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Episode 190 – When does a collection become clutter

Episode 377 – Photographs, memories and decluttering with member Sabine
Episode 376 – Countdown to Christmas – prep early, stress less
People with clutter typically love things. And sometimes those things are part of a larger curated collection. In this podcast we are going to talk about when a treasured collection becomes burdensome clutter.
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Transcript of this podcast episode
[00:00:00] Ingrid: People with clutter typically love things, and sometimes those things are part of a larger curated collection. In this podcast, we're going to talk about when a treasured collection becomes burdensome clutter.

[00:00:15] Now I'm quite excited about this podcast, Lesley, because I don't think we've ever talked about collections before.

[00:00:23] I know. Are you 

[00:00:24] Lesley: excited? I'm actually excited. Yes. Oh, 

[00:00:28] Ingrid: because I want to tell you about my collection and I want to know if you've ever collected something. 

[00:00:33] Lesley: Oh, well, that's a new one. That's not, we've not written that down on our little notes. But anyway, that's fine, that's something to look forward to. Yeah, it's time for us to talk about collections, because it's something that people really struggle with when it comes to clutter.

[00:00:47] And sometimes, as we said in the intro, it does become a little bit burdensome, so when does a collection... Become not a collection and become clutter. That's what today is all about and we're going to give a few little hints and tips about some of the things that you might want to think about if you have a collection that's kind of taking over your home, which is something that sometimes happens.

[00:01:08] So before we get started, let's say What is a typical collection? Now, this could be like thousands of things, but let's talk about some basic ones that people will consider to be an actual collection. 

[00:01:21] Ingrid: Well, the things that I've seen over the years, Lesley, I mean, yes, the, the, the options are, are, are massive, but things that I've seen is, for example, that people collect ornaments of cats or owls, or my aunt and uncle, they collected honey pots.

[00:01:41] That was like a true collection. They had hundreds of them in like display cases and everything. Um, what else? My mom collects Swarovski, like those really shiny little. 

[00:01:54] Lesley: Glass. Glass, kind of intricate glass items. Yeah, my mother in law used to collect Swarovski as well and my father in law's got a few of those left.

[00:02:02] So he still has some of the collections. And Ladro is another one, sort of beautiful pottery. You know, stamps as well fall into the mix, don't they Ingrid? People collect stamps, coins, then you have people who collect like train sets. Some people collect vintage magazines and comic books. There's like tons and tons of things that people 

[00:02:24] Ingrid: collect.

[00:02:25] I've got another good one. I know somebody who collects beanie babies. And who collects, um, Barbie dolls, but still in the packaging and only like the special editions one. I didn't even know this was a thing, Lesley. Magazines, like comic books, like going back decades. I mean, there's so many things you could collect.

[00:02:45] Beer mats, um, Coca Cola bottles, um, I don't know. Beer glasses. I mean, there's just lots. I mean, empty perfume bottles. I think I once read somebody who had like all or the miniatures like the miniature perfume bottles. I mean, the list is endless, isn't it? Really? 

[00:03:05] Lesley: Yeah. And recently there was that lady in the UK.

[00:03:07] So if anybody was around in the UK a few months ago, there was a lady that collected Carrier bags, wasn't there? So she collected like old carrier bags. She's got 30, 000 carrier bags. Hasn't she? And they're all, luckily her husband has some kind of factory or something. They're all in his factory. So they're not taking over the house, but she's got carrier bags, but actually it's a piece of history there.

[00:03:29] So you can kind of get it because it shows Brandon over the decades. So a lot of these collections are pieces of history and they're very, very interesting. And obviously. It depends on what makes you tick. And some of these things have been, have just happened over time, haven't they? And they've been there since childhood and they're tricky to let go of when they start to take over your house.

[00:03:50] If indeed you need to do that, we're not here today to say. You need to ditch your collections. That is not what we're all about. But sometimes we work with people who struggle with those collections because they've become unwieldy and too big of a collection and they're taking over their homes and that's a little bit of what we want to talk about.

[00:04:10] But equally, so we've talked about like typical things and you will know what your collection looks like, but there are also things in homes which become a collection. And people view them as a collection, even though they're typically standard household items. So things like books and shoes people I love my collection of shoes and very much see it as a collection of shoes designer handbags is another one as well.

