Is your Collection/Hobby out of Control?!!

deeclutter.caHobbies and collecting can be a lot of fun.  People collect all kinds of things: stamps (ok, I sounded mega old when I said that!  You see there used to be this thing called mailing a letter and you had to put a stamp on it.), records (OMG, I just did it again...so back in the day there used to be these turntables that played records in order to hear music through a stereo), books (um, I just realized that this is a very hard blog to write...so before the internet people used to READ and we had these things called BOOKS that had WORDS in them).  Maybe I should rethink this!!!

Whatever your collection/hobby is; you need to think about how much space you have/need for the items.

If your collection is starting to creep into all different areas of your home, maybe its time to think about why you started to collect the items in the first place and what it is you get from your collection.  A good example is VHS tapes.  I have worked with quite a few seniors who have very large VHS movie collections and yet, they no longer own a VCR!  However, when I would discuss with them why they were holding on to their collections, inevitably the response was, "Well I spent a lot of money on them and I can always sell them".

You need to keep up with the valuation of your collection, if that is why you started to collect a particular item.  Things go out of favour, become obsolete, and are just taking up space in your home.  If on the other hand you started collecting an item just because you really like them - think about where you can display it without it taking over the entire house.  Unfortunately, the fact is none of us is going to live forever, and while you may really enjoy your collection of 500 Cabbage Patch kids, doesn't mean anyone in your family wants to deal with it when your gone.

Collecting can be fun and you can get real enjoyment from discovering a new piece to add to your collection, but think about limiting your collection to a certain space within your house so it is not intruding on your being able to comfortably enjoy your home as well.