Why do we collect useless things?

Your list seems to be somewhat meaningful. I end up ‘collecting’ things that might be of use someday…and old pipe, a rotting sheet of plywood, dead grass in bags, old brown T-shirts. I guess they could have some practical use down the road, but they are potential trash today.

I collect things that are seemling useless but might be of practical use later.

Hope this helps!

I collect because if I don’t, I always need something the day after I threw it out!!

is there a difference between collecting and hording?

a more descriptive way to describe my ‘collecting’ is pack ratting.

Buying or collecting them when they are not needed can result into this.

Because hopefully whatever crap I have collected will be worth millions in 50 years.

I collect glass bottles (beer, soda, etc…) and I plan to display them when I put a bar in my future house.

we all collect things, and I think it is part of our personality, for whatever reason. My parents lived through the Great Depression, and their habits of not tossing anything even marginally useful has been transferred to me.

I collect odd screws, nuts, bolts, spacers, washers, etc, and keep them in separate containers. (I’ve been known to dismantle old appliances and things I no longer need to get at the fasteners holding them together). I needed a copper washer and two rubber washers of a certain size the other day, and rather than going to the hardware store to buy them, I found them in my collection. Saved myself some money and put something seemingly ‘useless’ to good use.

I also collect things that interest me. but that’s a whole ‘nuther subject. my hot sauce bottle collection is pretty big, and displayed proudly on my wall.

I collected European toilet paper back in the late Seventies because they were all strange and different from what I was used to. And those little pieces of waxed paper that said, “Property of Her Majesty’s Government” in England just killed me! Unfortunately, I started my collection after we left England. Sigh.

I collect things I find are aesthetically pleasing. Pretty earrings that have no match. Old ashtrays made before smoking was taboo. Little pieces of wood carved to look like something. Old buttons that look unique. Sure, it’s all junk and no one will ever want it, but I feel rich when I look at them.

To study them.

Generally I don’t collect. The only thing that maybe qualifies is I have little paintings or needlepoint of cities I have been to. I grew up in a cluttered house, with little skill for organizing and maintaining, so since I prefer clutter free I don’t buy much to begin with.

@SarasWhimsy if you and I lived in the same house, we’d be buried behind our collections of odd things. }:^)