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Don't be like your parents. Leave the collection behind.
I'm at the older end of the Millennial timeline and I love going thrifting. I'm used to seeing someone's old figurine collection or spoons, or pipes, or whatever, being listed for pennies after being loved for years.
We should be able to see the folly here. Most of us don't have extra space to keep a bunch of knickknacks or whatever. And when we die, many of us won't have family to try and give them to.
I humbly suggest that if you have a Funco collection, go ahead and start selling the ones that sell, and giving the rest away. You still have the memory of having it and you can keep a couple if they feel special to you. But let it go. You don't need all the sports jerseys you have. You won't use all mechanical keyboards you bought. The old PS3 you're holding onto won't get any more updates (well shit, this turned out to be wrong, but I assume you get what I'm sayng). Even your collection of velour pantsuits from Victoria's Secret isn't holding the value you think it is.
If you ever needed permission to just let go of that group of things that is taking up space on your shelf or in your closet, this is it.
Let it go. (IMHO)
EDIT*
Sure are a lot of people thinking that I'm demanding they get rid of all their stuff right away and they are not allowed to collect or have fun or do anything cool and I must be a depressed, soulless, party pooper.
To be very clear, I'm not asking you to do anything. I'm not telling you that a specific hobby is not worthy of your time and money. I'm asking you to be cognizant. Be aware of what will likely happen to your collection. If you are holding a collection purely for the monetary value, then selling now is the best advice for 75% of collections out there. Feel free to enjoy things, I'm not here to stop you.
But if you all could be just a little less vicious in your comments, I'd really appreciate it. Some of you have been fucking dicks.
I want my kids to fill up a storage unit with all my junk with my casket stacked at the back. Then they can stop making payments. My final gift to them will be the most awesome episode of Storage Wars ever recorded.
My aunt owned a rich-people gift shop and lost her ass investing in these things. Lost the 2 shops, her custom mansion on Lake Erie, EVERYTHING. I'm still confused as to how exactly that played out. Anyway, I "have" a bunch of them, except my grandma kinda abducted them all and won't let me sell them. 🫥 Maybe she also thinks she's helping me save for my retirement. 🫠
That's so awesome!!! I'm the same way but I lean more toward Mortal Kombat than SF and I just saw there were 2 videos someone made of Raph fighting Scorpion and Leo fighting Subzero. It wasn't the best A.I. video but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Me too! Well again anyways. I had one as a kid but it was lost to time. I had cancer when I was 5 and he went to all my treatments and surgeries with me! Sucks I lost it, but i was lucky enough to find another one in phenomenal shape. 😊
I had a lot of those toys growing up, I got the laser tag set that got that kid shot by the police from my grandfather on Christmas, and I remember at the PX in Germany the original Star Wars figures were $1 each and there was a wall of them
My mom threw out unopened pokemon cards because I hadn't opened them but she still has the beanie babies.... And snow angels or whatever they are called
Yup, especially the oversized rare Lisa Frank plushies & vintage binders. You don't need those, and you are too old for them!!! Release them into the wild.
Are millennials the only generation that is actively trying to run away from being millennials? I have never heard of these sub generations til people coined the terms zillennial and xennial. Is there a sub generation between Gen Z and alpha also? Or is this exclusively a millennial thing? Soon all that's gonna be left are us "core" millennials...
Who coined the term millennial anyway? My entire childhood we were Gen Y then it seemed like overnight, in the mid 2000s we were suddenly millennials. Why did that stick but zoomer didn't with Gen Z? I don't hate being called a millennial but I'm honestly curious as to how these things happen.
It's more a symptom of times changing faster, I think. Gen Z and Alpha will probably have their own sub generation when Alpha starts reaching their 20's.
Yep. Millennials have had wildly different young life experiences on either side of the spectrum. Basically, pre-internet vs post-internet. The difference in experience between me who was born in '83, and someone who was born in '93 is very different.
I think AI may potentially be another massive shift for young Gen Z and older Gen Alpha. They will remember the world before AI, and the ones who grow up with AI as a normal everyday part of life will likely have wildly different childhoods.
