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What do you do when collecting turns into hoarding?
seateddime
Posts: 6,180 ✭✭✭
It recently occured to me when I went to the bank to get another Safe Deposit Box that maybe I do have a problem. Sure I try and sell a little bit here and there but the purchases outway the sales 20 to 1.
My wife asked why do I get packages every day and really I have no great answer. I buy coins, cars, watches, comics and I have no less than dozen laptops, and Ipad and now another Ipad to replace my wi-fi . I still have the original iphone, the 3g the 3gs and now want to get the ipone 4.
How do you stop the madness?
I have over 50 albums filled with coins and tons of stuff I don't even know where to start selling because the time it would take is not worth it and the last time I tried selling cheaper coins I was getting less than I paid in fees to sell.
Ideas? Amyone?
I can't be alone.
My wife asked why do I get packages every day and really I have no great answer. I buy coins, cars, watches, comics and I have no less than dozen laptops, and Ipad and now another Ipad to replace my wi-fi . I still have the original iphone, the 3g the 3gs and now want to get the ipone 4.
How do you stop the madness?
I have over 50 albums filled with coins and tons of stuff I don't even know where to start selling because the time it would take is not worth it and the last time I tried selling cheaper coins I was getting less than I paid in fees to sell.
Ideas? Amyone?
I can't be alone.
I seldom check PM's but do check emails often jason@seated.org
Buying top quality Seated Dimes in Gem BU and Proof.
Buying great coins - monster eye appeal only.
Buying top quality Seated Dimes in Gem BU and Proof.
Buying great coins - monster eye appeal only.
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Or, the drastic move is to sell EVERYTHING!!!
by not buying coins on ebay as I had been,
and trying to be very selective.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
100% Positive BST transactions
Buying top quality Seated Dimes in Gem BU and Proof.
Buying great coins - monster eye appeal only.
<< <i>Does anyone want 300 ike dollars or 4000 1/2 dollars at face? I keep saving them but 3 shoes boxes later I have to ask myself why???? >>
Sound like rather than buying some trades are in order.
<< <i>
<< <i>Does anyone want 300 ike dollars or 4000 1/2 dollars at face? I keep saving them but 3 shoes boxes later I have to ask myself why???? >>
Sound like rather than buying some trades are in order. >>
Yeah maybe I should try and sell them (or just take them to the bank)
Buying top quality Seated Dimes in Gem BU and Proof.
Buying great coins - monster eye appeal only.
You could try adhering your next newp Seated Dime to your arm...
Maybe it will work like a quit smoking nicotine release patch to break your coin buying addiction
<< <i>As long as you aren't overpaying or buying junk, I don't see what the problem is. >>
Even if you are overpaying or buying junk, as long as your family is eating and the bills continue to get paid, I don't see what the problem is.
Identifying your next goal is the next step.
If you were to sell them one-by-one on eBay, you might become a heck of a powerseller with a large numeric rating. This gets you valuable 'e-cred'. It's like street-cred but it's e-bay. It'll get you better prices later on when you sell your more expensive stuff.
Or you could take this approach, stop going to that bank, open up a new account at a new bank. Get a storage unit, load it with your stuff, and put it on auto-pay so you never see the bill. Simply forget what you have. Problem 'solved' if it leaves your mind.
Devote your efforts to intricately cataloging what you have. Photos and all. Focus most of your time reviewing your collection in this way. This should also serve, ultimately, as a guide for what to sell if you ever get confused about that.
Collect 'dollars'. Just declare that instead of buying stuff with dollars, the next thing you will collect is 'dollars'. When you have enough, buy a boat.
Greg
Not really looking for much these days but if I were, it might be a toner.
<< <i>Does anyone want 300 ike dollars or 4000 1/2 dollars at face? I keep saving them but 3 shoes boxes later I have to ask myself why???? >>
Where was this post 4 months ago??? Urgh. I would have taken the ikes. If you're in Atlanta/GA for a cash swap I'll take them! Or, what's your shipping charge? I love spending them. PM
<< <i>Take a week off from buying anything at all, get out and enjoy the sunshine and do other things, bet you feel better and have a different perspective on things.----------------------------BigE >>
Better yet a month or two free from buying. A dozen laptops and two Ipads does sound to me like someone with issues. If a friend came to me with that background, I might suggest cold turkey, no more buying. Maybe find another task to throw oneself into perhaps, learning a foreign language, or taking an adult education course on an interesting topic, or running, or whatever.
