Collector's Cup My Ass! or Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?

After moving twice in less than a year, a strange development has occurred. We have began going through our stuff and discovering that we really don't need or want this stuff.  Which has led to question of why did I save all of this?  Now "this" probably means different things to different people.  For example we have 8 high school year books and 4 college year books.  I have looked at these once in 15 years.  Yet we've held onto them and moved them with us over the years.  All together they may weigh 50 pounds and take up space in a whole footlocker.  They are signed by people I may have met or knew in 1 class and never saw again.  Some signings are by close friends or ex-girlfriends and some are just profane.  Nothing of any real importance.  So why have I kept these?  Out of some sentimental attachment?  Maybe.  But after moving, that attachment seems to have been broken.  Which brings me to collections.

Over the years I have collected different things.  The biggest collection, of course, are my baseball cards.  I loved collecting them in my younger days.  I remember going to my Grandma Clara's on 22nd Street and running 4 doors down to Bolerjack's and buying packs of fifteen cards for $.35 each.  I loved opening them and finding "stars" that I would put in plastic sheets in a binder.  The "commons" would go into shoe boxes and placed into another footlocker.  Still today, when you open that footlocker, you can smell the bubblegum that has been long gone for 25 years. 

After this last move, the thought of selling them crosses my mind all the time.  The joy I had as a kid is gone and the thought of moving them again is less than exciting.  Actually, letting them go may be a little tougher than I thought.  The main problem is that the greedy card companies flooded and killed the market after I had quit collecting.  So their value has dropped so much that in an article I read claimed the collapse of their value was worse than the real estate collapse.  Most of the research I have done recommended that you just keep them and give them to your kids.  That was my plan all along.  But moving change that.

Moving also changed how we looked at keeping extra stuff such as serving platters, picture frames, knick knacks, furniture, and holiday decorations.  None of this stuff we never really needed.  One additional thought is all the money we spent on this crap. Ugh.

 So, my advice to you all is to take a look at what you have, imagine having to move it all, re-evaluate your needs and wants and start making smart decisions.  Do this and you could start collecting cash instead of worthless and /or useless crap.   not to mention, you could cut your moving time down and keep yourself off of "Hoarders."  It's like hitting a trifecta.