What are your feelings on amassing a lot of useless possessions through life?

With every move I’ve decluttered. The last 2 times I’ve given away more than I’ve got left. I couldn’t be bothered to sort through, list and sell things even though some of them were worth money. I figure the money is gone as soon as you buy something and the cost to my mental health hanging onto unnecessary things wasn’t worth it. The kids toys, books and dvds all went to community centres and the children’s hospital. Clothes and household items went to hostels and the rest I offered on the freebie sites.

I just spent two days searching for four photos I remember from college days for an oral history project. Finally gave up after a dozen or so albums, a half-dozen large plastic bins in my office closet, and one box in the garage. Found two, but not the other two. Still had another 20 or so boxes in the garage that haven't been touched since I moved into this house 20 years ago, but most of those were baseball memorabilia so I stopped there.

I keep telling my sons they are going to have a great time disposing of all this detritus from my life -- and some stretching back as far as my great-grandparents -- because of my hoarding ways. And my youngest son says, "you are not a hoarder. You should see whet we had to go through when my in-laws died. Stuff in walls as well as the rafters; storage sheds; one unit in their rental property devoted to storage."

But to answer your question, those two days were an amazing journey through 8+ decades from being a bed-ridden kid without electricity or indoor plumbing wondering what the rest of the world was like, to having trod a lot of it and done far more than ever expected. Added to the appreciation of what a great ride it has been. And, no, none of it was tossed or given away.

I am decluttering my life slowly. But I consult my kids before disposing on anything, offering them first option to take it. My one previously prized possession was a stamp collection I worked on as a teenager. It had some face value, which I put into it. But no one collects stamps any more. I sold it to a dealer for pennies and didnt look back..😷

As you get older you realize that some of it is just excess baggage being lugged around place to place so you get rid of it, unless it has sentimental value.

I used to collect miniature furniture years ago when i was in my 20s, i even had a train set i used to like adding small details like telephone poles, handicap parking spaces, houses driveways etc...to my train model. It was fun , i gave it all away

Ive got a collectors spirit myself and the things I've collected are no longer organized. Sometimes I just want to drop a lit match and walk away.

But the rest of the time, my stuff keeps me occupied, be it good, bad or indifferent.

Most of my stuff is useful and desirable, at least by the people i know. I like mechanical stuff, so i have a lot of tools, motorized vehicles, materials to use for modifications.

I think about selling a lot of the things i know I'll never use again, or donating them to the right cause but every time I've done that in the past, I've regretted it right away when a new need for it arises. It happens every time. It's so likely to happen that it keeps me from ridding myself of things.

My house is almost empty, and I regularly dispose of things I don't need anymore. I have little hoarding orientation and I dislike nostalgia. 😑

I subscribed to Apple Music some years ago, and being able to finally give away all my vinyl records and CDs made me so happy.
I don't buy physical books anymore, just ebooks, and I even have a Kindle reader.

I have thousands and thousands of pounds worth of retro games and consoles. Some very highly priced items and even some imports.

They're not "useless" in terms of, they work and I do occasionally play them. However, anybody walking in, who doesn't appreciate retro gaming would run away, I think. 🤣

It's great when people can do that! I've been a trashed and thrashed person in a killer country of hate, but having history and artifacts is just great for the others, civil people who aren't the enemy.
When I remember lost photos and houses that were destroyed, towns that no longer exist - I think of the people who matter, with your history and your memories and your togetherness as a generation. You, not us! Great for you! Painful and death inducing for us! Just like we made it.

"This can be useful one day" 😅 I'm not a hoarder but I don't throw stuff that I know that could be still used easily. Also some sentimental stuff as a part of my history even if it was sooo long ago and me as that person is long gone.

In a 100 years we will all be gone. Someone eles we live in my house, my car wiil have long disappeared in scrap and everything I have vanished.

Stuff is transient. Experiences are eternal.

I often feel that way. I have many collections that make smile but I don’t work with them. Someone years from now is going to have to weed through it all.

Everything I have I bought with intent, or love.
The problem is, the love is fleeting and the intent is often forgotten.

I have too much stuff. I don't like it.

And as a fickly soul, I can get rid of most things very easily. I might regret it, but I can do it.

At 55 years and over 14 moves later, I can’t even keep track of how many cherished possessions I’ve accumulated and then left behind over the course of my life.

Pretty much the only thing from my childhood that I still own is my comic book collection and I contemplate selling that off every other week…

I've collected and saved things, at times, but I eventually discard of them as I'm a minimalist and try to stay ready to move at a moments notice. What I cannot ever part with all fits into one small steamer trunk. And I try not to buy anything that isn't actually useful.

I used to buy a lot of stuff.. clothes and books and other things .. i gave a lot of stuff away the other year but there’s still more i need to dispose of for space.. but i don't buy a lot of **** anymore 🤐

I don't have many things, but the things I do have, I treasure. I've mostly gotten them from my kids.

We went minimalist in 2020 i.e. She threw all my stuff out to make room for more of her stuff.

It’s so hard to declutter all the stuff one has been collecting over a lifetime, even though it’s totally useless. And I went through all of this.

I have had a huge yard sale every time I moved. I am now a lean, mean, minimally cluttered machine...🤣

It depends on if it's sentimental or not to me. I don't like just having a lot of things laying around, but I do have some things that mean something to me that I wouldn't want to toss.

It reminds me, that I still need to get rid of so much. In the end, you can’t take it with you.

Thank God for e-bay!

I've done it so I can't complain about someone else doing it. Over the past year though my wife and I have sold a lot of stuff on eBay and Marketplace.

Makes life worth living, makes a house a home.

Things just tend to gather up and I am always giving away or throwing away.

Disowned personal items? Well, yes! Serious downsizing!

I dont collect useless stuff

I used to collect coins, superhero and baseball cards, it was a waste of time, I got rid of all that junk, unnecessary material possessions are just a nuisance.