Collecting vs Hoarding

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What's the difference? I consider myself a collector of one type of item, Beanie Boos

I have more than that but I keep them nicely displayed on my dresser (the picture above), the top of my bookshelf and keep two on the end of my desk. They are well kept and I know all of their names even without looking at their name tags. I have over 40 Beanie Boos but as long as I'm proud of them enough to keep them clean and not have them scattered all over my floor.

When I think of hoarding, I picture not being able to part with things like plastic bottles and old catalogs and letting them accumulate until your house is overflowing with them and being embarrassed about what you hoard or collect.

That's my definition of hoarding, too. It makes a mess and you can't even move in your house without stepping in the mess. It often stinks in those houses, too. The worst people are the animal hoarders. I can't even watch those programs. I throw up just thinking about it.

Here's another theory about hoarding: Discounts and bargains

You can't buy half the store because it's a good bargain and expect to use, cherish and have a place to put it all. I'd rather buy clothes once a year that are new and full price and plan out how much I'm going to spend on the clothes and shoes and purses than go to a thrift store every four days and buy a bunch of random used clothes. My mom told me that I was born into money but that doesn't mean I'm a spoiled brat who doesn't know first thing about budgeting.

I love to shop don't get me wrong. I just think it's unfair for people like myself who can afford the new clothes and pay shipping fees to go to Goodwill and buy half the store when someone who is in a really crappy situation financially actually need those things from Goodwill.

Animal hoarding is terrible, too.

I've known many hoarders, and I'm related to a few. The television series, Hoarders brings out the essential similarities between hoarding and addiction.

Also, people who hoard are almost never as selective as you seem to be, collecting only one thing. I know a couple who aren't hoarders (there home is perfectly arranged and spotless) who have an entire bedroom set aside for their stuffed animals.

It would be easy to call many Aspies "hoarders" based on their collection of things related to their special interests. For the most part I don't think the label would fit. There wouldn't be enough stuff in the house to fill three or four, full-size 1-800-Got-Junk dumpsters in a TV episode...

A collection of collectable items usually kept on a shelf or in a curio cabinet or in a book.

Stuff that's horded is usually common surplus items kept in piles.

It's also possible to hoard digital content like porn. I hoarded it for a while due to BAD OCD. I DLed LOTS of stuff just cuz it was out there & I saw it listed/saw the file name or whatever even thou I never really looked at it. I also put off doing things I wanted & needed to do so I could spend more time involved with it. I'm over that nowadays thou I still DL some stuff but I have watched parts of a lot of it.
I have a blade/knife collection & I have spent a lot of money on it & don't really have a place for anymore(maybe I'll have more room after we move). However I don't get most of what I like. I wait to buy a lot of things unless it's something I really want. I also wait till there's sales or special deals. I don't put off doing other things I want & need to do so I can buy blades online or go to places that sell them & buy everything I like.

I have a lot of collections of different things, but I keep everything tidy and put everything away once I'm finished with it. Some of it is for art/craft, and some is entertainment. It's hard for me not to want to collect something once I start buying a certain thing. For example, if I bought a CD, I used to feel like I had to get all of the other albums by that artist. I have to have every book by an author I like, even now. I like organising my collections and looking at all of them.

I have a cupboard full of things like shampoo and toothpaste because I don't want to run out of anything, and I like having everything so I know I have it. I'll usually buy three tubes of hand cream instead of only one, and I have about eight in my cupboard. My family call me a hoarder, but my mum has started doing the same thing with her cupboard.

I used to know someone who would buy "spares" of everything from ham radios, landline phones, cellphone charger cables, electric toothbrushes, and even video game systems because he would always destroy them out of anger. He couldn't concede that his lack of control on his anger was a problem and he didn't need all those "spares" if he properly handled his possessions.

Sure, I collect a lot of things but I enjoy what I get for the most part. I collect 90's Marvel and DC comics (Regardless if they are single issues or trade reproductions) but not for investment; I get them because I want to make up for lost time. I don't buy them willy nilly, though. I look through them first to see if I enjoy the art and stories in them. I also can't afford every single title so I stick with the ones I am most interested in. It's the same with manga.

One of the differences in my opinion is that people who collect stuff actually take care of their stuff and people who hoard really don't take care of anything they let it get neglected.

I collect all kinds of things like resin and porcelain figurines and I like arranging them nice and pretty in my bedroom because I'm proud to display them.

Watching those programs about makes me throw up because the hoards these people have attract bugs and vermin. It's so bad you could almost smell it. Very often, the people in charge of helping hoarders clean up their hoards have to come in with gas masks on. Ee-yew!

Collecting is things that are specifically bought eg stamps; and hoarding is not throwing away random stuff like newspapers, plastic bottles etc?

I win a lot of awards. This year I just put them in a corner of the living room floor. They have been there for months. Collecting or hoarding?

I'd say neither as they mean something - it not like storing years\decades of every Birthday and Xmas card received?

Not sure on the floor in the corner is right though, unless they are over 2' tall, and a lot means dozens..... Kinda depends on how proud you are of them - I struggle with that sort of stuff, but am learning to accept they are important etc.

I collect toys and stuffed animals as well, but I'm nowhere near as selective as the OP, even if I keep them neat and organized. I tried to be in the past, but it just didn't work. I know collecting is not the same as hoarding, but a lot of people think it is and that drives me crazy. Also when an NT collects things it's a "hobby" which is seen as a good thing, but if it's an autistic person its an "obsession", which is seen as a bad thing.

I've seen enough of those hoarding shows to know that people who hoard living animals never seem to realize that they're unintentionally being cruel to them, even when the animals are clearly sick and suffering and people find dead ones that the hoarder didn't even know about. They think they're actually helping the animals. I don't know if they're in deep denial or their illness has made them delusional, but either way it's horrible.

They aren't on the floor. Rainbow and Piper (two of my Beanie Boos) sit on my desk.

I meant BTDT, above.....