I often wonder if the urge to collect is hard-wired in the human race, or just something encouraged by our society.
When I was a child, I remember my friends building collections of dolls, coins, baseball cards, comic books, and pop culture/movie memorabilia. I always felt a little left out. I don’t know if it was due to a lack of interest, short attention span, or early minimalist tendencies, but I had zero desire to participate in the collecting trends that were popular at the time (I won’t date myself by naming them!).
When I was a young adult, however, I finally caved to the pressure. In our post-college days, my boyfriend (now husband) and I started collecting vintage cocktail shakers to decorate our apartment. We had a great time scouring antique shops and flea markets to track them down. To be honest, I think we did it more for the thrill of the hunt than the actual objects.
Then one day, we stopped and asked why on earth we were collecting these things (we had acquired about 20-30 by that time). I think we both realized we weren’t getting any pleasure out of the objects themselves; we simply enjoyed having a mutual hobby, and could just as well entertain ourselves with other pursuits.
Fortunately, we were able to liquidate the entire collection on eBay in six weeks –- and we felt so *free* after the last one left our home!
Needless to say, that was my first and only foray into the world of collecting. I’ve only been tempted once since then, when I acquired a lovely kokeshi doll from Japan (see photo above) and considered purchasing more. However, I recalled my first collecting experience, and knew I’d eventually tire of them and end up selling them on eBay. Therefore, I decided to bypass the entire process by declaring that “one is enough.”
I’d love to hear about your experiences with collecting. Have you ever had a collection? Or have you dissolved one in your minimalist journey? Let me know in the Comments.
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I went through the faze of collecting ducks, not real ones of course..lol
I had a blue/white kitchen and every square inch was covered with some sort of ‘ducky thing’…when I think back on it now…ugh
I haven’t collected a thing since…(except money…I am ALWAYS trying to collect money..haha)
I don’t collect anything, but I think there’s something in the thrill of the chase. When I was in France, I was with a very wealthy family. On Saturdays, they would go to the antiques market and buy things. Not because they needed them, but because they could find bargains. When I first entered their lovely home, I thought that I would love to have 2 houses in downtown Toulouse as well decorated. Then, I realized that living in a beautiful yet cluttered home would not make me happy. The thing I loved best was the art in their home and I intend to include that in mine.
Few things have made me happier than liquidating my coin collection. Beyond not bringing me happiness, the collection stressed me out! When the last coin was sold on eBay, I felt so relieved. I put all of the proceeds to the mortgage, which also made me feel great.
Another point I think is important to make is that you can be interested in something without owning it. For example, just because I don’t collect coins anymore doesn’t mean I can’t still be interested in them and learn about them. At the end of the day, what does it really matter if you own the item itself?
I come from a family of collectors. My grandfather collects *everything* (I’m seriously not even joking). They live out in the country and had built a great big steel barn/building to basically set up as his ‘museum’. He even has it set up like a little town – cars set up in the middle, and little rooms built up around the place like buildings (one set up as a general store with old food-related collections, a bank set up with his coin collections, etc). There are a bazillion things in his museum. I don’t really know why he collects it all, but every time he gets something new to add to it we have to all go take a lap around the museum while he plays tour guide and shows us everything all over again. My grandma always collected McDonalds Happy Meal Toys and porcelain dolls.
My grandma on the other side of the family was basically a hoarder, though not quite as extreme as the ones you see on TV.
Early on, as a kid, I was taught to collect things. My grandfather started me on a coin collection, and my grandmother started me on porcelain dolls. This habit has carried with me through the years as I’ve grown up. Once I grew out of dolls it became old jewelry boxes. And then it changed to dragons. Then, when I moved out on my own, it became Christmas decor.
I’ve sold the dragons, but I still have the coins tucked away in the vintage jewelry boxes. And the porcelain dolls are tucked away in a tupperware bin at my parents’ place.
