My Dad and I were "Pickers" 30 years ago.

[Hubert Flottz]

I didn't know what I was until an antique dealer in Middle-port Ohio called my Dad and me "Pickers" back about 1980. I love hunting for good plunder, but I don't have anymore room to put anything else. I still go looking/picking though. It gets in your blood I guess.

[Vinca]

1. It's a disease. My favorite days of the week are the ones when the dump is open.

:rofl: I imagine if I won the lottery I'd still have the need to "pick." You must have found some great treasures over the years!

[Hubert Flottz]

2. I have and I've parted with several items that I regret having unloaded.

I decided years ago to hang on to some of the plunder and now I'm plunder poor. Back when I was young and crazy I loved to refinish furniture. I finally out grew that bad habit, unless it's something really nice and worth the time and trouble. I love the old glass and I still "pick" up a piece now and then. Going to a good antique auction and spending the day is something that I enjoy doing very much. The picking is still good around here.

[northoftheborder]

3. I think this trait is genetic!!! My grandmother, mother, myself, my brother, one of my sons......

are collectors or savers. However, I have tried to stop myself from buying anything else, since my mother died, and I had to dispose of all of her things - given away, sold, chosen by family, or in my house displayed or in boxes because I HAVE RUN OUT OF ROOM! I love to prowl around antique shops, the junkier looking the better. (Too many of them have gotten too "chic" with a mixture of new thrown in.) I'm not as crazy about yard sales. I have bought things on E-Bay, but not lately.

[Paper Roses]

4. You are right, it is genetic. My mother, me, both daughters

I think I blame the beginning on my immigrant grandparents. When they came from the old country, they were too poor to shop for their children in regular stores. Going to a rummage sale was a way of stretching their dollars. Of course, the kids went too. My mom caught the 'old stuff' sickness, passed it on to me and I have in turn, passed it to my kids.

Yard sales, thrift shops, junk shops, antique shops, does not matter. If I pass one, I'm in with eyes going in all directions. Sometimes I strike out, sometimes a goodie.

I have recently consigned some things to a store and will be doing more of that. I have given my kids anything they want from the house, I'm getting too old to care for and clean this place. I am not a hoarder, but just a collector of interesting stuff.

I know this will never change. My daughter brings her two girls to all the sales, antique shops,whatever she can find. It is a good thing for the kids to learn about how things were.