Hobby or obsession?

[mickeyfan2]

It is an obsession when you can only talk about that "subject"; you are more interested in that "subject" than real life; you forget you have a life; you spend all of your money on that "subject" instead of planning for the future and you cannot understand why others are concerned about your obsession.

I love Disney, travel there often, have Disney stuff around my home, etc., but ..... I talk about many different subjects, have my collections out of the way so that everyday life can go on, don't push my love of Disney onto anyone and have a fulfilling life.

 

[powellrj]

My poor DM started a small santa collection many years ago. It was just a small table by the front door. Once people found out she collected santas, she is over run with them. She gets dozens every year for christmas. Everything thing from dollar store ones to very expensive collectible ones. She has every type of santa you can think of.

She is really tired of the santas and really only puts out the ones she really likes, but the problem is getting people to stop buying them for her!

She is a member of several clubs that exchange gifts and is the secretary of her church so she gets lots of "gifts from the heart" that you really can't tell people NOT to buy you.

It has gotten so bad that she boxed up many of them and had my DF drive them to a goodwill store out of town so people didn't know she didn't keep everything!

 

[Blondie]

I used to collect horror movie action figures and things called Living Dead Dolls. When I realized that the one bookshelf became two, then three, then the entire case and then two cases, I realized it was a bit much.

Because there are so many other freaky horror movie lovers like me out there, I sold the entire lot for about $3000 in one fell swoop when I had only spent about $700 over a two year period for everything.

Go figure, eh?

That's one collection/hobby that turned very lucrative for you! Who knew, right?

As long as the person enjoys what they collect and can afford it then I see it as collecting.

When you spend money that should be spent elsewhere then you have a problem.

I am another one of those people who will start collecting something, get bored with it and collect something else. Heck my Beanie Baby collection paid for our first trip to WDW. Luckily I sold them when people still wanted them.

I do have a Disney things in my bedroom that I add to occasionally but as of right now that's all I'm still actively collecting. I have some dolls, some stuffed animals, purses, sterling silver etc. but I don't add to those collections often.

Oh and Kathy,
I bet my mom (who also collects Santas) has one your friend doesn't. It's Santa sitting on the pot in an outhouse!!!!!!

I'll have to ask, but I'm almost afraid to. I don't know where the conversation will lead! LOL!

Does she display them or are they just in bags and boxes? I think it is an obsession when you continue to buy things and have no where to put them, or if you are in debt because of your collection.

If you need to rent a storage unit to keep all the stuff you collect, than you probably have a problem.

I collect different things, Longaberger baskets, lighthouses, Coca Cola items, and well dressed build-a-bears! I have a lot of stuff, I don't buy anything new unless I know where I am going to put it. I think the bears might be a bit of an obsession, I mean how many outfits do they really need. But I do have fun with them and I enjoy dressing them, and unlike pets, I can leave them alone when we travel. Plus I don't have to feed them. I might get one more, I heard they are coming out with a turtle, but that is really all I have room for. Now the clothes are another story, maybe I need an intervention?

She has them all in a guest bedroom. From the photo I saw, it wasn't a total mess, but there really isn't anymore room for Santas or anything else in there for that matter! They're on her bed, dresser, shelves, etc.

Maybe I should contact a director, I see a horror movie in the making!

Oh Lord....this makes me think back to a patient I had a few years ago that had collected owls for over 60 years. I was sent to her home for private duty and before I even got out of my car, I saw owls. In trees, the mailbox, front door wreath, perched on the front porch swing, peeking out from the flowerbeds, etc. Inside made me flinch! Had to be 1,000's of owls of all kinds. The lady had taught school for over 50 years and all the students gave her an owl of some sort for Christmas and at the end of the school year. Her family got in on the collecting and she did her part as well. Worst mess I ever saw but she loved every one of them.

After cleaning out my grandmother's house a while back, she had a few things she collected (Barbie dolls being one) and the really sad part is that it wasn't anything special to anyone else but her. I grabbed a few (Elvis & Barbie, Marine Corps. Barbie, Swan Lake Barbie and one other, I can't remember what it is now, I have them stored away) because the rest are now in the hands of the investors who bought her house. They'll probably throw them away as there is no real value in them (I checked ebay!) So when that poor old woman who has all the owls dies, her loved ones will probably come through her house and pick out a few that will remind them of her, and the rest? Donated or sold to an auction firm more than likely.

Unhealthy is when you are not paying your bills and instead buying items, gambling, etc....

I think it is OK, to have your hobbies. However life comes first.

As far as me, I do not have any "collections". In fact I guess I am the opposite. Having a collection makes me feel ...so what is THAT!?

