Day 12: Collecting

I am both a collector and a bit of a hoarder. I can get rather obsessive about it which can be a bit of a problem! Throughout my life I have gone through stages of collecting different things from Beanie Babies, to china animals and China dolls to Momiji dolls.

Its rather a wasteful habit as particularly when I was younger I would collect something for a time and then decide it was time for a clear out and take it all to the charity shop. So I have little evidence of many of the collections from my past!

For example, I once decided that I needed to buy beds for every single Sylvanian family I had (I also collected Sylvanian Families) so saved up all my pocket money and over the course of several years succeeded! Only now I am left with stacks of dolls house beds which are just collecting dust. But I will hang on to them; if I ever have children, who have the same irrational desire, they wont be wasted!

When one discusses collecting things, stamps are often cited as a classic item, and invariably sneered at as a hobby. I collect stamps in a way, not rigorously, but will keep a stamp if an envelope has a design which is not the queen's head. No offence intended to her Majesty, but I have rather a lot of those! This started when a friend made me a box with stamps inside it (over ten years ago) and I saw them in a new light!

The Peter Rabbit stamp that was in the box remains my favourite!

I am also a bit of a hoarder of might-one-day-possibly-be useful-maybe things. Like train tickets, which I have kept from the past year of commuting into London as I feel that it would be a waste to get rid of them. So if you have a creative train-ticket-use-upping idea, I’m all ears!

In a similar vein I have a box of odds and ends ranging from broken scissors to a battery-less Tamigochi and my first phone and digital camera thrown in for good measure! I feel like they will be useful one day…

Something that I have to struggle with myself to stop obsessively collecting are the Willow Tree Figurines. Something about the faceless figures really appeals to me.
 

Similarly I could very easily spend any money I had on buying copies of books to match. Indeed that is what takes up the majority of birthday/Christmas lists!

So I would love to be a minimalist. To be able to have that self restraint, but I fear that I will always have a lot of clutter in my life, albeit clutter with lots of sentimental value!