~You've ever found something (a doll, an outfit, a prop, a playset)  you really, truly, and forever wanted at a junk shop, thrift store, or yard sale - often just after you lost another bid for it on eBay, and this one is in great shape for just a coupla bucks.

~Your purchases come home more often in wrinkled recycled grocery sacks than big colorful bags from toy stores.

~You've ever turned down a new or used doll priced at $2. as being too expensive.

~When someone bemoans the fact that they don't have any trash dolls to experiment on, you snort  - they'd probably consider half your collection as junk.

~You've ever bought a used doll just for her outfit, something you just can't bring yourself to do with a brand new doll. Unless it's from the 99c store.

~You have a dozen or more nude dolls waiting to be redressed for your yard sale or used for experiments  - the outfits they came in are with all your other doll clothes.

~You have a hard time buying a used nude Barbie for $2. when you know you can often find a dressed doll for less.

~You have a couple of Kelsey or Patti or other generic dolls in your collection that you really like.

~Because you shop second-hand or closeout, you have a variety of dolls in your collection -  besides Barbie, theres Darci, Maxie, Jem, Steffie Love, Princess Leia, GI Joe, Power Team, Boy Band X, generics, etc.

~No matter what size or shape of doll shoe comes with an outfit, you're almost sure to have a doll who'll fit it.

~You start to see doll clothes you like as individual pieces of a pattern, can tell how an outfit was made and can duplicate it far cheaper ! Same thing with props, accessories, doll food...

~You've ever made a game of finding all the little pieces to a doll outfit or playset instead of just buying a MIB one on eBay, a doll show, or a website.

~You've ever bought a doll at a 99c store just for her outfit and ended up liking the dolls face.

~You've put a 99c doll head on an authentic Barbie body.

~You went ahead and put the Barbie head on the 99c body  - what the heck.

~You figured out, even before seeing a finished set on eBay, that plastic canvas doll furniture doesn't hold its shape very long.

~You're pretty good at repairing or remaking doll clothes from wrecked pieces. Even the nylon tricot stuff.

~You're also getting good at fixing the dolls themselves. With so many junk dolls, you can afford to be experimental.

~You're considering learning how to sew, knit or crochet, so you can make more doll stuff.

~You buy your kids clothes (and yours) with an eye to recycling the fabric for doll clothes once the outfit is worn out, outgrown, or partially wrecked.

~You don't have kids - or have boys - but you still buy ruffly, tiny-print infant girl dresses at yard sales. To make doll clothes from !

~You offer to make a Barbie dress out of an outgrown infant sleeper for a child you love.

~You've ever held a load of laundry until you were back from your weekly yard-sailing...just in case there were some new acquisitions that needed a quick wash.

~The fun yard sales that sell clothes as 'stuff a bag for a buck' net you enough material for ten new wardrobes for each doll.

~You've ever removed the clothes from a fast-food joint's 'Kid's Meal' toy and refashioned them to fit Barbie or Kelly. The toy originally came from that new yard sale sensation - a huge box full of 'em for a quarter or less each. You might also have removed or claimed the props as well - they're often within scale.

~You kind of wish that instead of mini dolls that nobody plays with, the toy that comes with the kid meal would be a pair of doll shoes, or a cute skirt or something.

~You have very few dolls still in their boxes.Mostly because when you got them, they didn't come in boxes !

~You have to wonder about the folks who had to remortgage their home because a collector's 'Barbie Fever' compelled him/her to buy a high-end doll every day for eight years. Really, it's not like Mattel uses more than eight or ten molds all year long...

~You've ever salivated at a 2-for-1 sale at the Dollar Store. When one announces a going out of business sale, you're there almost daily until you've cleaned them out of anything you want.

~You are known to buy just one of a generic prop or outsize doll to see if it or their clothes work. If it does, then you rush back to buy more. Of course, half the time, there's a doll in your car, and it's not like you care who sees you carry the doll into the store to make sure...

~Reason there's a doll in the car is because you're wondering if Sally Beauty Supply fake hair (not the real human hair - $$$ !) would work for a reroot. Yes, it does !