I don’t mind keeping the coins or the jewelry boxes. Three of the boxes were my great-grandmothers so they’re very special to me. I don’t know what to do about the dolls, but since they’re not really in my way I’m not too worried about it. Soon enough my niece will be old enough to want them. And I’m in the process of eliminating 75% of my Christmas decor I’ve collected, narrowing it down from 3 big trees and other misc decorations for the house down to just one tree and about 1/3 of the decorations (and I’m trying to get it below that).
(didn’t really mean for that to be as long as it was… sorry!)
Your grandparents sound about like mine. My grandfather built a big ol’ barn/metal building out in the country to house his cars, tools, old appliances, et cetera and my grandmother collects McDonald’s Happy Meal toys.
I collect records (or used to), but now I’m getting rid of them on ebay. My mother also got into the Beanie Baby frenzy and has boxes of the little, plush critters.
It’s funny to think people actually thought stuffed animals would fund their retirements.
I know I definitely have the instinct to collect. I had so many collections growing up. If I could find two of something, then I figured I should have three. And “it’s for my collection” was an excuse to buy something even when money was tight.
Nowadays, I try very hard to not develop collections. My husband and I still have a bit of a rock collection (mostly crystals), but we have stopped adding to it. And while I do still have quite a few shoes, I’ve stopped buying shoes just because they’re cute or a color I don’t have and I’ve given away many pairs.
The problem, though, is that some other people like to add to collections they see and are not as discriminating. If you have one duck figurine, you’re likely to get another from them every time they need to give you a gift — until you have a collection of gifted ducks you don’t even care for. Best to stop that sooner than later!
My family members are collectors: my aunt collects teapots, my mom collects tins, my grandma collected salt and pepper shakers, my dad collected antique radios. Naturally then my family created collections for me by giving me gifts; the biggest ones were Snoopy items, ceramic dogs, and dolls. Those childhood collections are long gone. I appreciate the thought of course but I’m just not into it.
I love the kokeshi doll! Very cute.
Alas, collections. As an aspiring minimalist, my collections have been much reduced. When I was younger it was cat figurines (now I have 4 real cats!). As I got older it was blue glass bottles, teacups, books.
I still have a lot of the books, but most of my collections (which were mostly collecting dust) are gone. And I don’t miss them!
Oh lord, don’t get me started. My husband has been collecting records, comic books, figurines and CDs for years now. He finally saw the light and now wants to scale down the collection but is having a hard time figuring out what to do with it all as some of them are worth actual money. But the majority are not.
So he has to spend hours looking up the items on Amazon and eBay to see if it’s worth selling. And then there’s the actual time & materials spent selling the thing. He’s literally spending days if not months trying to minimize losses on this collection.
I told him to just box it all up and sell it to a used bookstore, take the loss and move on with his life.
In my opinion, collections are more trouble than they’re worth. They might make you happy for a while but when you invariably get tired of whatever you’re collecting, you’re stuck with a bunch of crap no one else wants.
Francine,
If it could be collected, I did it, lol. When I was a kid, I collected bottlecaps, Hot Wheels, rocks,seashells, baseball cards, stamps, coins, beer cans, comic books, you name it. My friends and I used to barter and trade some of these items between us.
As I got older, it expanded into books, CDs,video games, movies, African masks, etc. (All of these I recently got rid of, but kept two masks a few books movies and video games)
Mom asked me recently what I wanted to do with my old collections and I told her to just get rid of everything, Please!!
After a while, it just becomes TOO much. As one gets older and possibly into the collection of valuable items, the stress, storage and such is something I don;t want to deal with anymore.
I now have hobbies that don’t require collecting or extensive equipment such as Astronomy, bird watching and just going out and enjoying nature. Like Ben more or less said, you can still appreciate things without the burden of ownership.
Julia,
It may be worth the time if your husband can take the records to a local used record shop. There are still a lot of people looking for old vinyl and some records are woth a lot now, depending on genre, conditon, etc.
