Getting rid of/letting go of collections and precious objects

[JB]

What does slap think about getting rid of collections and things that were once near and dear to you? Have you done this before? Regretted getting rid of anything? Sold anything for a lot of money? I'm interested to hear your stories.

I've recently sold a ton of guitar pedals from my "collection" which was basically a pile of gear that sat and never got played. Let go of some things I really loved including the first one I ever bought, a big muff. The little bit of money I've made has been nice and lifted a bit of financial stress of my back. For the first time in a while, I feel pretty content with my guitar gear and am not fiending for new shit, so I think the purge was a good move. Plus, I didn't have anything super precious that I can't re-buy down the road if I really want to.

In doing all of that, I caught a glimpse of my skate DVD collection that's been unplayed for at least 5 years, probably longer. I have 4 or 5 shoeboxes in the corner of a basement closet filled with DVDs and a few VHS tapes from like 2000 up until DVDs stopped being a big thing in skating. I've thought for years about selling them, but have never been able to bring myself to do it. They were a huge part of my life, but I almost feel guilty for hoarding them with no intent of busting them out. I could see myself taking them out eventually if I ever finished my basement and made a space to watch them, but there's no real plans for that anytime soon. Plus, I don't even own a DVD player anymore. Kinda considering selling them so others can enjoy them, and putting the money towards a vacation or something like that. What do you all think? Keep em, or let em go? I haven't thought about them in years and every time I watch a skate video, I just do it on youtube.

The older I get, the more I've thought that nothing is really that precious, and I only need things in my life that are useful. I've always been kind of a collector, but in thinking about life in the long run, I don't know if I really need or want to be one anymore.

[Atiba Applebum]

I 86ed my skate vhs collection bc I realized I had means to watch them all on YouTube, etc and I had no desire to buy a VCR.  Didn’t hurt that there is a healthy market out there for people who disagree with me

My recommendation is to take pictures so you have some memories.   I used to be very precious, but there have been almost zero regret and a lot of relief as I’ve downsized all my collections

[69woodpusher69]

I am with you. I still collect things, just things with monetary value. I am now into collecting silver bullion, cash (stocks and investing). I learned around age 30 that life is much more "lightweight" with less shit. The more shit you own, the more you have to maintain, protect, package, store, etc. I used to collect vintage video games, hot wheels, 00s era skate shit and sneakers.

[JB]

Sneakers I got out of pretty quick thankfully. There was a day that was raining like crazy and I realized that having 12 pairs of shoes that I can't wear outside that day was a really stupid collection to have. Skated and gave them all away, didn't even think to try to sell. Sometimes I think what some of the dunks I had around the mid 00's would be worth now, but I had my fun with them. Didn't have to wait in a stupid line or win a raffle for them either.

I had a sizable collection of thrasher and skateboarder from that same time period that I threw in the dumpster the last time I moved. Just didn't want to move them all again.

I acquired a fairly decent size record collection about 7 or 8 years ago and was really into buying and collecting vinyl for a few years, but the house I'm in now just doesn't have the room for it all. Another collection waiting for me to finish my basement or move again before I get to enjoy. So much of it was given to me from my dad and my wife's dad who's passed that I don't think I could ever sell any of it. Watch me hang on to it for another decade until my kids move out and I can dump it on them. I bet my Dwyer records will be worth a fortune then.

[CrumblingInfrastructure]

I think I got rid of about 60-70% of all my shit when I got divorced. It sucked in the moment but was honestly for the best. I think im due for another purge soon.

[boogs]

I’m about to get rid of a bunch of my skate stuff. Magazines, decks, and dvds.

Is eBay still the best place place to do this or are there other websites? I’d prefer to keep it on eBay as I’m 100%, have a decent amount of followers and a number in the 11,000s.

I still have about 10,000 records in my Collection and still actively buy new stuff. Back in the 2008 I sold most of heavy hitters because I needed the money. I’m kind of in the same situation currently due to having brain surgery back in august.
I can tell you this much, getting rid of stuff can be very therapeutic, especially when you’re making money at it.

[therealnod]

I traded an MT-2 Metal Zone pedal for a Zoom digital pedal when they first came out because the Zoom had so many effects. The Metal Zone is worth more and the Zoom sucked. I still have it and it still sucks. One of the worst decisions I've ever made. That pretty much stopped my from ever wanting to trade anything ever again. I still have about 30 Oliver Miller rookie cards, which are worth about .05 each. I also have over 200 distinct decks of playing cards, duplicates of at least 75 of them. They're worth more than the Miller rookies for about three days. But I never get rid of them because there was that one time I traded a really good pedal for a garbage pedal and I'll never forget it.   

[therealnod]

I still have about 10,000 records in my Collection and still actively buy new stuff.

