Hoarding or collecting? Well, the words have the same definition, I like to view them as two separate things. I have been collecting comic books, toys, games, etc for quite some time. The piles of stuff sneaked into my life and became forgotten somewhere in my room. My hobby slowly started feeling like a trap. Don’t get me wrong, I still loved the franchises of which i was buying the stuff, but the stuff itself started feeling like a burden.
Discovering minimalism
After discovering the term minimalism, I slowly started converting to this lifestyle which meant living more by living with less. After getting rid of a lot of my other stuff, the collections still remained. It took years to collect these items and I wasn’t just going to get rid of them. A few months passed as my minimalistic lifestyle and collecting habits kept clashing. I decided to slowly take a critical look at this stuff.
In this process, I learned a lot about the collecting lifestyle. I noticed that by collecting everything I wanted from a particular franchise, I missed the entire purpose of the hobby. I missed the goal that I was working towards.
Setting priorities
Without a goal, my collecting habit had become out of control. Yes, I loved the stuff, but my attention towards it faded almost completely. I started asking myself hard questions to work toward the root of the problem and clear the clutter. Where are my priorities between the franchises? Why do I want to collect these items? Can I become more specific in collecting this branch of the franchise?
Now that I have my goals straight and my collection sorted out, it is much easier to walk past the merchandise in the store without buying it and it keeps my clutter minimal and organized.
I feel that as a minimalist we can still collect the things we love whether it be comic books or action figures. But you might want to ask yourself……… What is my goal?