So true. I used to collect some things. Spoons, Santas and odds and ends. Now I'm trying to pare things down so the kids don't have to deal with it all. So, no more buying those things I love/loved. Just getting rid of.

I used to have totes and totes of fabric and I have given it all away. Decided if I need it I will buy it. Don't do the sewing I used to.

Don't think my kids collect anything. Will have to ask them when I see them.

My husband must have missed that note.... Thankfully it seems Fossil stopped the Limited Edition watches. There are two of these glass cabinets. The head on the bottom shelf was a sculpy impression my daughter made of Michael Phelps a pretty long time ago. She was a fan.

I started collecting glass animals as a child. Loved every piece! Then, snow babies. They've all been packed away (what the kids didnt break) and I'm happy to not have to dust them. Remembering makes me miss them!

I collect Royal Crown Derby porcelain miniature buildings. There aren't very many extant. All that I own fit into a tabletop vitrine in my den. I check eBay regularly for the ones I'm missing. New ones are seldom issued.

When I worked as a school secretary, I bought a few snowmen for decorating the school office during the winter. It wasn't long before my co-workers, the parents of the students and even the students decided I collected snowmen. Every year, before school closed for winter break, I received several snowman gifts to add to my rapidly growing collection. When I retired, I donated them to a Goodwill store because, much as I appreciated their gestures, I just didn't need the extra stuff in my house.

I will admit that some of them were pretty cute.

Chicken and rooster items. Classical music CDs

Horse statutes as a kid, down to just a couple really nice ones, Santas as an

adult and on. After several moves, have pared these down to just a few favorites. Now...just want things plain and simple. :)

I used to collect crystal knife rests, place card holders and fancy wine stoppers. Back then I used them often but anymore they are just taking up space in the China cabinet.

Teapots here........always have to check them out at thrift stores, etc. Don't buy any more but the temptation is great!

I have a China cabinet full of “Cows on Parade “. Nice cows, but what to do with them later on, beats me. !

I collected too much. First it was tins. Then it was teacups. And bells. Boyds Bears. I've stopped as I've found I have way too much now. The tins have sat in a box in my basement for 25 years. So have the teacups. I want to get rid of the Boyds bears too, with the exception of a few. I had so much Delft Blue that I divided it into four: one box for each of my kids and the rest for me. And I still have a lot. I am slowly decluttering my home. And I mean slowly............

Snowmen are all I collect. I learned very early in life that collecting creates clutter and dust. And a lot of work for loved ones when someone passes away and hasn't decluttered! Collecting just seems wasteful to me.

I'm not really a collector of much besides dust. I bought some garden gnomes a few years back and have realized they just don't hold up outside. I'm using some to decorate my guest bedroom. The decorating is not finished so it is a work in progress. It's a whimsical garden theme in there. I have birds and flowers, etc.

My mom is a hoarder. Even now, in the assistant living home, she hoards paper. Toilet and Tissue... and the night stand drawer is always overflowing.

I don't collect anything, except plants for my back yard. LOL, yep, it is still rather bare out there, and when I find some plant I like, and I have a spot for it, I buy or accept it. Otherwise, friends are a really nice collection.

Moni

I collect trees. The problem is that they take a lot of space, and they take a lot of time. I have the space, not the time. I don't guess anyone has the time. The nice thing is that someone in the far future may get to enjoy them.

I have a huge collection of Department 56 Dickens Village buildings and accessories. And by "huge" I mean several hundred buildings. I also have every piece of the Dept 56 Disney Village and a bunch of buildings from the Dept 56 Christmas in the City. sigh. I need to get rid of them!

"Today, it seems people don't want to accumulate stuff."

I agree. Collection=clutter. I think these days many people lead busy, active and often outdoorsy lives and spend less time at home. Having a home that requires a lot of maintenance and time to keep organized and clean is an unwelcome drag on available time.

Oh so much "stuff" collected over the years. Husband was a paper hoarder... newspaper articles, books, cards, letters, receipts, cheques...and so on, but when he died this past February (and the weather wasn't so nice - I live in a rainforest) I started sorting out his "stuff" and returned most back to his siblings. I then started on my "stuff" and decided to only keep those items (probably about 5-6) that my grandmother and my father had made me when I was a child. I took pictures of the stuff I gave away and now my memories are in one picture album . Much easier to look through the picture album and no dusting required LOL.

I don't collect much any more, but I used to collect a lot of things. In the plants department, I collected orchid cactus (epiphyllums), waterlilies (I had 200 different varieties), Louisiana irises...150 varieties. Odd ball shrubs. Antique roses. I used to raise and show fancy goldfish and had 16 varieties of fancy goldfish. I collected art pottery from the turn of the century through the 1950's, and even though I didn't set out to collect them, I have many Shawnee cookie jars and lots of tea pots from the same era. I collected marbles and I have many thousands of them. Japanese glass fishing floats. Cook books. And vintage kitchen utensils made in USA with colorful handles or printed designs. Bowls....pyrex and yellow ware. Vintage table cloths; I also collected gate toppers....like found on old chain link fence gates. I have all kinds of dogs and horses, two different ones with squirrels, birds, an alligator, raccoon, and lions. I lost most of my cook books in the flood, and I don't collect much any more, but I still will buy the old kitchen utensils, if they are stainless, made in the USA, and have plastic or bakelite handles. I have many, many, but I love them and I love using them. Right now they are mostly packed away, and I miss them when I am cooking and looking for a particular one and I remember that I packed it in preparation for moving. I admit....I love stuff and I love my junk. I have said it before....I don't care if anyone else likes it or not. As my mother used to say, "it's not eating anything"....in other words, you don't have to feed it......(unlike my 8 horses, 4 donkeys, and mule.)

