I've been going back and forth with this for weeks now, and I'm sure some of you have been in the same boat, so I'd love to hear your advice.

My wife is currently five months pregnant with twins, our first children. We have a little credit debt, a car payment, and a mortgage. I have a collection of 11 pins, all of which are in 'good' shape or better. I am 'emotionally' ready to sell off all but 1 or 2 pins to make money to pay off debt so that one of us can stay home with the kids and not be worried about bills.

I explained this to my wife, and surprisingly SHE is the one who doesn't want to sell any of our pins! She very rarely plays any of them, unless I prod her to join me, but she is a fan of the hobby and knows more about pinball (through osmosis) than many regular pinheads. I am having a hard time getting her on-board with selling, because she thinks I will end up regretting the decision. In my mind, it's like having $20k sitting around, with no one to enjoy them, AND no dent in our debt.

If you sold off your collection in the past, or even just substantially downsized, do you regret it? Pins are going up in value right now, and down in availability. We've sold off a lot of games in the past to nut our collection down to this 'core' group of pins as it is. She likes that we're the 'cool' couple with the fun house, and when the kids are older, that image will hold even more weight in her mind (and I get it, I would have loved to have had a friend with an arcade in their house when I was a kid!). Still, that's at least seven years away... haha... if that? If the games are gone, we're just a boring old couple.

I need someone to talk me into it or out of it! Thanks so much!

haha... CSI is our newest addition, a game we both really like. And I'm a sucker for Popaduik games. The only pin I've ever regretted selling is ToM. I've thought about selling WCS more than any other game, but it always suckers me back in. TOTAN is actually the big fish that I'm ready to move, though I basically traded the ToM for it.

I grew up in daycare as a child, and while I don't have any issues with parents that use it, we would prefer that one of us stays home with the kids. We both have long-term career type jobs, but I would probably go down to part-time to keep my benefits while my wife continues her work. So, YES, we do WANT to stay home.

We have a WOZ coming (eventually), that we ordered in Jan. 2011, and I figured keeping a game or two would keep the hobby alive in our home.

I like this idea. I've thought more about keeping games like WCS and Pinbot because the value rarely moves, so we're not really 'gaining' anything. JD is my favorite game, but no one else likes it. I like the idea of merging two lists with different goals. Thanks!

I'm psyched that you guys are being so supportive! I'll have to show my wife your comments when she gets home. Thanks so much for your input.

We have cut down spending big time over the past six months. We're both in a 'needs not wants' groove right now, and it feels good. Selling 2 pins will more than cover the 'little credit card debt', it really isn't much, we've been grinding away at it all year and its a quarter of what it was last January.

The overwhelming response seems to be to sell a few, and I really appreciate the encouraging words. I was waiting for all the stories of regret, and no one is wailing away at that angle. You guys are great for sharing your experiences, it makes me feel better about the direction we're headed. Thanks so much.