[00:04:37] Well, yeah, that kind of thing. Anything else that you can think of Ingrid? Uh, cookery 

[00:04:41] Ingrid: books, uh, you know, going into the tens or the hundreds of cookery books, um, a CD, DVD or vinyl collection. We definitely see, you know, when kind of people start to collect them and. Start to kind of grow them. And then suddenly it, before we know it, it turns into a collection.

[00:05:02] There wasn't even intentionally to be a collection, but because there are so many people see it as a collection. Um, what else, Lesley? 

[00:05:10] Lesley: Do you know what? I was a little bit nervous over, over Christmas, actually, because my husband who, you know, does like a beer has kind of moved on from kind of standard beers, let's call them into like IPAs, which are, and they're all, they all come nowadays.

[00:05:24] These IPAs, a lot of them have got really fancy. Artwork on the outside of them to make them stand out, haven't they? So all of a sudden I go down into my basement and I see 25 IPA cans Like lined up in the basement. I was like What is that? Like 

[00:05:44] Ingrid: where 

[00:05:44] Lesley: is that? Because let me tell you my husband likes stuff and likes things and buys things all the time It's a constant battle for me to keep on top of things in the house.

[00:05:53] But honestly, I was like, please Don't tell me that we are now collecting old IPA cans. It was just like, uh, luckily he said, I just want to take a picture of them. And then I'm going to let them go. I'm like, thankfully, thankfully, but anyway, you feel my painting, but you feel my 

[00:06:12] Ingrid: pain. So can I then conclude Lesley that you've never had a collection or have you collected something?

[00:06:19] I want to get this out of the way. I want to know we've never talked about this. Have you ever actually collected something? Well, I wouldn't really 

[00:06:25] Lesley: say it was a collection. I mean, I do have like memorabilia and scrapbooks and stuff like that, but I wouldn't say it was a collection because it would just be, yes, I have my Duran Duran scrapbook from like 1981 to, you know, however long that was when I was a big Duran Duran fan in my teen, teenage years.

[00:06:42] So I do have things in that, but I wouldn't view that as a collection. That's just the one off kind of scrapbook, more of a collect, collecting a few bits of memorabilia. I know what else people collect. People collect. Theater, um, brochures, you know, when they go to the theater and to shows and concerts and stuff like that, people like to collect one from everything that they go to, don't they?

[00:07:00] So, yeah, no, I don't think I've ever been down the collection front. So I know you are chomping at the bit to tell us what your collection is. So let's get it out of the way then. Well, yes. So 

[00:07:11] Ingrid: do you collect? Well, I know I don't collect anything anymore, but when I was young, I collected stamps. Okay. And, um, I absolutely loved it.

[00:07:23] I don't know why I started it. I think maybe, uh, my grandfather or something gave me some stamps and a little album and went off you go. But I actually got really seriously into it. And I got like, so I, and I will specifically tell you, I collected Dutch stamps, so from like all through the years and I had a beautiful albums.

[00:07:42] We have to put them in. And some of them are actually worth quite a lot of money. I mean. Went to buy them, selling them is a whole different story. But anyway, and I collected, um, stamps with windmills on them. Nice. Because I'm from Holland and I think windmills is a thing. And 

[00:08:00] Lesley: actually I have stamps Sorry, sorry, sorry.

[00:08:03] You think windmills is a thing? Are you actually saying that? You think in Holland windmills are a thing? They 

[00:08:09] Ingrid: absolutely are a thing. I know because we I mean, there was, there is one actually very close to my parents house. So maybe because I've always like seen this windmill like all of the time in my life.

[00:08:18] I thought, that's nice. So I actually, but actually let's see, I had stamps from all over the world with windmills, which I think very, very cool. And I collected stamps with cats and dogs on them. I have no idea why. Because we actually never had a cat or a dog in my parents house. Maybe that's why 

[00:08:38] Lesley: then.

[00:08:38] Maybe that's why. Because you had them on the stamp rather than got the real thing. Maybe that's a sense 

[00:08:44] Ingrid: of loss. And Anne has been begging me for a dog and I'm like... No. So maybe... You can have a stamp, 

[00:08:51] Lesley: Anne. You can have a stamp with a dog on. That's such a... Yeah, that'll definitely replace it. Well, I never knew that.