He probably won’t get much at all for the Cds..probably no more than 50 cents to a couple of bucks a piece.
I had a terrible issue with collecting dolls. Barbie dolls, those dolls in home shopping channels, it was awful. I look back at it now and realize what a real issue I was having to be spending so much money that only thrilled me for a minute.
Like you, I moved overseas for my job and everything sat in storage for a long time. When I moved back, I had to decide what to do with all those dolls. I kept them out in my garage and eventually sold (some) or gave away most, thousands of dollars of dolls. I understand what you mean by freedom. I will never go back there again.
I now live in India and went to a (now) museum where Mahatma Gandhi lived in the 20’s and 30’s. They have left his room as it was when he lived in it. If you ever want to be truly inspired, that room is the room to see. They also have pictures of all his possessions. I don’t remember the exact count of how much he had, but it definitely was less than 100…or even 50 items.
Every time I think of collecting or buying anything, I visualize that room.
I have one collection (okay I have a couple of stagnant ones from childhood that I am currently in the process of getting rid of). My collection is of crown shaped jewelry, rings mainly. My name means “crowned” and so it is a really unique collection.
There are a few positive things about this collection:
1. They are hard to come by. I tried collecting shot glasses from places that I had personally been to, but then word got out and family members started buying me multiple glasses on every trip they went on! I had the appearance of a raging alcoholic in no time. Fortunately, crown jewelry is a little more difficult to find and is definitely not in every tourist trap.
2. I have set limits on how big my collection can be. I have a 13″ x 13″ x 2.5″ display case that holds them and that is it! The rule is that if it doesn’t fit within those parameters, I don’t want it.
3. My collection is multi-tasking. I can wear pieces of my collection or they are quite decorative in the display case.
The stamp and coin collection are ready to go out the door. The CD collection got donated to the library and the DVDs were sold at the bookstore after I ripped everything to my computer. I like the digital world! =)
The only thing I ever collected was books, cds, dvds, but I eventually got rid of them. I wasn’t a huge collector I had like a library of 75 items in each category. I sold my stuff and now have a digital library, e-books, mp3s, I use netflix to watch dvds. To me collecting seems like clutter. You have to be careful, just because its on your computer doesn’t mean it can’t be clutter, even digital items can be clutter if you have too many of them. I’m more careful about that now.
Steven Spielberg produced this tv series in the 90s called “Amazing Stories” one of the episodes was about some boy who collected everything. When he got to be an old man like in his 60s, he sold it and was very rich from his collection but it took him awhile to benefit from his collection.
I totally agree. I never collected anything when I was young, and I always felt so left out when friends would talk about their baseball cards or whatever else it was they collected. So in college, I started a shot glass collection just for the sake of collecting SOMETHING. The problem with my collection? I DIDN’T EVEN DRINK! And when I did, I certainly didn’t do shots. My collection sat in a cabinet gathering dust. When I first began decluttering, I put my collection out in pyramid form on top of my kitchen cabinets. Then I noticed how very “college” that looked, and I began donating all but the ones that really meant something – one from a trip to Memphis with my mother and one from my own trip to DC.
I collected dolls when I was younger & now I wish I could get ride of 95% of them without hurting my parents feelings. I sold my Precious Moments ornaments & need to get ride of 3 Yesterdays Child ornaments, everyone has means so well buying you these things but later on they just weigh a person down so much, now I collect nothing if only I could get ride of the packed away dolls.
I don’t collect anything. Ugh. The thought makes me shudder. As a kid I sort of collected scraps, and we traded those with friends. Also stamps for a while, but never got into it really. I guess I was just never big on collecting. I do have a folder of scraps I’m going to give to my daughter when she is a few years older. The closest thing that comes to a collection are my vintage toys, but if it weren’t for my daughter I would not have them! They are her toys. And there aren’t that many.