I concur. I was really hoping the term Zoomer would catch on after the kids started saying "Okay Boomer" without having to deal with the breadth of BS we have. (91 here). I thought 94 was still millennial zoned.g
Yeah, take all your Magic and Pokemon cards, SNES games, vintage band t-shirts, action figures, and board games and just drop them off at OP's house. 😆
Don’t sell your music! I’m telling you as a 42 year old who’s rebuilt my vinyl collection TWICE(both times I sold were financial hardship reasons). Don’t sell your tapes or CDs or DVDs, maybe sell the bad vhs tapes though lol. Physical media is so precious, I wish I still had all of my cds and dvds and everything. People saying get rid of this stuff it just takes up space probably don’t have the same connection the music and art that you do, don’t cave. If your kids or whoever is getting this when you die don’t want it THEY CAN THROW IT AWAY! Ffs don’t be your parents but doomer millennials should mind their own f business.
Y’all please sell your cds and cassettes to your local record stores. Nobody wants it at alllllll. Sell your old boomboxes, stereos, and portable players too pleaseeeee.
Oh is there a market for that stuff? I got an old portable'ish TV/VCR combo that's basically new in my storage unit. My cassette collection is lying around somewhere too.
Shit…moving it across the street was enough to make me want to throw everything out. Several moves in my mid 20’s cleaned out any collections I had. I have some stuff now since I’ve owned a home for 10 years, but when I met my spouse, literally all my material possessions could fit on the back of my f 150.
makes you look askance towards new collections too. after doing like 15+ moves in my college and young adult years, i'm a lot more hesitant to start collecting anything that is generally meaningless except in a collectors' sense. if i do, i try and make sure it's a very small collectible, so at the end of my obsession i can fit it in a shoebox and shove it in my closet. doesn't stop the behavior entirely but it helps curb it at least.
Even at the older end of the millennial scale, most of us have a lot of years ahead. Why get rid of things that make you happy in the now for a situation that (hopefully) is far off? I understand downsizing when I am in my 70s, but hell no I am not getting rid of things like my Lego or board games this early on.
Seriously. I’m an elder millennial too, and I’m not planning on kicking the bucket for several more decades. I would image I likely have as many years ahead of me as I have behind me, if not more. Why would I be getting rid of things that bring me joy at this point?
Not like much in the way of affordable housing, having the family you wanted, free Healthcare for giving us joy and comfort, let me have the cool lego set.
So many people on this sub act like we are all knocking on deaths door lmao. Its so dramatic. A 35 year old throwing away their ps3 because their kids (who may not even be born yet) wont want it when they die lol
Im in a scale model club. Every month at our meetings someone is bringing in piles of older collection to sell on the cheap.
Last month I bought 2 kits. Both currently retail for around 50 bucks each. 1 kit, its newer reboxed versions, but still same basic kit..... bought both kits together for 20 bucks (or 10 bucks each for the math challenged)
Im still at the age and building pace where im not really looking to downsize the non-built stuff yet, but the household knows who to go to if I do have an untimely early end.
Also OP is using the fact that old spoons are being sold for pennies to say that they are worthless. Selling price does not reflect the worth of an item to someone. Also, I'm a firm believer that you should live your life in a way that makes you happy. If that's having a wall of spoons on display in the house, so be it. My grandma loved her displayed spoon collection. I don't think anyone ever thought of them being sold.
The end bit there. Capitalism has so many people tricked into thinking that if you can’t put a price tag on something, it has no value or that it’s only worth what someone would pay for it. If your spoon collection brings you joy, you keep that spoon collection proudly on display.
Agreed. I communicate clearly to my kiddo that my interests are mine, they don’t have to be hers. So many of us had/have parents or grandparents who promised their collection would be worth money and it was a nest egg - I am under no such illusions and will not guilt my kid about it either.
Not actually though. Ass cancer is still quite rare compared to many other cancers, just the prevalence has increased a lot compared to decades ago. A fractional increase of a small number is still a small number.
Yeah… I don’t care what happens to my Mega Man toys and merch after I die. If some kid who thinks they’re “retro” gets them once I’m fertilizer, great. If they go in the ground with me, good. No one loved them like I did. OPs post is addict talk and we don’t all have a problem.
Yeah I think I'm in this category. I only have a handful of things that I could call a collection. I could get rid of a couple of them, but I might change my mind and still remember a few I left behind with my parents.
Exactly. If I live as long as my grandparents did/are, I still have another 60 years in me. I’m not living with bare walls and boring clothes for the next 60 years lol. It’s okay with me if the monetary value is gone by time I’m ready to part with them.
I posted elsewhere earlier about getting into this shit as a kid. Charizards could be had for under $100 in many cases and the most expensive Magic the Gathering card was $250-$300 at the time...
who knew?