[00:08:57] And so where's your collection now? So, 

[00:08:59] Ingrid: at one point, when I left my, my elderly home, my mum took over because she kind of took over my collection. I kind of lost it. Lost track of it. And I kind of, and at one, but when she was downsizing, she sold my collection, but I think, and I actually going to have to check this now.

[00:09:16] I think everything is gone, but in my head, my album with my windmill still has to be somewhere. So I'm now after this podcast, I'm going to have to look at it. I see. I mean, I know there's two albums here on my bookshelf. I actually am not sure because my husband collected stamps as well, but he was never as he never had the volumes that I had.

[00:09:36] I mean, I'd like. Proper two big shells full of albums. So my mom sold that, um, when she downsized because she was like, I, she was, you know, her, her eyesight was, was deteriorating as well. She said, I just can't look at it anymore and pick it up. And she had a bit of problems with her motor skills in her hands, her fine motor skills.

[00:09:54] So she said, I can no longer do it. I'm at mom. I, I really don't want this collection here. I'm way past that now, but it was a big thing. So she actually went to like a proper stamp shop and had it valued and all of that kind of thing. So, yeah, 

[00:10:09] Lesley: I would love to get my hands. I mean, I talked about the beer can collection, but Steve literally collect now that I'm sitting here thinking, I'm thinking, actually, he's got like 27 different collections, but luckily they're not completely out of hand, but they're all little bit.

[00:10:21] I wouldn't really view them as a collection, but he does like to. Collect some stuff, but luckily it's kind of later in life. He's got stamps as well, for sure. But he also has like various figurines, like Star Wars things, a bit of that going on. There's definitely Lego stuff going on. So the more cooler, not the kind of children's Lego, but the kind of adulty sort of Lego, he's definitely got all that stuff as well.

[00:10:42] So I'm not, but I just put him in his one room. When Luke moved out, he's got his little room where he can put all these. stuff. And Luke's following suit. My oldest son is just like him in terms of stuff. So he definitely likes to keep. So he's starting with the collections, but anyway, anyway, I'm just saying good.

[00:11:02] I've got a good feel for what a collection is. Yeah. 

[00:11:05] Ingrid: I'm just thinking poor, poor, poor Luke's girlfriend. She's like, she's got no idea what she's got coming with the collection. I 

[00:11:11] Lesley: know exactly if it's anything like his father and at least his father didn't start until he was late. Like Luke's literally started that when he was 14.

[00:11:18] But anyway, right. Anyway. So what is it that makes a collection special Ingrid? So we've talked a little bit about your experience with collections, my husband's experience with collections, but what is it when we take it down to the nitty gritty that makes a collection so special and something 

[00:11:35] Ingrid: that we love?

[00:11:37] I think it's because it takes. Normally years to build up. I mean, I, it took me years to build up my stamp collection. And I was part of this little club where you had these little books with stamps. You could pick them out and you had to stamp that you bought it. I put a little money in an envelope. I vividly remember all of that.

[00:11:55] So. You, you create and build it up over the years. Sometimes you were lucky and you would get something for your collection as a present or for Christmas or something like, or you would buy something from your own hard earned cash to expand your collection. It's, it's a hobby. It's not just the collection.

[00:12:14] I think it's the. The whole thing about it, it really becomes a hobby, just like people love crafting and making things. I think having a collection is something that takes time and energy and an interest and you know, it, it, you build it up and you see it grow and I don't know, it made me really happy.

[00:12:33] Yes, exactly. 

[00:12:34] Lesley: So something that you love, something that brings you great joy, something that you have curated over several years and enjoyed the curation and enjoyed as into your collection. Very, very important. I think it's a collection, what makes it special is being able to display and enjoy it on a daily, weekly, monthly basis is very, very important as well.

[00:12:56] And I think one of the things as well, is that Often we think of a collection as being something, it being our legacy. This is something that we might pass on to future generations as well. So those are some of the kinds of things that make a collection so special and so coveted for a lot of people.

[00:13:14] Ingrid: Yeah, I think so as well. And I think it's sometimes maybe not even the emotional value, but I think also sometimes the monetary value, because I mean. For example, if I think about my, my aunt and uncle collected the honey pots, I mean, they had them honestly from all over the world. They were part of a honey pot club.