I like to joke that I have collections of one – I have a rock collection that consists of one perfect rock; a teacup collection that is my favourite teacup from the collection I inherited from my grandmother (the rest went to good friends and family); and so on. My one real collection deserving of the name is my Ganesh collection – where again, I have one small statue of Ganesh, which I’m particularly fond of, in my apartment, and a digital file on my laptop featuring photos of dozens of Ganeshes from my travels. Keeping a digital collection allows me to retain the thrill of the hunt while keeping my collection to a manageable size (particularly important since I downsized five years ago from a 200m2 house into a 8m2 apartment).
Ali, i love your comment. collections of one perfect item… beautiful.
Before my grandmother passed, years ago, I went through her house and counted over 3000 owls. There were owl cookie jars, wall hangings, rugs, glass candle holders etc. It was Owl heaven, it seemed. I was overwhelmed then and now don’t collect anything except memories. Life is better that way.
i collected some little stuff as i was a kid because others were collecting the samne things. i was never really so into it.
couple of years ago i started finding/collecting vintage tins, small ones.. kindof functional, because you can store things in them.. but if you don´t have any things?
they were pretty, the tins, but i stopped, because i didn#t need that many of them. is still have and use some of them.
collecting a little jewellery would be nice. but good jewellery.
When I was younger, my grandmother gave me a music box every birthday and Christmas. They went into a box in the attic. I finally told her “no more” and gave them away. Thank goodness she didn’t get too offended! There were other collections she gave me, but those too have gone away.
I have two Willow Tree Figurines. Very simple, very beautiful. I love them and I desire no more than those two.
So nice not to have all those “collections” to take care of.
I’ve never been a collector. And I know what you mean by feeling left out. I just can’t see why I’d want a whole bunch of variations on one thing.
I used to collect dance cd’s from various artists in the Chicago area. Ten years ago, everyone was a “DJ” and thus put out their own cd to self promote. My boyfriend at the time, owned a mix cd shop, and he gave me a complimentary copy of each one. Needless to say, I ended up with over 300 of these cds, many of which had the same exact songs, just mixed in a different order. I have managed to give one of the CD books (You know, those HUGE ones that hold all those discs) back to my ex, and I have two more to send. However, with busy schedules, I’ll probably have to ship them by UPS since he lives out of state, but it will be worth it to get rid of them for good!
The other thing I collect is mardi gras beads. My current boyfriend works in the nightclub industry, and employees hand beads out to girls to help encourage patrons to have a great time and drink, and well, whatever. So, I have ended up with tons and TONS of these beads myself (some of which are very cool, not just the basic green, gold and purple ones you can get at party stores). I have yet to part with these though, I never wear them or use them, but they hang above my window and kind of look cool, I guess. Someday, I hope I’ll be strong enough to part with them.
The third thing I collect is concert t-shirts. The only use that comes out of them is sleep-shirts or “lounging” shirts…. but again, I can’t seem to part with them.
I have had way too many collections in my 36 years of marriage and regret all of the money I have wasted, for alas, after I have had a collection for so long, I suddenly tire of it and then am stuck with how to discard it. I usually end up donating it all at once. The collecting fever is strong in my family, so I struggle to resist the temptation. Reading about other’s collections always entices me, so I suppose that I need to stay away from such reading altogether. I only wish that I now had all of the money that I have wasted over the years. Two things that I read in the other comments are so true, and I paraphrase…save the money and build the memories instead AND you can still be interested in something, but DO NOT HAVE to collect it. Good advice.
Andrea, I, too, have WASTED hundreds of dollars on STUFF that I THOUGHT I needed to collect; only to tire of it and just GET RID OF all it in one shot (gave away). It pains me to think of the waste, HOWEVER, I learned a good lesson, and agree with the paraphrase you’ve included….SAVE THE MONEY…probably my husband and I will have to work a few extra years instead of retire because of the loss of money to stuff we THOUGHT we needed!!!
