I have such a terrible habit of collecting and storing absolute rubbish. Like there’s things I will never have use for which I have but I’m still like no I could never throw that away. And whenever I go to the beach when I’m home from uni, I just collect loads of rocks. Like… what is the need? When am I ever going to use these rocks in my life? Sure, they’re pretty or cool but like they’re just sat there chilling doing nothing! And then I go to my friends ‘hey do you want this rock that I randomly have in my bag’ and they just look at me like why do you have a rock? I don’t know, I just liked it when I saw it.
Okay so went a little bit off topic there with talking about rocks. Like I genuinely think that collecting and keeping useless junk is just a human obsession that we all have. Like one response I’ve got on Instagram when asking was someone collecting wristbands and papers and tickets to events, but at least that’s nostalgic. Although useless in a way, there’s memories there, but inevitably most of them will end up in the bin.
One thing me and my dad discovered after my mum passing away was her unlimited collections of pens and colouring books. But the weird thing is when we needed a pen, there never was one there! They just… evaporated… poof… into thin air. And colouring books where one colouring would be done or half finished and the others untouched. That’s just human obsession taking over of I like this, I don’t need it but like I kinda do because I have others but then I kinda don’t and then the temptation takes over.
Oh, and another thing you will see in most people’s houses: a draw full of opened letters that may be useful for a week like a bill but in the long run should end up in the bin. The draws not even organised or anything its just an absolute mess of crumpled up papers and rubbish that’s just smooshed together. And then there’s the draw full of cards for occasions that actually do turn out to be useful when you remember randomly that it’s someone’s birthday the next day: you flip through the cards in hope that one will be useful and end up choosing one random one that only generally reflects them slightly.
But then there are the collections that are treasured. Like my friend’s nan collects statues and her mum collects coins which can be really interesting to someone. Whilst yes, they will lie around, they hold value, whether nostalgic like the tickets and wrist bands to events, or financial value over the years. Everyone has one thing they seem to love and have a passion for collecting no matter how random. Like someone I know has a collection of Pop figures which they have poured a lot of money into and time into hunting ones that are rare or special to them – they aim to get specific collections like the Sherlock collection or Marvel. Pop figures is actually a really popular thing for people to collect and make a hobby out of. Another friend has 56 in his collection which he is still growing.
Teddies. Teddies is also another thing that is something many people collect as they’re just comfort items. Both me and a friend have some sort of teddy obsession and I name all of mine – including one which is five foot. His name is Wilbur and I treasure him with my life. Anyone tries to take my Wilbur and then I do have issues with that person forever. For me its random teddies, my friend likes the pretty ones but my mum specifically collected Eeyore’s so it ranges person to person, even if they collect the same type of thing. Like her Eeyore collection is out of this world – she must have had over 100. Which I refuse to let go so we still just have bags of Eeyore’s around.
And then there’s the things that aren’t necessarily useless as they were made for a purpose, but just don’t fulfil that purpose. An example, my cousin has a collection of mugs which are just impossible to drink out of. They just don’t fulfil the purpose! You either end up stabbing yourself in the face in the process or it spills everywhere over your face. But as functioning as they are, they look cool to display and are a bit of fun.
I do think it’s just a human necessity to collect random stuff – whether useful or useless. It’s just like you see the junk pile up and be like I should get rid of this… but I can store it here in a draw. Or even special things like collectables you’ll display. From a young age this sort of develops like collecting Pokémon cards or like Moshi Monster figures.
Some other worthy mentions of collections: crystals, bracelets, old phones, pillows, blankets, DVDs (of films available on streaming services), used up batteries, playing cards, pet toys (when the pet only pays attention to the one) and many many more!
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