[00:13:33] I remember at a random holiday in Cornwall running into this honey pot shop and I couldn't believe it. I was like, I need to buy a honey pot for my aunt and uncle. I never bought them a present, but it was like so specifically them. And luckily enough, they didn't have it yet. And they had hundreds of them and they had them beautifully displayed.

[00:13:52] They knew the background of a lot of them, which region they came from, how old they are, which years. It was almost like a historical thing. Almost some of them. And they had like one priced glass cupboard where the most expensive ones were in, like the proper silver ones. And the, the really rare ones. I mean.

[00:14:13] Fascinating. 

[00:14:16] Lesley: Completely fascinating. More, I think more recently as well. You know, I don't know whether people have collections, like younger people. You know, we work with younger people. Do they have collections in the same way that people used to do that years ago? Do we think it's the older generations that have collections?

[00:14:35] Or do we think that younger people have got those too? 

[00:14:40] Ingrid: Um, wow, that is a really good question. I mean, I mean, maybe younger people have a lot more books and toys and things like that. I mean, my son, as you know, is a Lego lover. He has a massive amount of Lego, but I don't think he sees that as a collection.

[00:14:58] I just think he sees it as a toy, as something to play with. Well, maybe later you will see it as a collection, but now it's actually something that he really builds and enjoys creating and finding all the pieces. And he involves me finding pieces that are lost and all of that, which I love. Secretly, because I do love a, of course, Lego and I love spending time with him.

[00:15:18] So collections, maybe things like ticket stops for concerts or something, Lesley. I mean, of course, it's been a bit weird in the last couple of years with lots of being canceled, but I think probably teens and stuff. 

[00:15:33] Lesley: I think the opportunity to do that is gone, you know, now it's like e tickets on your phone.

[00:15:38] And so I think the digital age has probably taken a lot of that away. Um, so I don't know if that, I think it's a really interesting thing, but, you know, my experience of collections is definitely that it's the older generations that have these collections because nowadays, if we want. The, you know, the silver honeypot that your auntie had.

[00:15:56] We can go on eBay and we can find that in five minutes. If we go back 30 years ago or 40 years ago, trying to find something like that was such an undertaking that that makes it so much more special than now when these things are so readily available. Information is a Available stuff is available. If you're willing to pay for something, then you're probably going to be able to get it for the most part, aren't you?

[00:16:17] And so I think it's very different, different times that we're working in. So I do wonder, I'm not saying that younger people don't have any collections, but I think they've used stuff in a very different way. 

[00:16:27] Ingrid: Fascinating. I love to chat to you about it. So let's take a break because of course, sometimes collections completely can get out of control.

[00:16:35] So let's talk about that.

[00:16:37] Lesley: Okay, so welcome back after our little break. Now we're going to get all doom and gloom and say, what's the problem we've got we're all getting very enthused by our collections and now it's like, but sometimes they can be quite problematic.

[00:16:51] So what's the problem, not always but sometimes Ingrid with a collection I want to reiterate that we're not here. to be mean decluttering ladies about your collections. That's not what we're here to talk about. But we want you to think about some of these things. You might be like, you know what? I'm absolutely fine with my collection.

[00:17:09] Ingrid and Lesley, just back off. And you might be like, Ooh, actually, it's not quite as joyous as it used to be. So Ingrid, what can be the problem with a collection? 

[00:17:20] Ingrid: Well, Lesley, I think first of all, a collection If, if it can get out of control, you know, when people start to give you from lots of different directions, items, Oh yeah, you're the one who collects the owls.

[00:17:34] I saw this, here's an owl. And people start to give you random bits for your collection. It can go out of control and you might not have enough shelving. You might not have enough display areas. Your windowsills are full everywhere you look you now see these owls and it's like oh my word What am I going to do with them?

[00:17:54] And then you you grow out of space you're going to have to then find boxes that you're going to fill up with stuff You might lose complete control of what you have because it now turns into the hundreds or the thousands And it's like I don't even Nowhere to begin to put all of these. I mean, if it's a beer mat, you know, one box can house hundreds, so you can still keep it under control.

[00:18:18] But if the items are larger, where are you going to put all this stuff? 

[00:18:24] Lesley: Yeah. I know you, you hit the nail on the head there, Ingrid, where you become known as the person who collects that stuff. And if this is stuff that's readily available, and we always, somehow we always talk about owls. Yeah. I don't know.