I failed to own up to my plumeria collection. :)

Oh. Trees and other plants count? I thought they are necessary. I am guilty.

I don't collect anything. Right now though I have an interest in garden gnomes. For some reason they amuse me. I may put a few in the gardens. It might turn into a collection but I would limit it to about 6. I think more would look cluttered

Oh, trees count? Opps....I have acres of them. Some I've never met. :-) LOL

I do collect certain things...like Elvis anything, the silver demitasse spoons from states/countries and Blue Willow plates and items. I also have several different pieces of blue and white porcelain "things." My kids say all that makes me very easy to buy gifts for. LOL

I collect and am obsessed with transparent glassware. I have all colors and love them all. My daughter recently mentioned that she dreads my passing because she'll have to unload all of my garden supplies and glassware. I should pare it down.

I have collected waaaay too much. If it is an animal, bird or bug in any art medium, I am guilty of wanting it. The walls, any flat surface and glassed display cabinets are filled with wildlife. I am no longer "allowed" to add to my collection, and have put names of friends and family that have taken interest on the bottoms of several pieces.

DH has an impressive collection of dicast model cars, trucks and construction equipment that fills a lot of spaces. He isn't "allowed" to add to it either.

Collecting is a human trait. I had my third graders bring in a few pieces from whatever they collected. They talked to the class and wrote about it in their journals. Every single 8 year old collected something.

I have a few of each. Nothing collection worthy. At this point in time, I do enjoy getting tiny things from both DD's from their travels.

At one point it looked like I was collecting LLardro, but that stopped. Really no room.

I think if adding still brings you joy and it's not breaking the bank, I say go for it.

PK, don't pare down unless YOU want to. We deserve to have these things around us for as long as WE feel we want to.

Susan, we posted at the same time. How cute. What exactly do 8-year-olds collect?

Eld...8 year olds collect a lot of things like toys, dolls, shells, yoyos, rocks, baseball cards, etc. It's been a long time since I retired from teaching so I don't remember details. I just remember that every kid had a collection.

My collection of thirty or more is of small Santas, but they are each very different and unusual and most are wild and crazy ones. They are perched behind the glass doors of my desk, so are still enjoyed daily.

When I was younger I collected pogs and key chains. I have a small Cookie Monster collection. I don't buy much Cookie Monster stuff anymore but I still enjoy him. :) I also have a tiny mushroom collection. (things not actual mushrooms lol) I just like mushrooms. I think they're cute. I don't like eating them though haha

And here and there I had collected a few souvenir pennies (the smooshed ones with pictures on them). I just started collecting them again. They're small, easy to store and are like mini postcards to places you've been :)

No collections on display here, though I have a few old ones packed. Most notably miniature bone china animals and breyer horses. I would love to donate many of the horses to a charity auction or something, but have not found any in our area, and frankly, psychologically I'm not ready to go through them. Neither collection is something I have the space or time to have on display, and with pets and a young kid, it isn't practical. At some point I know I'll have to make some decisions and probably part with at least the horses, since they take up a lot of space even in the garage rafters :(

I wonder if there are a lot of people like me who have a collection they keep fondly, but don't put it out...

When I was a kid, we spent a lot of time dusting whatever our parents collected, so I understand very well the draw away from having that sort of thing.

I have stopped collecting stuff with the exception of a few pieces of Pyrex I am still wanting and my Royal Albert Poinsettia pattern china for Christmas brunch. I started collecting Pyrex more than 20 years ago and have quite a bit stored in the attic, some I display in my kitchen and other pieces I use. I used to collect vintage board games, any piece of china that had pink roses on it. I used to buy old tins of buttons, community cookbooks, bib aprons, Christmas ornaments for the tree. I also have some very old embroidery and crosstitch items. Right now the only collection that I don't want and that keeps growing is ashes from loved ones and pets.

Amylou, I love your collection of pink and hearts. Who made the covered casseroles? I have never seen those before.

Cherryfizz reminded me that I also collect buttons and it is one of the things that I will still buy if I find them....old buttons in tins....love them. I don't sew...haven't since high school, but I love the old buttons, and I have several jars full. I like things I can keep in jars. Besides the marbles, buttons....I also have jars of cookie cutters, little measuring scoops...like for coffee, and what I call jars of junk. I told about this before, but one time at the flea market, I saw a jar of just junk. It was an old jar, and had all kinds of old stuff in it. Little toys...but old, little advertising items, some old jewelry....all kinds of stuff. It was marked 2400. I assumed it was $24. At the end of the day, I hadn't bought anything, so I thought I would buy that jar of junk. What the heck....it would be fun looking at all that junk. So, I handed the guy my $24 and he said, "No....it is $2400.00." I said, "You have got to be kidding!" He wasn't. So, I have plenty of old jars....and plenty of old junk, so I created my own jar of junk.

Quasifish, if you would like to donate your Breyer horses to someone to auction to benefit kill pen horses.....someone who saves horses from slaughter, and if you are on Facebook, I can vouch for Tina Opinker, who runs the page, Second Chance Artwork for Equines. She is in Wisconsin, but she saves horses from all over, and rehabs them and adopts them out. Just a suggestion, if you have ever considered doing something like that.

Second Chance Artwork for Horses

Marilyn, I believe they are made my a company called Chanel. Ebay has lots. Some are Le Crueset. The pink heart ceramic pie dish is cuisinart,of all things.

I have old advertising tins, books (old & new), china, pottery, ironstone, hearts (decorations & found stones), miniatures, doll sized chairs, and then things that just generally amuse us. We like to look around any room in our home and find things that make us smile.