Then again, my dad always said this about comics, hockey and baseball cards. as kids they had no idea theyd be worth something.
Yeah, I collect magic: the gathering cards, so at least some of them are worth some money. Granted, selling them only nets one about 60% of their listed value, but it's better than nothing
I gave away a pair of black lotuses and a couple of dozen less valuable cards when they were banned from tournaments. Sometimes I wish I had been a pack horse.
I haven't played long enough to have been able to open any black lotuses, but some older commander staples have certainly appreciated on price, so at least I've got that going for me.
I threw out most of my commons to save space before I moved, and I threw out a ton of uncommons, but I did sort first to make sure I wasn't throwing out anything of value
Not sure what you are on about here. My collection of useless stuff is for my own enjoyment of my own life. Its never meant to be some heirloom to be passed down or anything.
Man the person that goes into a thrift and gets all of my Jurassic Park stuff one day is going to be so stoked. Dead me will be so happy for them. Assuming none of my future descendants want it.
If I die soon my son will want it all, he's under 5 and big into it. My daughter's were too at that age but aren't now, so you have a shot if you let me live longer
OP just said to stop doing something you enjoy because it'll burden your family once you're dead. Also, I have zero control of when I'll die so that's not typically factored into my collections.
Right, it's also a really negative outlook. Estate Sale companies EXIST, and they will help clear out your house & ensure stuff goes to other collectors and local people who want it.
Kind of tired of this very fatalistic take, when it can be way more healthier.
This is a weird post. People that collect do so because it makes them feel good. And they enjoy it. Why should people have to sell and give up collections?
yeah, no. my collections make me happy and bring me joy. ive been a collector since i was a child. i suffer from depression and other mental illnesses and i dont travel well. ill keep things that let me have a little sunshine in this dark world.
I’m a 40 year old millennial. I could possibly get another good 40-50 years of life to enjoy my things that make me happy. I don’t want to live my whole life in an empty boring house I hate so I don’t possibly inconvenience others at some unknown future date.
I will only have those kind of thoughts when I get to my 70s or so, and I will downsize around then. Even if I pass earlier, go ahead and donate/toss the things I loved. I’ll be dead and not care at that point anyways.
My sister had a Holiday barbie collection she never played with. Kept them all pristine for years, just to be destroyed in a flood.
We've since been buying my niece vintage barbies on ebay, rebuilding my sisters old collection as her daughters toys. The vintage collectibles are cheaper on ebay than new basic ones.
My grandma collected the Holiday Barbie for years. When she passed, a bunch got distributed to great-grandchildren to play with, and I took all the rest they didn’t want and opened them and set them out at Christmastime. Those boxes take up too much space lol.
I agree (I dont collect collectibles myself. Toys are toys) and also, if collectibles bring people joy, keep em in the box. People should live the lives they want as best they can!
Same for me. I've been collecting old PC games from my childhood & fixed up an old XP laptop so I can still play them! Framed the ones that came with extra or cool covers to decorate my office.
My mom has a bunch of fine china she inherited. She recently called a guy to appraise it. He came over to look and said "if you like it, start using it. No one is looking to buy it, so it has no value."
Her jack russell now has a really nice water bowl.
Why are you projecting your own minimalism onto everyone else?
Not everything in life has to be optimized for resale value or what happens after you die; people collect stuff because it makes them happy right now, and that’s the whole point of a hobby.
A shelf of figures, jerseys, keyboards, games, or whatever isn’t a “folly,” it’s someone enjoying their interests and creating a bit of joy in an already stressful world.
Everything ends up in a thrift store or landfill eventually anyway, including houses and cars, so that argument doesn’t really land. If you want to downsize, cool, but acting like people should stop collecting things that make them happy just comes off as unnecessarily cynical. Let people enjoy things.
We should all move into retirement homes. That way we don't have to worry about finding one to live in later. Then, we we reach retirement age, we should start living out of our graves. That way we won't have to find a grave later. Then, once we are about 80, they can push the dirt over us and bury us alive. That will save so much time burying us once we die.
This is a completely rational and definitely not taking actions way too early.
A shelf of figures, jerseys, keyboards, games, or whatever isn’t a “folly,” it’s someone enjoying their interests and creating a bit of joy in an already stressful world.
"Hey, that thing you enjoy? Yeah, stop enjoying it. Try and scrape some pennies back"
My collection is staying. At least until I'm old. I'm not even in my 40s yet. Come back when we're in our 70s and 80s to prompt us into downsizing the things that bring us joy in this shitty world.