Hi MM! :)
When I was little, I thought it was a good thing to collect something because everyone in my family did. I thought you simply needed to pick something, accumulate lots of it, spend some time reading about it and so on. So I picked stamps. Makes me smile to look back on those days I spent removing stamps from envelopes, trading stamps with friends, reading a little book on stamp collecting for kids, looking up names of countries in their local language(s), buying stamps and so on. I still have my stamp collection at my parents’ house.
But right now, nope, I don’t collect anything and don’t want to get started with it.
My parents are collectors and I dread when i have to deal with all these collections i’m not interrested in and do not know how to get rid of or sell ( it will be an whole-year job to sell all of them on e-bay)
I have never been a collector and, until recently, I felt it was like a handicap, a lack of personality. I envy the thrill of hunt. When I discoverd minimalism as a way of life it was a great relief !
I understand your dread nicole86. My MIL has hundreds of 1.0m high + porcelain dolls around her house. The walls and floor of the spare room are crammed with them – so much so that when we visit we have to sleep in the outside “store” room. Why couldn’t the dolls live out there?? My husband and I also dread having to deal with them – apparently MIL has left ‘instructions’ on what to do with them when the time comes. Oh dear we would love to donate them all but I’m afraid the instructions may mean countless hours on ebay and doll auction sites.
I am not into collecting anything – I love using my spare money for eating out at restaurants as a special treat, not using it to buy a dust collector. You can’t beat someone else doing the cooking!
My weakness is magnets. When I get the collecting or souvenir urge, I look for magnets that reflect the place I’m visiting. I have some great ones, but they would fall off the refrigerator door, and now the fragile ones are on a separate magnet board. But I have less than 50, and I am very careful about adding to the collection.
I always collected those little glass spheres from fountain pen cartridges. It’s a collection that is quite easy to take care of, there is only about 2 cm^3 of them.
The other are stamps. Those i actually find somewhat annoying, since i’ve kinda been pushed into it by my relatives, and since some of them were gifts i don’t really dare to get rid of them. I don’t enjoy adding to the collection, i don’t enjoy viewing the collection, and i certainly don’t enjoy dusting the collection. But i just have no idea how to get rid of them, so i guess they will have to stay quite for some time now. I even told the people who gave them to me i didn’t want to take them, but somehow the stamps managed to end up with me anyway.
I used to have a friend who had a large stone collection, and i was really impressed by it, so even now i still keep some stones around all the time. I rarely spend money on them though, since i prefer to simply collect interesting pieces from my travels as souvenirs. But many get thrown out, so a better word for those would actually be “consumables” rather than a collection. Get one, its “interestingness” gets used up, throw away, repeat^^
I love the idea of a collections of one!
HK,
Thanks for refreshing my memory regarding Mardi Gras. Being A NOLA native, I had an immense collection of beads, doubloons and Zulu coconuts.
I can imagine! I just visited NOLA for the first time in December, and both my boyfriend and I fell head over heels in love with the city. We’d love to go back again soon, that’s for sure. I picked up some rather beautiful beads down there, and those I most certainly wouldn’t part with. :)
I’m not the best there. I have two collections that’re pretty minimalist: postcards, which I use as art, and recipes, which I store online. (I’m learning to be a better cook and having a list of recipes I have tried that were good and a list that I want to try really helps, I find)
I also have a not-so-minimal collection: rocks. They take up about half of my windowsill. I like seeing them in the morning, but they are a lot of things. I could probably try to cull my least favorites, maybe. At least there isn’t very much of them, they can be packed up in a shoebox (like with paper and such inbetween some of the more breakable ones)
I also have another collection, now that I think about it. I’m moving out this fall and have been getting kitchen necessities at garage sales and such, so I won’t have to spend a bunch of money on them and to spread out the spending. So I have a box of kitchen stuff I don’t use right now. It is: 4 bowls, 4 plates, a smallish pot, a colander, one big bowl and some storage containers.
This will definitely keep me from starting any more collections.
