Goldenrod:
I have a big dilemma, when I started this hobby in 1995, I opened everything, then came the adult age, wife, kids. I continued to buy everything, but starting with the Revenge of the Sith stuff, I said to myself that I would open later, now 17 years later, my garage is full and I dont many place left. I was trying to fit everything in boxes, but with 4 ships per box I will need a lot of boxes.
So should I buy rubbermaid storage bins and open everything or keep everything sealed to give to the kids when I die? I don't plan to die soon by the way. In my mind, I would open everything, but the amount of money I'll lose...... the dilemma...
Darth Woo:
If you open them, will you and/or your kids enjoy playing with them? If you are opening just cause of lack of space, I'd say find a solution to keep without opening.
Basically, if I was in your position, I would only open if it's to play or display.
Darth Chadus:
I agree, with Darth Woo. You should open them all if you want to display. Looking down the road do you really want to burden your children with getting rid of all your stuff, which may have no meaning to them? For myself as I think into the future, once I retire more than 10 years from now. I plan on getting rid of most of the stuff that holds little or no value, as I don't want to leave it for my kids to deal with after I am gone.
jjreason:
You can consider selling some of it too, if you don't know whether to keep or open. Once you tear off the bandaid it feels good to relieve yourself of some of the burden.
Wedge1021:
I'm in a similar situation. I'm an opener as a rule, but I've also never gotten around to opening most of my collection. My thinking was to leave them in the packaging until I'm ready & sure I want to set them up in a display. That way if I lose interest in some things, get better updated versions, or just need to cut back on volume, I'll hopefully be able to sell off the excess for a better price. I'm really not counting on having this stuff to leave for my kids when I die - I doubt there will be much value there in the end, and I'll likely end up selling as much as I can once I hit a certain age.
So yeah, to kind of echo what JJ said, see if there's anything you can just sell off as well. For me it was my entire Clone Wars collection (all still carded) and a whole lot of boxed ships. I just wouldn't have had the room to do anything with that stuff. There's a lot more I can still get rid of that I'll get around to one day soon I hope. If there's stuff you know you'll never part with and plan to include as a part of any displays, go ahead and open those. But if there's some things you aren't sure about, keep it sealed for now until you either open it or sell it.