Is collecting in our genetic make up

[philtcm]

Hi
As a collector/ seller who has started the big cull of stuff collected over the last 50 years.
The man / boy who vowed after the the 2009 2010 Match attax set, that he wouldn't collect anymore.

I am just wondering just what goes on in our brains? can we help ourselves, is there something that we can do to stop this compulsion to collect?
HELP NEEDED!!!

Or is it genetic, I tend to think so cos I seem to have pased it on to my six year old grandaughter.

Things were going oh so well I got myself into the -- well that can go mode and started to sell cigarette cards postcards beer glasses and allsorts of stuff.
Then a little girl became a liker of stuff!!!! ie fag cards tea cards really old postcards. Then Morrisons brought out the Magical moments set and the little girl had to have the set. So grandad got back into collecting mode.
Yeh we got the set.
Now Topps have brought out SLAM ATTAX RUMBLE and guess who has been roped in to get the set.
Top of tomorrows shopping list is SLAM ATTAX RUBLE CARDS.
Oh and no doubt we will get the set.

HELP!!!!!

Regards Phil

Oh and have loads of Cigarette cards tea cards trade cards etc etc for sale at reasonable prices.

[HerMajesty]

lol! I hear you! I think the gathering mode is pretty well wired into us...........but it can be different things for different people. Some like clothes, shoes, food, cards, cars, pottery, vacations, photos..........it's interesting. Hard to get it totally out of your system.

[mrsandman]

Strangely enough.... I remember all our family would moan at my mum and her buying ... Now , to my horror my son had a go a me for ' hoarding' rubbish !!!! But ... he forgot to mention his collection of ' it might be valuble one day' hoard that drives his wife mad lol

[philtcm]

Haven't had chance to get on here for a while so would like to say a very merry christmas to my first ever buyer on Ebid.

Have a good one.

Phil

[burgyeb]

Congratulations on your first sale, and many more.

I do not think collecting is genetic. I like collecting coins and precious metals. I have tried to get my children interested, and they could care less. The only thing that would probably interest them is liquidation and access to cash. I would love to see their children show an interest in collecting "the finer things in life".

[Trendytrends4u]

Congrats on your first sale!! Well, Ive always been a collector , of anything , but turned to pokemon trading cards. I felt more easier, prettier, and made feel like a kid again!




If you love pokemons click here: http://trendytrends4u-collectibles-p...tore.ebid.net/

[suesjools]

IMHO there are two types of people, those who collect, some call it hoard, and those who clean/toss regularly. Glad to say I belong to the former category.

Best wishes for many sales to all,

[gbsbks2010]

I'm watching "Hoarders" on the TV - one man's treasure is another man's junk!

[damian_steele]

A lot of it has to do with the individual's childhood circumstances.

• Did they grow up with people who were collectors?
• Did they grow up in a poor family who needed to keep hold of things so they could re-use them?
• Did they grow up without enough money to get what they wanted when they were young, so as an adult with more money they "make up for it" later?
• Were they brought up in a home which had been owned by the same family for generations and had, therefore, naturally accumulated lots of belongings - giving that person a psychological feeling of safety and security when surrounded by lots of stuff?
• Did they suffer as a child from having things taken away from them, perhaps by another sibling, which as an adult gives them the need to "keep hold" of what they own?
• Maybe it's because we are constantly bombarded with the message that we must all keep buying, keep consuming, regardless of cost or need?
• Or perhaps it is down to our natural instinct to gather which is based on thousands of years of needing to do so just to survive?

There are many reasons why someone would collect or hoard. It's likely to be something that the person themselves is unaware of on a conscious level and they may actually argue against the likely reason if it was presented to them.

[astral276]

I think WW2 created a generation of hoarders. When stuff was hard to get you didn't throw anything away. That 'keep it' attitude lived on after the war and was instilled in many children of parents that lived through the war. Now we are a throw-away society. Why make do and mend when you can just buy new? Plus, products now are not designed to last - or even be repaired when they do go wrong.

No doubt there is an actual illness that causes some people to hoard when prior deprivation is not a factor.

There is a difference though between collecting and hoarding. You hoard for no logical reason. You collect out of an interest in what you collect.