Great post. Very thought-provoking and challenging. It made me think of my own collections past and present. I didn’t think I collected that many things until I read this post and all the comments. Just looking around from where I’m sitting now makes me realize that I have collections I didn’t even know I had. It’s easy to start accumulating a certain set of things, and sometimes quite unconsciously, but so difficult to get rid of after owning them for a while. This post has given me motivation to start clearing out the collections I didn’t intentionally set out to collect. Thanks.
The only collection I have that comes close to other posts on this thread are books. I have several unread ones piling up on bookshelves and I still buy more. Yet I make very little time to read. This is compounded by two additional magazine subscriptions that I am loathe to cancel because I do actually enjoy them when I get around to reading them. I suppose my lack of routine (I work unusual 12hr shifts that start at different times of the day according to the week in the month) doesn’t help. And after reading computer screens all day, the last thing I feel inclined to do is read some more!
I am trying to squeeze in an hour per day to read but like all disciplines, it’s hard to start!
I suppose what links this “conventional” collection to others is the thrill of discovering a “must-have”, then having that feeling fade upon acquistion. It only seems to resume when another “must-have” crops up, thereby unwittingly extending an out of control collection.
Growing up, I loved cats and that included a collection of chotskies and what nots, that when I turned 18, I donated. Still love the cats. Then I bought just 2 Beanie Babies that I really liked and that resulted in people sending me several hundred, YES hundred in my 20’s. I now just have those 2 again. I do not collect anything. Maybe it sounds boring to most but really, nothing peack my interest enough to pursue it. I do like photography and do all of our pictures on the wall and a book of pressed pennies that is something my son and I enjoy when we travel and will be his when he gets older, if he wants them. I rather collect memories than things. : )
I used to collect stamps and stickers when I was a kid. I left those behind when I moved out. Collecting stuff really doesn’t appeal to me – I’ve moved so many times, we we live in a studio apartment.
I’ve gone through phases over the years. When I was a kid, I collected stamp books after the stamps were used up. I always had pen pals, and went through a lot of stamps. Then I collected ticket stubs and wine corks and various other stuff from things we did, like fancy dinners and concerts and flights. Luckily I’ve never had a collection that took up much space, and I haven’t collected anything in years… other than all sorts of random stuff that has been taking up room in my house! I’m in the midst of a giant de-cluttering spree, and I’m loving it.
I was never a serious collector, but as a kid I did have a large collection of comic books and science fiction paperbacks, all lovingly read and reread. Later I had a huge record collection, mostly acquired in second-hand stores, and books, books, books–I was a Comp Lit grad student. When I made a big move for my first big job, I divested myself of all but the books. I still mourn the loss of the records, but it was just too expensive to move them at the time. Now I don’t collect anything, and I have shed a lot of those books. If I still had the comics and science fiction paperbacks, they’d be worth some money now, but they got donated to Good Will, along with the records.
I suppose I have two collections, it’s just that I don’t think of them as collections because they are things I use.
I have over 200 cookbooks. Many were picked up on holidays so we could make the foods we enjoyed while travelling. Kind of a souvenir we could eat. Theoretically they are useful reference books, and when not being used they are arranged nicely on a custom bookcase in our kitchen and become “decor”. Truth is we really only use about 20 of them on a regular basis and the rest could go without too much heartbreak.
I also have a lot of blue and white china. Years ago I’d buy nearly anything just because it was blue and white. Thankfully that wore off and I’ve purged the pieces that aren’t useful in any way. I’m down to plates, platters, a couple of vases and a teapot. Our normal dishes are all white so I mix in the blue and white pieces to change the look. My kitchen cabinets are all glass fronts (that will inspire neatness) and I have several plates propped up on display. We don’t have nearly enough kitchen stuff to fill the cabinets, so I use 1/3 of the space for display behind glass where things stay clean.