I would love to see a list. Do you have anything by The Fugs?

[Clone1984]

I just sold my ps4 and the majority of my retro videogame collection. I feel liberated. I really liked this stuff a lot but I realized how much of it is tied to personal trauma. I have an ebay now and it's working out good. I was able to take care of some expenses that could have really hurt me if left unchecked after the pandemic. I want to focus on other hobbies and live cleaner more organized. I want to get rid of a lot

[Madam, I'm Adam]

I've got a coin collection, board collection, and shoe collection. I'm a dork.

Coins and boards, I can't get rid of those. But oddly enough, I'm not really as attached to the shoes. I've got a couple that I don't want to lose, but after I own them and hold them for awhile and realize I won't skate them, I lose my connection.

I'll sell a pair here and there, but I still have a fair amount sitting. I might put almost all of them up for sale at some point since I'm a new houseowner, and need to maintain this place.

[TastyBurrito]

I have a few things I keep for the sake of nostalgia and memories connected to them.

But usually when it comes to clothes, collectables, etc. If I haven't used/touched them in two years, I feel like it's not important enough for me to keep.

It's helped as I was able to downsize a lot. My space and life feel left cluttered and it feels great.

[JB]

I traded an MT-2 Metal Zone pedal for a Zoom digital pedal when they first came out because the Zoom had so many effects. The Metal Zone is worth more and the Zoom sucked. I still have it and it still sucks. One of the worst decisions I've ever made. That pretty much stopped my from ever wanting to trade anything ever again. I still have about 30 Oliver Miller rookie cards, which are worth about .05 each. I also have over 200 distinct decks of playing cards, duplicates of at least 75 of them. They're worth more than the Miller rookies for about three days. But I never get rid of them because there was that one time I traded a really good pedal for a garbage pedal and I'll never forget it.   

You can get a used metal zone for like 20 bucks. 50 new I think. Hell, go on Reddit and tell your story and I bet someone will send you one for free.

[ok boomer]

I’ve sold a huge amount of my skate collection. I had boards (signed) from 1986-current date. A lot of banners, posters, old clothing etc. i had 2 regrets …. my 1992 Plan B Sean Sheffey Malcolm X board. And my Alien Workshop banner from mid 90’s. I found the banner on eBay recently and bought it, I feel like it was my original one… which is cool. Won’t ever see the Sheffey again.

Now what I weighed out when selling the collection was : what I need money for versus what am I doing with this stuff. Most of the collection I sold to help pay off bills on fixing up my last house (which I sold so I could move my son to a better school district). I 100% feel like that was a good move. Help my family progress versus a bunch of stuff in boxes. I sold other stuff to help finance Xmas presents for my son also.

All I still own is some stuff from the first skate shop I ever went to in 1986, my mags collection, video collection. But no old boards anymore. Oh yeah I do have a poster and banner collection which I am pondering selling because I may need some baseball gear for my son in 2 months. I just feel like if you can find a better purpose for the stuff then it makes it ok. I was kinda sad selling my first pro board (Vision Tom Groholski 1986), but the guy who bought it had been trying to replace his for years so it felt good

[Mr. Kamikazi]

Collecting is my DNA. Grandfather retired at the age of 50 & was able to make a living off of flea marketing & buying, reselling & collected in between. Ever since I was young, I had to collect something. I just posted in the Professional Wrestling thread that I am getting back into collecting WWE action figures. Other things I collected or currently collect include records/cds & skate shoes (not anymore as while I still have them, I have parted with many over the years). Very excited to go back to collecting WWE figures as they all look really good. I stopped around the halfway point through the Classic Superstars & Ruthless Aggression series.

[Mean salto]

^^"Collecting is in my DNA" would be a nice way to put it but unfortunately I think it's more like hoarding. I've got boxes and boxes of toys, cds, DVDs, magazines, any type of skateboard thing, clothes. It mostly doesn't bother me as it's just stuffed into cupboards etc and if I ever had to walk away from it I'd like to think I'd be able to but like the few episodes of hoarder shows I've seen I do find I start to get annoyed/put up some resistance when people are like hey you should just throw this out.

[shredder sequel]

In 2013 I took care of clearing out my grandparents house. 80 years of stuff. It was overwhelming. After all that, I did a total purge of all my collections because I didn’t want to put my daughter through having to deal with clearing out my life when I was gone. After, I started a one-in-one-out policy on clothes, books, etc. I’ve never missed anything I got rid of.

[Mr. Kamikazi]

I think it can be hoarding if it’s just collecting anything & everything. I’m nowhere on that level. I try to be specific.

[radcunt]

I'm teetering on a purge.  Got tonnes of boxed Atari consoles (woodgrain ones) and games, N64, Gamecube, all that shit which i'm not sure I care about anymore. 