~You've kept an eye on that lime-green wig on the shelves at Halloween, hoping to catch it after the holiday for less - it would also make really cool reroot hair !

~You save your solo doll shoes. Just in case you find the missing one.

~You see several matches in the solo shoe pile but the colors are different. So you start asking questions about primer, sanding, painting...

~You consider shipping as part of the price of all eBay goodies. And refuse to bid on auctions if the seller doesn't mention how much shipping will be.

~You waited until they went on markdown to buy that $10. 7-outfits-plus-props-and-doll generic set. After all, there's only four outfits  you really like in it.

~You went on a bit of a spree the day after Christmas - after-holiday markdowns ! 

~You consider rebate checks, coupon savings, and loose change as doll money.

~You've traded dolls with someone, and everyone feels like they came out ahead.

~Employees of Dollar Tree expect you at a certain time on a certain day each week and comment when you're early or late. Then tell you what new doll stuff has come in. The toy outlet near you knows your name and car. And the thrift store greets you with hellos to 'The Barbie Lady/Guy'.

~You get great inexpensive ideas from your forum, mailing list, or doll club.

~You've ever bought two identical packs of Barbie shoes, intending to leave one pack intact, but cut straps off some shoes in the other pack, so you have more styles. You've also been known to scuff sneakers, paint pumps, and flair up flats, again for the variety.

~You've come to the conclusion that Mattel never made just one of anything, so if you missed a choice goodie this go round, just wait, and it'll probably come your way again. Usually cheaper.

~Once in a great while - maybe two or three times a year - you find something you absolutely MUST have, and to heck with frugality or how expensive the darn thing is !

~You've bought more than one of a certain style of outfit from the 99c store to use as a pattern, to alter, to redo, or as fabric for something different.

~You've ever salivated over the prototype pictures of a doll but you wait to see one up close in the harsh light of retail before buying one.

~You finally see this doll. And you walk away empty-handed, wondering what happened between prototype and production.

~You've ever stood there, at a yard-sale, thrift-store, or 99c store, having to convince yourself, 'Come on ! Its only a buck !'.

~You've ever taken off an oversized bow on a doll dress, then carefully taken it apart and put it aside for later -  the ribbon's wide enough to make a shirt from !

~You've ever wrapped a gift for someone with another of those outsize bows that you forgot to take apart.

~You can size clothes on other dolls and stuffed animals and know if they'll fit your dolls. Same with props - that refrigerator magnet circular saw would look so cute with that rugged Power Team guy...

~When other seamstresses sing the praises of a $20. device that turns fabric tubes inside out, you grab the wooden meat skewer and hollowed-out Bic pen you use and wonder if you should upgrade the skewer to a crochet hook.

~Your fabric stash is mostly remnants, abandoned projects from yard sales, and discarded clothes - not a lot of fabric by the yard cut just for you !

~One of your favorite doll outfits is made from a sock or a shirt sleeve. And there's a couple of Dollar Store doilies that look great as shawls...

~You've used ideas from your childhood play in your current play !

~When you look at doll patterns in the catalogs, you realize you already have similar ones courtesy of online free downloads and the 80s-era pattern you got off eBay for $3.  

~You've used an old binder or photo album as a catalog for all your patterns, or just a scan-print of the envelope front, so you can leaf through it at your leisure and dream about what to make next.

~You've ever snagged an outdated pattern catalog from a fabric store - lots of great ideas for doll clothes in there ! As well as ideas for fabrics, original designs, etc.

~You wonder if there's a 'Patternholics Anonymous' chapter near you, but since you only pay a buck or two on sale for 'em, decide the membership fees might be more expensive than your addiction !

~It was fun to see how many doll clothes you could make from that 2T todder dress you got for a quarter at a yard sale.

~When, one day, you go through all your dolls with an eye towards thinning your collection, at least you don't have major remorse and guilt for spending too much on the ones you 'cut' !

~You got a free website to find out if there's more freaks like you out there ! :)