[00:18:36] Like, we just have a fixation with owls. I don't know why, but, um, other animals are available, of course, isn't it true? But, um, it's like you did with the honeypot. It's like, oh, there's a honeypot. My auntie would really like that. And maybe your auntie is like, you know what? We've got 50 very special ones.

[00:18:54] And what we want to do now is we want to really... Keep the special ones and the only ones that were going to be at this kind of range or like this level or whatever. But everyone else doesn't know that. And everyone else is still thinking that you want to collect every outlet or honeypot that was ever available.

[00:19:10] And so that's the problem. And then that brings with it, we talked about burdensome in the intro, didn't we? That brings with it a level of guilt and obligation to keep these things that people are giving to us. So there's emotions that come with having those collections when other people are adding to your collection.

[00:19:26] I want to take things really down to a simple level now Ingrid, about, and talk about dust. Collections are a really big problem for dust, unless they are in display cabinets, which is nice, but if you've got a huge collection, chances are they're not in a display cabinet, they're out and about, so you can get them, um, get them displayed, sorry.

[00:19:46] And so, but dust is a real problem. And then they start when they've not dusted and not maintained, then they start to look a little bit sad and neglected, don't they? Yeah, 

[00:19:56] Ingrid: yeah. And I think that's what we see a lot as well, especially when it's ornaments, I mean, other things you can, you know, maybe put into a cupboard or in a box, but ornaments, a lot of people want to display, but if they've been in the same place for years and years, tucked behind 12 other ones of the same collection, and they've never moved, they're never being cleaned.

[00:20:17] It really does start to look sad. And, yeah. It causes, you know, and we can see that a collection can cause friction within a house or within a family, can't it? Yeah, definitely, 

[00:20:29] Lesley: because people like it at the beginning, but then when it becomes a little bit too much, there's a few too many ornaments and it's taking over rooms or space that could be used for other things, then people start to kick back and it starts to cause problems within families, with children, with parents, with partners, and we see that.

[00:20:46] So we definitely see arguments and friction happening because of. What you would consider to be a very beautifully cre, I can never say that word, curated collection and other people see absolutely as clutter and this is the problem. And what do you do with that? You know you love it, but somebody else doesn't love it.

[00:21:06] But you have to share that space and you have to decide whether it's worth it, don't you? 

[00:21:10] Ingrid: Yeah. You know what, Lesley, the more we talk about this, the more collections that pop into my head. . I mean, I'm suddenly like thinking about my, my husband's best mate who collects Smurfs. I got his whole life. He's got like, he has a beautiful display cabinet full of Smurfs and 

[00:21:26] Lesley: then I bet his wi, has he got a wife or a partner?

[00:21:28] I bet his wife absolutely loves that. I think I would have to, I'd be like, Nope. To the Smurfs enough can think about something else. As long as it's cool, but like no Smurfs Smurfs unless you want to, you know, like literally stay in your room the whole time. Keep it under lock 

[00:21:43] Ingrid: and key. Yeah. And I was also thinking about, I once saw this thing on television about this couple who had a whole house full of royal family stuff.

[00:21:55] I mean, it was like incredible. So I'm sure with, with, you know, we, we've got the, the, this year, the 70, the 70 jubileum, I'm sure. Is that what it's 

[00:22:07] Lesley: called? The 70 jubileum? Like 

[00:22:09] Ingrid: the, what's it called? The platinum jubilee of something like 70 years. I'm sure she's going to be back on television showing off their house because it's not even, you know, it's not just plates and ornaments, it's like wallpaper and like rugs and flags and it's like It's, it's a lot.

[00:22:29] So if, if, if you're living in a house together, I think you both need to be on board with that level of, of collecting, because otherwise you'll probably go a little bit like, whoa, what's going on here? 

[00:22:44] Lesley: Do you know what, Ingrid? It's really no different to the other sentimental items and memorabilia that we talk about in the membership, and we've got courses all about sentimental items and memorabilia.

[00:22:53] And the things that we talk about all the time are, you need to be able to enjoy it, so enjoy that stuff, it needs to be out on display, it needs to be somebody where you can get that joy, there's no point in it being in a box. And also then. Um, quality of a quantity, your a

[00:23:13] honeypot collection may have decided, right, okay, this is the maximum amount that I want. I've got it under control. I'm only, I'm only choosing certain honey pots, very special ones, or I'm happy to get rid of a few of the ones that are a bit cheaper that I've had for a while or whatever, or that are not special or coveted or collectible or whatever that is, but then she's got that added.