I used to be a more serious collector, but now the collections have to be useful — e.g., my day-to-day glassware are pint glasses from various bars around the country, as I travel for business — or specific to the place I have been. One thing that maybe I shouldn’t admit since it’s probably illegal most places is that when I summit a major mountain I collect a rock or two and put it on a shelf next to a photo from there. Sort of a physical reminder of where I’ve been.
My mother collects little statues, stuffed animals, magnets, t-shirts she never wears, all sorts of stuff. It’s maddening. I feel OK about my little habit because at least with the rocks it’s not like I bought them in a shop; I was actually there. With the pint glasses, I use them daily!
i’ve collected chess games for over 15 years. From all over the world. My friend knew that in order to please me, they should bring me back chess games from their vacations.
But i live in less than a 400 square appartment in Paris (France) so all the games (31 from 19 different countries) were packed in a box. useless.
I’ve decided to unclutter my place and get rid of them. i sold most of them at garage sales. for a lot less that what they had cost me, but just seeing the smile on the face of the people buying them was a great reward!
I only kept 3 of them. the most beautiful ones or special ones.
before selling my games, I took most of them in pictures. takes less space! :)
and now i know i wouldn’t be starting a new collection. and when i see someone doing so, i wonder why. To me, it is a waste of money, time and space.
thanks for your bolg. i really like it !
I’m a late commenter on this post but I can’t resist because the subject is so dear to my heart and simultaneously a thorn in my side at the moment!
I grew up in a family that collects. Everyone has a collection of something (and usually several somethings). We collect our favorite animals, our favorite sports teams, our favorite ANYTHINGS. Off the top of my head I can think of at least 10 things my mom collects. I was kind of set up for failure from the start, because if you like something the family all assumes you collect it and every Christmas and birthday they just throw more stuff of that theme at you. (I took care of that – now everyone knows only to get me cash if they must give me anything)
Now I find myself in my 30’s with enough stuff to fill a large storage shed (and was living in a two bedroom apartment by myself!) and it’s making me absolutely crazy. I have more collections now too, as in my 20’s I started collecting comic books and some other things… I’m just beginning the purge now. I have come to realize that it’s the stuff that has made things difficult for me throughout life and left me feeling depressed and overwhelemed at every turn. I think that I am a born minimalist because as soon as I have anything more than the necessities and a few special items I get brain fog and start to get more and more overwhelemed. My tendency to want less was buried by the way I was raised, and the two have been in conflict ever since.
I’m excited to get rid of everything and prepare for a cross country move in the next year. I can already tell how much better I’m going to feel and I’m incredibly thrilled by the thought of moving cross country with only what my boyfriend and I can fit in my tiny Yaris.
Going minimalist really brings a sense of freedom and the knowledge that you can be up for any adventure – ever – which is important to me because that’s the life I have always wanted to lead but until recently hadn’t figured out how I was going to pull it off.
Thanks for all the great posts in your blog, they are very inspiring and remind me there is a light at the end of the tunnel!
In four months of reading miss minimalist I’ve purged my collections of: books, music cds, and boxes of personal photos and albums.
Remaining are my reference and a small awaiting-reading stack of books. Pandora takes care of my music.
A half dozen personal photos of my family reside in a small box where I keep important papers.
The only thing I collect now are memories.
Thank you, Francine.
I wish you would date yourself by naming those popular collections :P
I had small collections of various things: stickers, My Little Ponies, those fuzzy little bears that were sometimes pencil toppers, bouncy balls, buttons (as in pins)…I think that once you end up with 2 or 3 of something it can be hard not to seek more (unless you are born hardcore uncollector). You can tell I was born in the early 1980s, right?
Later in life I collected stuff from thrift stores (insane 80s prom dresses, lunchboxes), postcards from my travels, more stickers… I felt much better letting it all go, and now I don’t worry about finding anything to buy.
However, I can understand having one or two nice collections, as long as they aren’t overwhelming. It’s neat to look at when done right – if they’re items that look nice on display and especially if they’re unusual. I think the worst collections are of things that were made just to be collected, like Precious Moments figurines or something.