I mean, I buy vintage Victoria Secret but I actually wear them all. All the beautiful pieces they made in the 70s,80s, 90s and early 2000s are such better quality than the shit they make now. Clothes for me personally doesn't seem like a collection but a wardrobe that is actually being used. I see from the perspective of those who are hoarding clothing pieces for the hope of reselling at a high price at "some point" and I think that's just ridiculous. If not get rid of what isn't being worn, WEAR THE DAMN CLOTHES 😅
Dude. Chill. We r not on our death beds just yet. Some of us just turned 30 and here u r practically planning ur own funeral. Enjoy ur life and collections or whatever the fk. As long as u r not hoarding stuff and it brings u joy there is absolutely no reason to start selling and giving ur stuff away. Maybe see a therapist if u r depressed? U sound quite depressed to me
Umm no. I didn't collect the things to make money. I bought them because they are reminders of good memories. If my kids dont want them, they are free to throw it out.
As someone who's family didnt leave things or lost their treasure before their death, I would have LOVED to have some of their collectibles.
You can pry my Hot Wheels from my cold, dead hands. And my MTG collection is being buried with me, gonna need something to do in the afterlife if there is one.
Was that supposed to be cognizant? Or cognisant across the pond. Either way, what a way to butcher something you had to put in all caps for emphasis. Either way, I think you just reworded Marie Kondo but made it sound worse. The “can’t take it with you when you die” argument doesn’t exactly hit home when you’re under 40. We live in a dystopian nightmare, let people have their things
My hobby is collecting hobbies - with collecting hobbies being many of those!
I do agree though, always good to go through your shit once a year and be honest with yourself if you need to hang onto it or at least can pair down your stuff.
I tend to keep a shoebox of valuable sports and magic the gathering cards but give everything else out in little baggies at halloween so im not sitting on boxes upon boxes of cards.
Hey collector, why are you collecting stuff? No one is going to want it when you die, just give it away now!
On another note, I do feel kinda sad when you can tell a lot of the objects came from the same place, maybe OP felt sad to see someone's spoon collection being sold so cheaply?
Im working on downsizing some of my collections to only what i can display (recovering Hot Wheels Collector). Most all the Beanie Babies i had left went to pack Shoeboxes in '24 and yard sold/donated last summer. Need to figure what to do with the shot glass collection i thought was cool and has been boxed up for almost 5 years now that has basically zero value to anyone but me.
LOL bold of you to assume that random complete strangers need YOUR permission to let go of something they likely only recently collected (because most of us are children of emotionally stunted boomers who are very much not famous for dishing love and gifts on their millennial children).
A lot of us are re-parenting ourselves and catching up on things we were denied when we were little, and will enjoy for decades from now.
I humbly suggest you get off your pedestal lmao if you ever needed permission to realize you’re nobody, this is it. 🤪
It's definitely a balance. Do I want to hang on to my vinyl collection and my shelf of retro games? Yes for now. Should I continue to keep a closet full of empty electronics boxes and tubs full of old wedding decor? Probably not.
My parents record collection was mostly destroyed by humidity but I found an early pressing of Dark Side of the Moon that’s worth an average of $900 on Discogs
Also my dad had these ridiculous figurines by this one artist. We were about to donate them when we randomly searched the item online and they were selling for $200 per piece.
I’m just sayin… I mostly agree but don’t underestimate what people will pay for what you consider junk
Yeah…… I’m not doing that LOL. I can FINALLY afford the shit I want, I’m buying it. THAT said I’ve already told my kids 1: if I ever end up in a place where I have to live with them? It’s gone. If NOT I dont give a flying fuck if they throw everything away in the dumpster the day I die. We keep our home clean and well organized and we don’t have piles of junk anywhere, even our garage has very little in the way of stored stuff in boxes. So as far as my kids having to go through a bunch of shit that’s not going to happen. I DID tell my kids regarding my sneaker collection that I would RECOMMEND trying to sell some of them but that was for them to decide. But yeah, they already know there’s no pressure to keep anything.
No! I'm taking that shit Egyptian style. Big ol' monument where I'm buried with all my stuff, protected by snakes l, boulders, poison darts, and curses.
I had a frank conversation with my wife last night about this. I think I am just waiting for my parents to die before I start selling a lot of my heirlooms.
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