[00:23:34] you know, problem that little Ingrid has brought her this honeypot from Cornwall and is really super happy and is probably going to look for her little honeypot every time she goes around to her house. And then what does she do? Because of course it involves a lot of emotional energy to make those decisions about what you're going to do.

[00:23:52] So you are, Thinking, I don't really want this in my collection, but I feel like I ought to, you've got a gill in there, wrapped up, and so there's a lot of, that's one of the problems I think with having a collection, if you wanted to make some inroads into that collection to offload some of it, to declutter some of it, to make it a more kind of Quality based collection rather than quantity based, then the decisions that you have to make are hard because this is something that as you said that you put your life's work into.

[00:24:19] You've got years and years of history with that. These are not easy decisions. So that's one of the problems with the collection. And so it's easy to just leave it to one side and say, That's very special, not touching that, isn't it? 

[00:24:31] Ingrid: I think you're right. And I think, um, what my aunt did, I mean, she was super, just to clarify, she was super happy that I bought it for her.

[00:24:39] And it was in her house, but when they downsized, they very specifically said, we are going to stop collecting this now. We're going to set this sold off. 90% of their collection to other collectors around the world. They, they only kept one case with their special ones that they loved collecting. Not always expensive, but the ones that they appreciated the most, and they gave a clear message to everybody in the, in their world, going, we stopped this collection now.

[00:25:09] A. K. A. Please don't longer buy stuff for us. So, and thankfully, I only found one over all these years. And I think it was because I never buy anything for myself on holiday kind of knick knacky wise. I think I was really glad I could finally buy something. And it wasn't for me, but for somebody else. And it was special because it's not something you see everywhere.

[00:25:29] So, I think you're right, Lesley. I think... Quality over quantity is so important, whether it's sentimental items or a collection. 

[00:25:41] Lesley: Exactly. So, let's get down to some practical things that you can do. If you're like, okay, I've been listening and I kind of know that's the thing. me and I kind of know that it's becoming a bit of a problem for lots of the reasons that we've spoken about.

[00:25:55] What am I going to do about it? Cause this is hard stuff. And let me tell you, this is hard, hard stuff. So some of the questions that you might want to ask yourself are quite basic. Do you enjoy caring for it? You know, we've already talked about dusting and taking things out of boxes and looking at, do you enjoy doing that?

[00:26:11] Now the answer to that might be a categorical. Yes. I absolutely love doing this. It's part of my daily life. If that's the case, that's fine. But if you're like, Do you know what? I've fallen out of love with caring for this collection. I'm finding it so much of a chore that maybe it's time to think about de clutching some of that collection, or all of that collection in fact.

[00:26:29] Yeah. Ingrid, any other questions that we might want to ask? Yeah, 

[00:26:32] Ingrid: I think a very valid question is, do I have enough space for this collection? Have I actually run out of space or do I need to make my collection smaller so I can enjoy it more instead of going for the for the quantities of items? Maybe I need to kind of thin it out a little bit to enjoy it a lot more than I'm doing at the moment, because now I can't display it.

[00:26:57] There is too much. It is a burden to me. 

[00:27:00] Lesley: Yeah, we've talked a little bit about generational stuff and that we feel that a lot of these collections are people that are maybe of an older generation, we don't know we were just making that up so we don't know for sure. We have done no research on this but we kind of have a hunch that way, don't we Ingrid.

[00:27:16] And we've also talked about downsizing so that decision might be taken out of your hands. Had to, that decision had to be made, because she could not bring that to her new downsized property. So it might be something like that as well. I think, as well, one of the things about these collections is quite often this is something that we have been kind Um, building up over years and years and years.

[00:27:41] Do I still like the way it looks or is it bring is it quite old fashioned. And so sometimes we might not want to display that because it feels quite old fashioned if we go back into the sort of 60s 70s we had more knickknacks out on display. And typically nowadays, we, there is a more minimalist look in homes.

[00:27:59] That's not to say that you need to be completely minimalist or. Can't have knickknacks, but typically the trend is to have less on display than 30, 40 years ago. Isn't it Ingrid? Yeah, 

[00:28:09] Ingrid: absolutely. Absolutely. And I think also, you know, I think what a good question is to ask yourself is to say, is it actually manageable?