A friend of mine was moving overseas for an extended time period. This friend had a young daughter. When it was time to pack, the daughter was given a medium size box for toys, books, keepsakes. That was it. Even if a person doesn't get rid of all the extra clutter, I think it can be a useful exercise. It can be difficult for hoarders, packrats, and those whose possessions have almost taken over their lives.
I knew a guy who lived in a one-bedroom apartment. The entire apartment was filled with make shift shelving to store all the possessions. There was literally no place to walk. He had to squeeze through sideways to get to the bed. He couldn't watch TV, there was no open space for viewing. There was no place to eat, as all counter space and table top space was filled with stuff. Outside, there were two beat up old cars, one working car, two motorcycles, plus assorted mechanical parts. When it gets to that stage, I'd say it is a problem, not a fun hobby any more.
Pick what you really like and sell the rest. Take that money and buy more of what you decided to keep.
I love this idea, It's one of my favs. If you fall in love with 1 or 2 coins, keep em safe, but if you happen to fall in love with a different series of coins, collect and continue to hoard and liquidate.
===========================
Coins need to be square.
Edit to add pic of my new hoarding.
Hoard the keys.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
<< <i>eBay is to excessive compulsive behavior as a glass of wine along with a xanax is to a nervous nelly. >>
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CoinsAreFun Toned Silver Eagle Proof Album
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Gallery Mint Museum, Ron Landis& Joe Rust, The beginnings of the Golden Dollar
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More CoinsAreFun Pictorials NGC FOR SALE
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>Does anyone want 300 ike dollars or 4000 1/2 dollars at face? I keep saving them but 3 shoes boxes later I have to ask myself why???? >>
Sound like rather than buying some trades are in order. >>
Yeah maybe I should try and sell them (or just take them to the bank) >>
Better yet!
Just send me the IKE's, no charge, and consider it a first payment on your "treatment plan"!
The name is LEE!
I'm trying to force myself to be patient with purchases but I've already made two today because they're coins I can't pass up.
I'm also trying to sell here and there to upgrade, but I hate to sell. So I made a list of collecting goals and try to weed out anything that doesn't fit. I found myself just creating more categories to fit the stuff into.
But then after coins, I collect Blenko glass, WV natural history books, Local history, etc. etc.
Basically, I'm trying really hard to focus on quality, eye appealing items and leave the bulk alone.
Just like the person that weighs 500 pounds had to first have no problem with weighing 300, then 400, hoarding yourself out of your home has to start somewhere. That you don't appear to know why you're doing it makes it seem like a bad habit that will soon become a destructive one. Take the $2300 in clad ballast to the bank TOMORROW and buy I-bonds with it. I don't care what your investment strategy is, you're effectively taking that money out of the "available to buy more stuff" pool for a while. Now if you'll pardon the gruesome visualization exercise, picture yourself being killed in a car accident this weekend. Your family, who by your admission was never given a good reason for you to have bought the stuff you did, not only needs to deal with grieving, but also wondering what to do with a house full of things with questionable value. The decision they make will most likely be wrong, and they'll be ripped off. After all, if you don't know how to properly sell your stuff, why would they?
The problem with decluttering your life when the clutter is valuable is that you'll have to find someone you can trust to help you move it. After all, this isn't piles of National Geographics, 8-tracks, and old clothes we're talking about. Find someone that understands what you have and can help you form a strategy for what it is you really want to collect, rather than hoard.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Why should you deny yourself enjoyment if other people say it's too much?
It's like the old saying, "If so and so jumps off a bridge, are you going to as well?"
Just because it's the popular thought, does not make it right.
Personally, I'd LOVE to be in your position. 300 Ikes? I've not seen more than 50 in my life. Surprised if I have seen even that many. Likewise with all those half dollars...I've probably only seen about 200 of them total in person in my life! (My bank won't get them so I have no access to them)
I still have every cell phone I've ever had...(four)...I keep them until they stop working, and then I keep them anyway when they quit...My cell phone now I've had since 05. I'm only on my second laptop but I have no plans to get rid of either of them if they quit working. I'd still be on my first (dating to 2003) if the idiots hired to repair it hadn't killed it!
Hoard the keys.
