have nowhere to put them.

I never drank coffee but I used to be addicted to Diet Coke, drinking anywhere from two to four 20 oz. bottles a day. I quit cold turkey and got sick for several days, immediately feeling better after just one bottle. I eventually weaned myself off caffeine and now I drink very little of it. But nothing has made me feel more neutered than not being able to partake in my lifelong obsession with record shopping.

Rich, this has been the story of my life, more or less for almost eight years. I won't go into all the reasons but the bottom line is I simply don't have as much disposable income as I used to.

The first couple of years were basically cold turkey and since then I might pick up a handful of CD's each year but nothing like my buying habits in the 90's and 2000's. And yes, it's been hard. And yes, sometimes I get jealous reading this message board because I can't begin to afford even a tenth of what some of my fellow ICEers are buying. I think what's saved me from going stark raving looney is the advent of streaming services like Spotify, as you mentioned above. Also, getting a turntable for my birthday about five years ago gave me an excuse to start hitting the thrift stores and dollar bins for cheap albums, and I seldom spend more than four or five dollars on these excursions. So my desires to buy a lot of CD's may have been a bit dampened but, believe me, I have a mental list a mile long of things that I "need" if I'm ever in that position again.

Hang in there, Rich, and remember you're going to have a great place to enjoy your music when this is all over.

Rich, if it makes you feel any better, I've been buying enough for the both of us.

The need to downsize when I moved has played a significant role in my partial changeover to files (that & my Oppo).

Sorry to hear about your situation, Glenn. I guess we all have to deal with things and as long as we can continue listening to music in some way we'll get by. You mentioned the dampening of your desire to buy lots of CDs, which is something I've had a hard time coming to terms with. I'm curious to see how things change after our renovations are complete and I have a music room again. I won't have the spending money I'm used to, at least not for a while, so I plan on spending my music money carefully and enjoying the things I already own.

All hail IMWAN for giving us a community of like-minded folks to commiserate with.

Strangely that has no impact on me whatsoever. Haha. I just hope whatever building you live in is structurally sound to withstand the weight of your collection.