Things we collect

[katsmom]

Tha management office flushed out the water tanks back in October. The house flooded, and I fell and cracked my tailbone. So anyway, we spent the day cleaning up the house and drying things out. That included throwing out lots of stuff that we had been collecting over the years.

Matt just asked me for some papers I knew I tossed out in that mess. Something he downloaded and printed out and could easily do again so no big loss. To be honest, everything I tossed I should have thrown out years ago.

Well, this got me thinking of the things I purposely collect. And here's my funny list:
Buttons off of any article of clothing that is no longer useful.
My cubes
Books
Corks from wine bottles
the plastic from toy boxes
bubble wrap
The aluminum lids from my nescafe cans
used erasers and pencil stubs
toothbrushes from the hotels I examine in.
slippers from same hotels
Old clothes that haven't fit Katherine in years, but were her favorite for the year they fit
rubber bands
and finally
unfinished PuzzleBrains magazines along with all my printouts of them and the notebooks filled with my scratchings (and believe it or not, I kept my laminated Runes puzzle and notes too)

Now come out of the closet and tell us all those wonderful things you just can't bear to part with I know I can't be the only fruitcake in the bunch.......speaking of which, I still have a chunk of my wedding cake from 14 years ago in my freezer-only 6 more years to wait to eat it!

[Bunnylump]

Oh I am the original hoarder. So much so it's embarrassing. In the loft I have every piece of "artwork" my kids did until they were about 7. I'm completely incapable of throwing out old clothes, even if they don't fit and are hopelessly out of fashion. For example, we found a size 10 red kaftan (1970 style) in the loft!! Buttons, bows, bits of string, things like bubble bath and shampoo that people have given me that I can't use because I'm allergic to it. But the worst thing is my underwear drawer. There are still things like suspender belts and silk nighties from when I was about 20. I would no more wear them now than fly to the moon!!

Mind you, my husband did go through a phase of collecting old oat cake tins.

[fernando]

My main collection was copper coins. I got quite a collection of 1 and 2p pieces but not so long ago I cashed them in to the bank. I managed to collect £6 worth which I was quite impressed with.

[Bunnylump]

Oh yeah, just remembered, I also have a massive collection of sugar sachets from around the world. Again in the loft.

[Redfraggle]

This got me thinking...

I have a collection of books including Sunday School Prize books from I was the age of 2.
All Leah's work from school and her reports.
Little things that my nieces and nephews have found for me on beaches (they call them lucky stones)
I collect playing cards and tarot cards.
Magnets from the places Ive been to although Carmen has broke quite a few of them!
Leah's first shoes, socks and hat.
Little pieces of rock crystal.
Puzzles, puzzle books (and yes I still have all my DVP, Runes and PB mags)

There's something very OCD about that list!

[Cenwulf]

I've got a collection of over 300 bookmarks - I keep them in an old shoebox. I've bought them when I visited things; some are from castles, some from cathedrals and churches, some from museums, some just from different places (from John o'Groats to Cornwall) - and a few were given to me by other people (including one from Jerusalem). I've even got one for the Queen's golden jubilee!

[Wulfruna]

Oh yeah, just remembered, I also have a massive collection of sugar sachets from around the world. Again in the loft.

I finally decided that perhaps I ought to actually use up my collection of sugar sachets, which have been sitting in a box in the kitchen for years.... It has been a fascinating process, full of happy memories from interesting places (not to mention some long-forgotten airlines!) - and relearning the word for "sugar" in a variety of languages
I am a hopeless hoarder and it was a great discipline when we retired to a much smaller house two years ago - there was no option but to chuck out a load of stuff that simply wouldn't fit in! However, I did hang on to a huge box of of knitting wools and pieces of fabric - with the optimistic intention of finding time in my old age to turn them into beautiful blankets and patchwork.
Funny how I seem to have found other things to do with my time....

[LAT]

We have a large bowl of match packets from all sorts of places. When we moved here we had to bring it ourselves as the removal men didn't want it on the van. We never use them and they are a pain to dust too!
I also keep all the postcards I get sent (or buy myself from holidays) And when my mother died I kept all that she had hoarded away too so now I have boxes full half of which have no meaning for me whatever!

...... and plastic bags, I'm sure they'll come in useful one day. Or I might even get around to taking them for recycling.

And Katsmom - we never throw books out and rarely give them to charity shops either so we have boxes and boxes of the ones that don't fit onto our bookshelves any more.

[strep98]

I'm accused of hoarding too.

All the kids school reports
Buttons
Books (getting better with the read it swap it web site)
material
wool
and the list goes on

[Bunnylump]

Do you know what's disturbing me? Every time someone adds something to this thread, I think "Oh yeah, I've got those too...
postcards
letters
books
school reports (I've even got mine. It says things like "It's a good job her pen is as effective as her mouth")
OH also keeps Which? magazines since the year dot and also just about every copy of things like "Gas Installer" and "Air Conditioning news" "Heat Pump Monthly" (thrilling reading, as you can imagine.)

[kingsley]

I collect bus tickets in my coat pocket! I find it interesting to see which days of the week I'm on exactly the same bus. Every so often I lay them out on my bed, and think things such as 'Oooh look! I was on the same bus on the 23rd of October and the 4th December!'

[Bunnylump]

Now I can't say I do that.

[clvrlad]

really your not collectingkinsleysold bus tickets ??

[eirian]

I definitely take after Wulf with my hoarding, much to the disgust of Sigur...
I do like collecting things, my main ones being spheres (of stone (or wood) - hard to get hold of though as most places sell egg shapes instead), and lace bobbins (I learnt honiton lace from my Grandma, and used have time to do some - the pillows themselves are now in our roof but at least I can keep the bobbins out).
I ought to list books as well, but I don't think of them as a collection in the same way, or I'd have to put CDs on too.

Emails have really thrown me - I have a drawer full of old letters, but now I communicate by email, I can't keep them in the same way, and I get very confused about how to keep them, especially given the tendency of computers to crash and lose everything!

[clvrlad]

if you have ones you want to keep you can allways print them out or save them to a cd

[nell]

Oh some old memories there - bookmarks in shoe boxes and buttons and books and whatnots. However with our plans to downsize (into a Land Rover Defender while we travel the world) we've been eBaying and Boot Fairing like mad. And it's all going, going, gone (still got all my DVP mags tho' )

[nell]

Emails have really thrown me - I have a drawer full of old letters, but now I communicate by email, I can't keep them in the same way, and I get very confused about how to keep them, especially given the tendency of computers to crash and lose everything!

Ah, now they are in different folders filed by subject type
Romantic texts I've downloaded and kept in a document on the computer (the part that always gets backed up) - before I've got rid of the phone