Do you collect things for no apparent reason ?

Soap - I occasionally like to splash out on really nice soap from National Trust type of places, I bought four lovely bars when I visited Kew Gardens last. I do use them from time to time, but I also like to have a stash, I don't know why other than they smell nice. When we were staying with friends in Wiltshire and we went to visit a local NT property there and told my friends I always like to come away with soap because I like collecting it, my friend's husband commented nice "clean hobby"

No no no - it's use or lose it in this house.

I collect dolphins, ceramic, wood. glass, any that I like the look of. Pointless, but I love them.
DH will also pick up nails and elastic bands dropped by the post person

We always bring a pebble or a stone or a piece of driftwood back from wherever we've been on holiday, and place them around the base of our large tree fern. Sometimes husband will write on it where it came from, with a marker pen, which then becomes the underside I like to turn them up to look at that as a reminder of a trip.

That's a nice idea grannyknot but did you know it's technically illegal to remove pebbles from the beach what's one pebble for heavens sake.
It's to do with undermining sea defenses.

No!
There is always a very good reason for whatever I collect. Whether or not I can remember the reason a couple of years later when I clear out a cupboard and find it is another matter

I like buying soap, too and have quite a collection. (Scottish fine soaps are my favourite). Strange, really, as I use shower gel, but DH likes soap. They are kept in amongst clothes and make them smell nice.
Yarn, but that's another story .....
Dropped coins - see a penny, pick it up, all the day you'll have good luck. They go into my charity moneybox .

pens. But there is a sort of a purpose. People go on holiday and like to give me souvenirs. Not much money, sort of a tokenism.
I started a few years back suggesting they bring home a pen for me[cheap, and easily found]. So I have pens from all over the place. I use them, so win win.

Ceramic military figures, but only those depicting regiments from the Napoleonic wars. I have a cabinet full of them and more scattered around upstairs, but I'm always on the lookout for them, and if I see a good one (some of them are pretty awful), I have to have it. DH collects silver vesta and calling card cases, so we battle for space. Ridiculous really; when we go, I expect it will all go in the bin!

I don't collect things for no reason, but I do collect materials for handicrafts/sewing/knitting etc and end up with so much stuff that I really need a whole room to house it all . I can never buy just what I need for an upcoming project, but always have to buy a bit more, or I have too many projects on the go at once, all requiring different fabrics, yarns or whatever.
Or I see something I've always wanted to try and buy far more than I need just to try it. For example, I wanted to try felt making, and ordered about a dozen packs of merino tops in different colours - I got the carders too, so I could blend colours. And then I found that it brought on an asthma attack, so that is all just sitting in a cupboard now.
I wanted to try machine embroidery, so I bought 6 reels in different colours. Couldn't buy just one, to see how I got on with it first...
I've got a big box filled with blank cards and other paraphernalia from my card-making craze; three large organiser boxes filled with embroidery silks from my cross stitch craze; bags and bags of knitting yarn; storage boxes filled with fat quarters that I simply can't resist; three-drawer storage chests full of ribbons, paper flowers, buttons, beads, raffia, etc. The list just goes on and on and on.
Have to say I feel a bit sorry for my DC having to sort all this after I've gone

No, I wouldn't like a lot of useless clutter.

I pick up elastic bands which postmen throw away in the street. They are really good ones. Also nails or screws which I find anywhere.
Also, I buy birthday cards or any nice cards which I see, so I've always got one suitable for whoever.
For many years I collected chickens... ceramic, glass, whatever. My house is full of chicken ornaments, chicken photos, chicken roller blinds, anything with chickens.

My DH has a large collection of wires

DH collects everything and never throws anything away! At this moment he is looking at some clothes DS has a liking for and deciding if he will give them to him. Just how many shirts and pairs of trousers does one retired man need?

I am a keen Freecycler and love to find a good home for things I don't need any more. I asked DH to collect something from someone and he decided Freecycle was for him. We now have so many things which might come in useful one day! Do we really need a spare glass turntable for the microwave in case we break ours? If we ever downsize we will need several skips!

DH collects wood because it could come in handy. He might see a portable plank on a skip, brings it home, puts it on the shed roof, or behind the shed, and there it stays. With all the other might-come-in-handy-one-day bits of paraphernalia. I insisted on a visit to the local dump recently and that got rid of some of it. There are nails galore, too, and other useless things like nearly empty paint tins. I can see many more dump trips happening. Reading comments on Gransnet has made me aware that now is the time for a lot of ruthless jettisoning of clutter.

When we moved I charity shopped a large collection of bells - china, glass, crystal, brass, all sorts. I never set out to collect them, I had one and then someone gave me another and so it rolled on; difficult to say no. Eventually, in the way of these things, they ended up in the loft. Nonnie, believe it or not, a friend of mine went through two glass microwave turntables in the space of a month! She found a replacement in a charity shop!

I don't have specific collectables, I just collect and hoard anything I fancy and boy oh boy do I hoard

I have in interest in china , ceramics, glass but I look out for anything I think comes from the Ming Dynasty and I have absolutely loads

I enjoy looking at my numerous Millers books and my last trip was an off the cuff visit to a lovely little museum with Lowestoft Pottery on display.

Collecting can become obsessive though and I am glad I can't find 'stuff' these days as people have cottoned on over the years and it's hard to find these days, hubby is very pleased about that.

As I walked through town this morning I remembered that I used to trawl charity shops for china.
I looked in the shop windows and realised that I can resist the temptation (just) nowadays - probably because I have so much junk packed away which I must go through

And I bought another knitting pattern, not the one I specifically wanted as I couldn't find that one .....

rose knitting patterns don't count do they? They are just lovely to look at and of course will come in handy like the 6d 2 ply shawl I have two of.

rose I hope that is not going to happen now I have raised the subject!

I 'collect' art deco jewellery and Clarice Cliff. As you can imagine I don't have much of a collection despite hinting hard!

I have just been trawling the internet for the knitting pattern I did want; now, shall I send for it as I found it at last? I'll have to pay postage of course, so if I hadn't bought the one this morning that would have paid for the postage .....

I can add them to the two boxes full (some ancient!)

oh dear.
And in the meantime I'm on here and not knitting

Isn't it available as a PDF download rosequartz? I try to source most of my knitting patterns in that format. Places like Revelry or Easy are good sources.

And anyway, surely postage for a single knitting pattern shouldn't be more than the cost of an envelope and a second class stamp? Any more than that and they're ripping you off.

nina luckily I've never taken a pebble off a UK beach

It is a specific pattern which I saw, liked, and didn't buy at the time. I will have a look on Ravelry, though, and also try Easy (new to me)

Yes, I think the postage is a rip-off, but I suppose you have to pay someone to locate the pattern, put it in an envelope, take it to the Post Office
Of course, they want you to buy more as postage is free if you spend more

collect screws and nails, ive got loads of them in my shed.