R has a collection. Actually I think he has several. One collection couldn't take up an entire garage could it? And I do mean entire, sometimes there is only a path through the piles, sometimes the path gets lost. I don't like it. I like clean and clear, and not having to spend hours trying to find stuff. I can't keep all the things I own in the house - some have to live in the garage. And I can't get them, I have to ask him to get them. I don't think I have many things in the garage anymore, because he wanted to get more room out there, and I wanted to be able to access my own stuff. He also has a book collection in the house of books he has never read and will never read, he just wants a complete set of official histories of the wars. They are virtually unreadable.
I tired collecting for a while, but I just don't enjoy having a lot of stuff that I just have for the sake of having. Like books I don't read. I do have a Rupert Bear annual collection, which I read when I am sick, and which C likes to have read to him - I don't mind my books being used. I do like them put away afterwards though, some of them are quite expensive because of their rarity and age. Use is okay, but getting torn because they have been left on the couch and jumped on is Not Okay. I have a 'to do' pile in the craft cupboard (see R has a garage, I have a cupboard!). I chucked a whole lot of stuff out of the pile last year, I wasn't enjoying working on the projects, and this is supposed to be my leisure, so I turfed them, and I feel better. My leisure doesn't feel like work if I am enjoying it.
Having one person in the house that likes collecting stuff, and one who likes to keep stuff to a minimum is a recipie for tension. Its pretty much a no-go area.
Posted by Toni at March 5, 2004 05:55 AM