Thanks for the message @EnterTheWyvern, I think it is a great strategy.
I am only really about a year in the “New Era” and I can see how easily I could end up in a similar situation. I admit I have had my odd compulsive buy (Gloomhaven comes to mind) but I tend to think well before making a purchase (how often will the game hit the table, how much am I going to get out of the game in terms of “experience”, will it be a game that my family enjoy, or that I can take to parties, etc.). Still, I have managed to buy a good 15 games in that time, and I know there is another good 20 on my wish list. If we put on top whatever novelties are on the horizon, I can see myself being in a similar position in say, 5 years.
I think board games are an amazing hobby, and I did never felt that I needed to consider all these issues when I was buying video games through my 20s and 30s, for example (which I should have). It was quite a liberating experience when slightly over 2 years ago, I went to trade 2 or 3 boxes of old video games, and took a box of books to a friend to keep and 3 or 4 more to the charity shop before moving to NZ. Painful, but liberating.
Not that I am planning to move anywhere else any soon, but I know if I had to go through the same experience now with my board games, it would be challenging (boardgames take a lot more space, so there would need to be a lot of sacrifices to be made).
I think that is where going to a club or sharing games can make a huge difference. I know there are games that I like a lot, but knowing that they have them in the club I go to, I don’t feel like buying them. Splendor and Arboretum have been the only two games I repeated, and it was because I know they will hit the table with family and friends, and they have.
Still, I think it is great that you shared your thoughts. Thanks.