I agree, life does indeed come first.

We'll have to see about getting you something you can collect, how about clowns? I have a SIL that collects clowns. I hate that section of her house!

ehhh... who needs Money?? Can't take it with ya!!

Can't take the collectibles with ya either though.

It is an obsession when you can only talk about that "subject"; you are more interested in that "subject" than real life; you forget you have a life; you spend all of your money on that "subject" instead of planning for the future and you cannot understand why others are concerned about your obsession.

I love Disney, travel there often, have Disney stuff around my home, etc., but ..... I talk about many different subjects, have my collections out of the way so that everyday life can go on, don't push my love of Disney onto anyone and have a fulfilling life.

Perfectly stated.

 

[LindsayDunn228]

I think it becomes an obession when you have no life besides it. When it is all you think about, talk about, etc.

 

[rockbottomsound]

I think a hobby is something that you control, while an obsession is something that controls you.

That's a good quote.

I don't see anything wrong with it as long as the babies milk money isn't getting spent on the hobby.

And as long as the hobby is positive. Some people's hobby may be smoking crack or drinking too much, that's when they cross over the line. That's probably a bad example.

As some pointed out, some collectibles can become quite valuable over a period of time.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I agree, life does indeed come first.

We'll have to see about getting you something you can collect, how about clowns? I have a SIL that collects clowns. I hate that section of her house!

Clowns???!!! .... (freak out smilie is missing )

I get anxiety about collections. I think it comes from my mom who spent herself broke on QVC and crap.
Also my dad spent all his money on baloney as well.

Oh yea...they live in an apartment now and have no savings. They still say...."can't take it with you"...

 

[Blondie]

There should be a support group for QVC buyers! I can't watch it, it tries to suck me in and convince me that I need the hand braided kitchen area rug made in the Appalachians!

My mom was on a QVC kick for a while. She would buy two of whatever she was getting. I now have a green hand knit made in Ireland poncho/shawl. Where am I going to wear that thing?

If it wasn't for QVC, half the women in American wouldn't be hooked on Bare Minerals!

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

When you spend money that should be spent elsewhere then you have a problem.

I think that says it right there.

Heck my Beanie Baby collection paid for our first trip to WDW. Luckily I sold them when people still wanted them.

Wow! Did you actually PROFIT enough...as in the difference between what you paid and what people paid you...to pay for your trip? I remember my brother and his wife collecting Beanie babies because of this big profit they were going to make someday, but I didn't think that ever materialized for anyone. Cool!

 

[Blondie]

I remember the Beanie Baby craze all too well. Glad I never got roped into more than just a few for my boys. I think everyone thought they'd be worth thousands (each) some day, and it never happened.

Beth, you must've sold one heck of a lot of Beanies! Good for you!

Does anyone still have their Beanies? What do you do with them now?

 

[IwasatWDWforamonth]

When you stop enjoying what you collect then its time to stop, for me that would be snowglobes, its really the one thing I refuse to buy anymore(although that stich one with the fishbowl was mighty tempting)
I have had them fall and break on my head(its so much fun to wash glass out of your hair) , fall on each other. in some of them the the water has gotten really gross looking, that even happened to my favorite mickey mouse one.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I remember the Beanie Baby craze all too well. Glad I never got roped into more than just a few for my boys. I think everyone thought they'd be worth thousands (each) some day, and it never happened.

Beth, you must've sold one heck of a lot of Beanies! Good for you!

Does anyone still have their Beanies? What do you do with them now?

Darn it....now I am BUSTED.... I did go and run around like a loon to get McDonalds teene beanies...
Yes we STILL have them. The kids refuse to part with them....yea...that is the ticket.

 

[Stepharoonie!]

I used to collect My Little Ponies. I had every single one ever made. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. I fought long and hard to get every one ever created. Nothing was creepier than opening up the bedroom (yes, an entire bedroom) with all of those horses smiling and staring you dead in the eye.

I was forced to sell them because I left my ex...and I wonder what in the world I would have done with all of them now? It was a little obsessive...I mean, it was like I was trying to be back in my childhood again when I had them.

Yeesh. It was a little spooky

 

[SwedishMeatball]

I used to collect My Little Ponies. I had every single one ever made. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. I fought long and hard to get every one ever created. Nothing was creepier than opening up the bedroom (yes, an entire bedroom) with all of those horses smiling and staring you dead in the eye.

I was forced to sell them because I left my ex...and I wonder what in the world I would have done with all of them now? It was a little obsessive...I mean, it was like I was trying to be back in my childhood again when I had them.

Yeesh. It was a little spooky

Great tag material.