[00:28:17] What I'm doing is the time of. The time that I spent on my collection, the money that I spent on my collection, the space that I need for my collection to do this properly, is that manageable in my current life where I am, or is my collection being neglected because I don't have enough time, I've got Other pools of my time at them on my priorities have changed.

[00:28:40] I used to really enjoy it, but now something else takes precedence over this collection. Do I want to part this collection and come back to it? Or actually, I'm going to be realistic here and. It feels like I've outgrown this now. I need to find a good home for this collection, maybe keep a couple of key pieces, and that's it.

[00:29:03] So, big questions, hard questions, Lesley. 

[00:29:08] Lesley: Yeah, and I think one of the other things that I think is really important, because this is something that we, with a lot of sentimental items, we talk a lot about whose memory is it, and I think it's really important to ascertain at this stage whether this will be your legacy, whether your...

[00:29:24] Children or people that are younger than you that you're going to pass your things on to do want your stuff, do you want your collection, because if they don't, there's a chance that they're not going to care for it or try and pass it on in the right way in the right kind of circles. So if you know that your children are not going to want your owl collection because that's the one that we've been talking about a lot.

[00:29:45] Then maybe what you need to do is use your current communities. Cause as we said, a lot of people have got other people in the owl collecting community that may want some of your collection and you would feel much happier for it to go to somebody who was truly going to love it rather than somebody who might just send it off to the charity shop.

[00:30:03] So really think about that legacy side of things as well, and be realistic and have those honest conversations with your children. Yeah. 

[00:30:10] Ingrid: Yeah, absolutely love it, Lesley. So, how are you then going to declutter some of your collection, Lesley? Let's give one or two tips. Like, where do you start? Where do you start?

[00:30:21] Tricky, tricky. 

[00:30:23] Lesley: Now, one of the things when it comes to collections that we talk about, and this can be clothes, shoes, bags, books is a big one as well, is that once we have in our mind that something is a collection, we find it very difficult to see it. as anything other than a whole. We don't see it as individual components.

[00:30:42] Does that make sense? And so what we do is, oh, no, no, you can't touch my books. You can't touch my owls. You can't touch my honey pots. You can't touch my shoes. I absolutely love them. We don't break them down. When in actual fact, there will undoubtedly be things in that collection that are less important.

[00:31:00] So once you allow yourself the opportunity to break it down and to actually look beyond the kind of whole, then you will find things. And so the first, our first tip is you need to break it down. You need to allow yourself permission to break that collection down in your mind and take it one item at a time.

[00:31:17] Ingrid: Yeah, and the other tip that I want to give is if you feel like your collection is growing out of control Start with the one in one out rule and go. Okay, if I'm going to add something to my collection Another item from my collection needs to go or maybe even if I'm going to put one in I'm going to take two out So to to condense your collection a little bit if you feel it's getting unruly and just too much.

[00:31:44] So Those are two kind of, I think, small things to start to think about and get your head around and try out for yourself. And maybe over time you can start to get some clarity about what you want to do with your collection and what is the right thing for you to do. Is it... I love it. I'm going to do my collection forever or wow, this has made me realize I've completely fallen out of love with my collection.

[00:32:12] I need to need to pass it on to somebody who's going to enjoy it. Or maybe you're somewhere in the middle realizing I want to keep having my collection, but I need to do it on a smaller scale and go for the quality over the quantity here. So I think that's what we got today. Isn't it Lesley? Yeah, 

[00:32:30] Lesley: I think it's fair to say when we are working one to one with clients, often it's a no go area, isn't it Ingrid?

[00:32:37] So we might talk about that, but normally we get the vibe straight away, whether something is off limits and then we would tackle other things in the home way before that. So a collection is off limits and so you need to decide for yourself whether that's off limits for you. Think about those questions that we talked about in the middle of the podcast.

[00:32:55] Is it bringing you joy? Do you have space? Have you outgrown it? Does somebody else want it? Because that might be a great starting point for you to do what a very difficult task of breaking down that collection. 

[00:33:07] Ingrid: So thank you so much for listening. We're back next week when we're going to talk about maps and travel guides.

[00:33:15] So see you then.
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