If I let myself, I would have massive collections of junk overtaking the entirety of my home. As it is, though, I have tried to focus my near-obsessive-compulsive desire for things toward curating a small collection of items that mean a lot to me. I have begun collecting vinyl records, so that I can have a physical connection with the music that I love. I also have a few vinyl art toys — little, aesthetically pleasing examples of contemporary pop art that I can display in a non-cluttered manner (and these include some Disney Vinylmation, which also serve as not-so-kitschy reminders of a wonderful vacation). I have cut down on the number of physical books that I purchase with a Kindle, so my bookshelf holds a carefully selected library of my absolute favorites — I just can’t give up the pleasure of having a shelf of books to page through on occasion. My last collection is a fairly small number of pins, patches and buttons, which I keep attached to my canvas satchel. They’re little expressions of my personality — places I’ve been, people I’ve known, and things that I enjoy.
I could never be a complete minimalist, completely eliminating all non-essential materials from my life. I’m too much of a consumerist to do that. But I’ve found that I’m much happier by controlling the amount of stuff that I have, and making sure that I get only what I know I will enjoy having for a long time.
My husband and I were both encouraged to collect as children – he has loads of rocks, magazines and model train stuff he never looks at and needs to declutter. For me it was costume dolls and later, Whimsies, little china animals that were all the rage in the late 70s. I don’t have any of that any more. Now it’s mostly my books but since I have no desire to get rid of the ones that are left (still plenty after culling!), I am fine with that. I enjoy rereading them regularly and get rid of any I don’t think are worth keeping after reading.
These days, if I look around me, I have a small collection of things my daughters have made – several beautiful sculptures and some turned woodwork and one family heirloom of two china horses that is simply cream-coloured and goes with my simple decor. My husband has a collection of whiskies – he doesn’t drink very often, so the opened bottles are gathering dust and not improving the liquor, guess he could think of culling some of those…
I don’t think of anything else as a collection, really, though I have more than enough stuff- which I enjoy using (kitchenware, paper goods…)! But I am conscious of constantly and repeatedly weeding and cullingto keep it all at a comfortable level and no stress. I probably wouldn’t go extreme minimalist, though it fascinates me, I must admit!
So interesting to read about everyone’s collections! I inherited a stamp collection from an uncle when I was younger and was encouraged to add to it, but wasn’t very interested and was delighted to pass the whole thing onto a work colleague’s son who was really pleased with it.
Nowadays I try not to have collections, but… I still collect buttons, fabric and yarn – stuff for craftwork… have way too many books, old cassette tapes, records and CDs that I never listen to. It’s almost all going to go over the next two years, when my husband and I plan to move to an even smaller house :)
I have to admit–I never “got” the collecting thing–even as a kid. I always wondered what you were supposed to do with the items once you acquired them. Look at them? What’s the point?
LOL–clearly I was a minimalist from the get-go and didn’t know it.
I do collect small hat pins from places I go. I have a bulletin board covered with grass cloth and they are stuck in the board. They are small and inexpensive,
I started to collect Fiesta dishes 11 years ago. I used to buy on ebay, small town auctions, resell what I didn’t want. Made some money over a year or two that did support my Fiesta habit. Now I am sick of it. Before I moved five years ago, I gave quite a bit away to my stepdaughters and kept my favorite color, chartreuse. Well that green/yellow color doesn’t go with anything in my new house. As you have said and other before you, “if it’s giving you trouble whether to get rid of it or not…then get rid of it”. So I bought a set of good stoneware, kept only clear glassware and boxed up the Fiesta. I thought about selling on ebay. I checked and it’s just not selling. So I offered some friends to come and take what they want and the rest is being donated to a local charity that will sell it on ebay or local auction. They will get the money and I will get peace of mind. The one thing you have to remember about any collection is it’s not worth anything if you someone doesn’t buy it. Get rid of it!