However, asking the board for psychological advice suggests to me there might be a problem
<< <i>It recently occured to me when I went to the bank to get another Safe Deposit Box that maybe I do have a problem. Sure I try and sell a little bit here and there but the purchases outway the sales 20 to 1.
My wife asked why do I get packages every day and really I have no great answer. I buy coins, cars, watches, comics and I have no less than dozen laptops, and Ipad and now another Ipad to replace my wi-fi . I still have the original iphone, the 3g the 3gs and now want to get the ipone 4.
How do you stop the madness?
I have over 50 albums filled with coins and tons of stuff I don't even know where to start selling because the time it would take is not worth it and the last time I tried selling cheaper coins I was getting less than I paid in fees to sell.
Ideas? Amyone?
I can't be alone. >>
I definitely have a problem with hoarding also.
What has cured hoarding, or limited it at least for me, is actually selling the coins, and going through the major hassle of scanning, prepping for Ebay, shipping and unloading certain coins. It is such a hassle now, that I only buy coins that are very liquid, have a certain dollar amount and that are easy to resell.
Once you have actually pissed away valuable time doing scans, running to the post office, and have lost money on coins, does the desire to hoard diminish IMO. You haven't yet felt the pain that your hoarding will cause. Sell some coins, go through the hassle of lost time and lost money and let that experience dictate what you will or won't buy in the future.
When you factor in lost time and money, it helps to narrow your focus on what you buy. You cannot get that "focus" until you have the ardous experience of what those hoarded coins cost in terms of time and money.
Tyler
I just like coins, everything from jars of low grade bust to walkers in ms67 to colonials to seated dimes and lot of them.
Is that really so bad ?
It not like my house is a mess or anything like that.
Buying top quality Seated Dimes in Gem BU and Proof.
Buying great coins - monster eye appeal only.
<< <i>Can't help you - I need a bigger house.
Actually, the opposite can be the solution.
When my younger daughter started college, we downsized, moving from our house to a condo half the size. There's a lot we had to get rid of. I looked at a lot of my "stuff" (eg., 300 vinyl record albums) and asked myself what do I need this for and would I ever use it for anything. If I couldn't come up with a good answer, I gave it away or threw it away. BTW, I still have boxes in storage that we did move that I need to evaluate for "tossage."
"BULK SUBMISSIONS".
Contact Miles at PCGS.
I really should get paid for my creative "spamming".
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
I definitely have a problem with hoarding also.
What has cured hoarding, or limited it at least for me, is actually selling the coins, and going through the major hassle of scanning, prepping for Ebay, shipping and unloading certain coins. It is such a hassle now, that I only buy coins that are very liquid, have a certain dollar amount and that are easy to resell.
Once you have actually pissed away valuable time doing scans, running to the post office, and have lost money on coins, does the desire to hoard diminish IMO. You haven't yet felt the pain that your hoarding will cause. Sell some coins, go through the hassle of lost time and lost money and let that experience dictate what you will or won't buy in the future.
When you factor in lost time and money, it helps to narrow your focus on what you buy. You cannot get that "focus" until you have the ardous experience of what those hoarded coins cost in terms of time and money.
Tyler >>
I think Tyler said it best. I was in the same boat, and am still to a certain degree, but the time and energy to sell low value coins and generic stuff is mind numbing. I try and make fewer purchases but purchase only what I deem to be top quality coins and rare varieties within a certain price structure. As for me, I still buy some low end cheaper stuff but I do try and keep my basement purchase level at several hundred dollars and usually seem to be most happy in the $500-$1500 range with highly liquid material for a future sale. In the end I look at it like trophy hunting, I could take the first buck I see, be it a lowly spike, or be patient and take something I would be proud to hang on the wall. The idea of four trophy coins per year versus 10 or 20 ok coins has really made a difference. Just one opinion.
Seated Dollar Collection
Start spending more time on the PM forum.
"A car is a tool that takes you from one place to another. Everything beyond that is a payment for other people's perception of you."
We medicate ourselves with food, acquiring toys, using drugs or alcohol, and never look deeper at what we feel is missing or what we are trying to "'fix" with these temporary distractions.
Collecting can be fun, and I have some hoarder tendencies myself, but you also have to consider that one day all this stuff has to be given away or sold, a burden that is not fair to your family.
Commems and Early Type