Decent vinyl collection that I wont ditch.  Got a heap of synths & drum machines which are worth a bomb but I use them and love em, so cant sell em but could definitely sell some.

I have a bunch of skateboards, mostly reissues which I wanna thin down, some OG powell decks though.
Cassette tapes, VHSs, just feels like it's burying me a bit.

[Gray Imp Sausage Metal]

I need to bounce a lot of my watch collection, a lot of money tied up there!
My records I’ll probably never let go, will give them to my kids and they can pass them down the line.

[rolling is good]

I still have every mag and VHS I ever bought.
From Sugar in 1998 to the death of the best mag ever, Skateboarder.
All store purchases/subscribtion as I don't buy online.
Never been a collector though, I hate to gather things for the sake of it.
I don't want to get rid of them now, maybe someday and I'll keep the most emotional stuff.
I think that's the best compromise, just keep things you use or are very dear to you.
To my regret I've never seen anyone selling skate gear at a flea market here in France.

[rocklobster]

My wife and I used to gift vinyls to each other for birthdays but we stopped doing that to avoid cluttering. I used to collect boards from every overseas shop I went to, but I realized these boards were sitting under my bed and not being displayed. I just get a t-shirt or cap from the shop these days, that way I'll end up using the stuff I buy.

[JB]

My wife and I used to gift vinyls to each other for birthdays but we stopped doing that to avoid cluttering. I used to collect boards from every overseas shop I went to, but I realized these boards were sitting under my bed and not being displayed. I just get a t-shirt or cap from the shop these days, that way I'll end up using the stuff I buy.

I get stickers when I travel now. Kinda slipped my mind at first, but they're what I collect now in my attempt to cover my tool box in my garage. It's a pretty fun way to remember different places and times and they make the tool box cool to look at.

[manysnakes]

I had ~20 years of vinyl (probably 1200-1500 records, after having paired down a lot) all stolen from me. I was done with them, but I didn't know what to do to maximize their value, since I couldn't imagine selling that many LPs on eBay and I knew that taking them to a record store would net me like $1000 or something ridiculous. So when I was between apartments (paid for the full month while I moved into a new place), and some workmen come to inspect the place helped themselves to my entire collection, I was sad for a long time and still sort of am, but ultimately I was freed of the burden of moving two tons of vinyl everywhere I went.

[Síota]

I had ~20 years of vinyl (probably 1200-1500 records, after having paired down a lot) all stolen from me. I was done with them, but I didn't know what to do to maximize their value, since I couldn't imagine selling that many LPs on eBay and I knew that taking them to a record store would net me like $1000 or something ridiculous. So when I was between apartments (paid for the full month while I moved into a new place), and some workmen come to inspect the place helped themselves to my entire collection, I was sad for a long time and still sort of am, but ultimately I was freed of the burden of moving two tons of vinyl everywhere I went.

No insurance?

I wish I kept all my books... everything I had disappeared over the years while traveling around.

[Chavo]

I wish I could get rid of my vinyl records, but I still listen to them. I had to get the last boxes from my family's house and of course everything of value was missing.

[The Drew]

I got rid of my dunk collection...  by skating them when broke... in hindsight I should have sold them... but I had fun


I don't horde anything now... i figure I can't take anything with me once I croak so I might as well enjoy what I have now.

[OldieButFrenchie]

Currently slimming down my record collection.....I made good money at a few swap meets.
I have maybe 1200 LPs or more and I feel 800 would be more than enough.
I know I could make a fortune selling my 90's hip hop wax, considering current prices, but I'm way too attached to these records.

I also want to get rid of at least half of my skate mag collection ! Way too many mags laying around in my basement....

(@rolling is good I saw your sig hit me up if you're interested! I'm in the Paris area quite often)

[streetmeat]

I mostly just have/had punk-hardcore records/shirts/tapes/zines. I still have thousands of records and hundreds of shirts. I've paired it down over the years and never really missed any of it. Randomly I think about something I got rid of and think 'damn i wish i could look at that right now' but then that thought is over within a minute.

[vicious cycle]

I try to get rid of my CD collection atm..
Mostly underground/gangster rap stuff.. Collected them over a few decades. Some of them had great value and while I lost my job, I just sell what I can atm.. Still holding on to my vinyl collection.
Selling them isn't that easy anyway.. They all are dusty and dirty.. I used to DJ a lot so most of them are kinda messy. Cleaning them all would be a nightmare i guess.
And to make good money on discogs they have to be in pristine condition.
Ebay kinda sucks nowadays.. At least the German version.

[Mouth]

I have a complete set of the original 1980s run of the Garbage Pail Kids.

7 year old me is stoked.