 

[IwasatWDWforamonth]

Does anyone still have their Beanies? What do you do with them now?

I do, 2 giant storage buckets full, the only one I still have out is my Garcia bear.
it was fun while it lasted, I remember all the hype over princess and erin,

and just on the news last night was a story about a beanie baby bandit, he broke into someones house and stole 150 beanie babies and then got his truck stuck in the snow,

 

[freckles and boo]

I get tired just thinking about "collections". We lost both my husband's parents in 2005. It has been difficult to sort through the collections left behind. My mother-in-law simply left a drawer full of costume jewelry and another drawer full of fancy gloves. She also had a Belleek china collection that nobody appears to want. It will probably be sold on eBay. Much worse, my father-in-law left behind boxes and boxes of baseball cards other sports cards. We know that he had already sold the Mickey Mantles, etc. but we don't know what else is of value. He also collected old albums, coins, and stamps. It all sounds great but it is very difficult to know what to do with this stuff. Do you sell it, save it for the grandkids, what? It takes up space and nobody else seems to have a passion for it. My own mother collects owls - she has a few hundred I would guess. It actually has taken over in that she gets them as gifts (I couldn't pass up a fifty cent flyswatter shaped like an owl at the dollar store! More of a gag gift) and she feels obligated to display them.

 

[oxfordcircus]

It has been difficult to sort through the collections left behind.

This isn't really on topic, but your post made me think of an old house we bought where a lady basically lived her entire adult life (about 70 years). We bought the house from her son and he didn't want to go through anything after she died. Anyway, she left a collection of old mops in the storage room. There were probably 30 or 40 old mops with the heads either rotted off or eaten by rats. She apparently never threw one away.

 

[IwasatWDWforamonth]

we still have boxes and boxes of my grandma's stuff in the garage.

 

[Blondie]

This isn't really on topic, but your post made me think of an old house we bought where a lady basically lived her entire adult life (about 70 years). We bought the house from her son and he didn't want to go through anything after she died. Anyway, she left a collection of old mops in the storage room. There were probably 30 or 40 old mops with the heads either rotted off or eaten by rats. She apparently never threw one away.

My grandmother's house just sold. She bought it in 1947. In it is an old fashioned claw foot bathtub that an antique buff could refinish and sell for a good price. Problem is nobody knows how she got it on the second floor! Probably through a bedroom window! It's a row-house in Philadelphia that was built pre-1900! All the stairs were built curved (three floors of curved staircases, front and back of the house so that's 6 sets!) so the problem with getting things out of her house is a task nobody in the family wanted to take on! She had beautiful old furniture that someone could break a neck trying to remove down those stairs!

Whomever bought that house has a large task at hand. Most of her things on the 2nd and 3rd floors will have to be removed through upstairs windows! I imagine it'll be gutted and completely renovated.

Inside though are still all her things that nobody wanted. Things that were important to her (collections) that nobody shares an interest in.

I did snag some of her shoes though, shoes from the 40's and 50's in hardly worn condition. I got them out of there a few years ago. They were still in their boxes, some still had the receipts inside!

Here's a few photos. The first ones were hand painted. It appeared that she never wore them, she was probably afraid it would rain on the day she did, so they are in pristine condition! They're all in a size 6. Shame I'm a size 7, but I wouldn't dare wear them anyway. They're too precious to me! These shoes tell a story of a woman I never knew. She was old by the time I knew her and didn't wear those kinds of shoes anymore. (click the link, I went and made an edit and now the first photo doesn't show up!)

The others are all back in style once again! This is just a sampling of the shoes she saved.

 

[Blondie]

Wanted to add, one thing we were able to remove without much effort from her house were lots and lots of old photos. Photos of family members I only heard about, but never knew. Photos are the greatest collections anyone can leave behind.

Here's one of my great-great uncles, he's the first guy on the left. He went to WWII, came back so messed up at what he saw over there that he committed suicide:

 

[oxfordcircus]

My grandmother's house just sold.

****************

Inside though are still all her things that nobody wanted. Things that were important to her (collections) that nobody shares an interest in.

I did snag some of her shoes though, shoes from the 40's and 50's in hardly worn condition. I got them out of there a few years ago. They were still in their boxes, some still had the receipts inside!

Now that I've hijacked your thread...

The way you describe your grandmother's house is kind of how we bought that house - basically full of a lifetime of stuff. Furniture, dishes, food, clothes, you name it. We found toys from the 50's, LP record recordings of one of her children (now 60) singing, awards, school papers, love letters.... It was really sad to see the tangible memories of this lady's life and legacy abandoned.

My wife wrote this about it much more interestingly at the link >>>(LINK) I would paste it, but it's "longish."