If we’re itemizing the costs of collecting, we have to address the cold, hard fact that collecting takes cold, hard cash. Collecting takes time and it uses up space, but it usually requires an outlay of money, too.

Unless you’re a beachcomber, scraper or Dumpster diver, or the recipient of gifts and castoffs from others, amassing a collection takes a goodly amount of money, especially if you’ve been collecting for decades.

Hopefully, like me, you’re able to stick to a reasonable budget and invest only your pin money on your purchases. I consider myself a bargain shopper, so I’ve been known to say that I can have more fun with $20 and a list of garage sales and thrift stores.

Some people afford collecting by having few other interests and expenses. They use all their weekly pocket money on adding to their collections. Others know how expensive collecting can get, so they save up for big shows and sales and then give in on those occasions alone.

Some collectors ask for money or gift cards instead of presents, so they can use them toward new purchases. Some allow themselves one or two splurges a year on special acquisitions, so they dip into their savings or whip out their credit cards then.

Others give into temptation and spend too much or go into debt to support their hobby, which, some say, can indeed become a real habit.

Then, of course, serious collectors also spend money on furniture or fixtures to showcase their collections. They buy display cases, curio cabinets, and bookcases to house their prized possessions. They buy peg racks for their coffee mugs or baseball caps, cases or stands for their costume jewelry, or sleeves or binders for their coins, stamps, or postcards.

Ironically, shopping for a curio cabinet was how I started collecting restaurantware, those heavy, durable dishes made by companies like Buffalo and Syracuse china.

After I graduated, I went to a furniture store to buy a curio cabinet for my childhood doll collection. Even with a real job, the cost was too high to display only a dozen bedraggled dolls, so I started scouting out second-hand stores.

In the very first thrift shop, I discovered that nice curio cabinets were hard to come across, but knickknacks, bric-a-brac, tchotchkes, and others sorts of junque were readily available. After only a few months, I didn’t have a suitable display case for my beloved dolls, but I had enough decorated restaurantware to fill a china closet, which I hadn’t found either.

In the past 25 years, I’ve paid good money for a few dozen pieces of furniture to display my different collections. I’ve spent money buying bookcases and cabinets to fit one apartment or another, then donated them when they wouldn’t fit our new digs.

Over the past several years, spending money on my collections (rather than on collecting itself) has gotten worse. I want our house to be a livable home, so I’ve been restraining myself and limiting my displays to only one (or two) per room, so that means most of my collections are packed up and stored away.

Over the years, just to box up—rather than display—my collections that now include china, glassware, and holiday decorations, I’ve spend hundreds on packing paper and bubble wrap, moving cartons and strapping tape.

What’s really bad is that I’ve had to move my collections offsite and spend thousands storing my so-called treasures elsewhere. The monthly fee has crept up to $235, which is obscene: Storing personal possessions temporarily makes sense for a number of reasons; storing them for years and years is extravagant, wasteful, and even idiotic. I know my money could be better spent.

If I didn’t have a storage unit, I know I could start over each holiday or season, buy all new decorations, and still spend less each month than I do on mini-storage. However, I’m not just a seasonal decorator; I’m a collector, so by definition I like to keep my purchases and add to them.

What’s really sad is that I’m often too busy or too tired to wade through the boxes and find the ones I want for the occasion, so I make do without. The very things that I’m spending money to keep for future use are, essentially, inaccessible (even after my hours of inventorying and labeling), so they go unused.

That’s insane. Why am I paying money to keep things I can’t access and enjoy?

Have you ever felt that way? Have you realized that you’ve successfully collected more than you can properly display or readily use? Are you beginning to feel guilty, as I am, about keeping the things you love so much?

There has to be a better way, and I think my plan for The Collectors Museum and Gallery is it.

If I can open a venue where people like you and me can put our collections on exhibit, we can eat our cake and have it too. We can get our prized possessions out of the attics and basements and into the light of day—or better yet, under the spotlight.

I want to continue collecting, but I’ve gotten to the point where I want to be able to appreciate the pieces I already own ever so slightly more than I want to acquire additional items.

I think my time and money will be better spent investing them in exhibits, so I can see my collections as I’ve always envisioned them and others can enjoy them as well.

Are you a longtime collector with an extensive collection? Where are your treasures? Are you ready to bring them out and put them on center stage?

Please leave a comment and let us know where your collections are and how you feel about that.