Wives. One is enough. Two maybe. Three and you’re crazy.
I have a collection of leather and suede shoes.
Most guys don't collect shoes, but I have way more than I need.
It's weird, too, because when I wear shoes, it's always either one pair or the other pair of shoes (my two favorites.)
I collect coffee bean (colourful paper) bags. I find them fascinating and I would seldom throw them away. They don’t worth anything. Purely for collection! But my wife suspects it is an early sign of old-age “hoarding” 
In the distant past, when I travelled, one of the things I bought in a foreign country would be the local coffee beans in colourful (paper) bags.
Now overseas travelling is difficulty and costly (too many COVID tests required), I can just browse on the Internet and admire those colourful bags of coffee beans from different countries around the world. 
I can still order some online.
That’s a fettish not a collection.
That sounds interesting. Are you able to post a pic of your collection?
Yes, you are correct. But show and tell. People who have jewelry are a target. Maybe just an excuse.
Debt.
I know too many people that think collecting more and more debt will make their loves better.
Yeah, I hate debt, too.
The only debt I have is one credit card, and I pay it off every month or two.
I use my credit card due to the convenience and protection it provides, but my credit card company doesn't make much interest off of me. 
I don’t get people who collect the SAME flashlight, just in different colors, or even emitters sometimes. Like, Olight’s FB group is full of people who buy every version of the M2R, or WM2, etc. It just doesn’t make any sense to me, they’re functionally identical and not exactly works of fine art, not something worth collecting in my opinion.
Along with that, I don’t really get people who ONLY buy Olights, or Thrunites, or Hanklights, Zebralights, etc. Unless there’s a very specific practical reason to get the same brand or model, I think a collection should be diverse and representative of various different design philosophies. Sure some brands are more reliable, or more interesting in general, but I can’t think of a single brand that is worthy of all my flashlight money in favor over every other.
Similarly, people who buy every variation of the D4V2 or similar models, I get the interest in different emitters, drivers, optics and the like, but I would rather invest in a wider variety of different lights which fill more unique roles. I would also rather have specific emitters in lights which use those LEDs in the best way possible, than multiples of the the same light with different color temps or whatever. Having an E21A, XPL-HI, and UV D4V2 makes sense, but having like 10+ of the same light is kind of strange in my opinion.
As for things I DO collect, I’m super into fountain pens, and hifi headphones, and most of all carnivorous plants. I grow mutiple species of Drosera (sundews) with the goal of collecting every species possible. As a plant lover, I think they make great collectibles, and are far more interesting than anything made by humans. They’re mostly only grown by people who are seriously into that kind of thing, which makes the hobby very niche and kind of fun. Carnivorous plants in general are just amazing, and there are so many various groups that you could spend a lifetime collecting them!
There are lots of fascinating plant groups to collect, but it can be difficult when some are not sourced responsibly. Tangent-time, but plant collecting can be both very helpful and very destructive for natural ecosystems and endangered species, depending on how it is carried out. There’s still much to learn about these systems, and many species that need help, living in environments where they are seriously threatened by human development. I actually spent a year producing video content on plants for a university, and there are just so many things to learn, the ecosystems these organisms help compose are incredibly complex.
…but anyways, yeah I don’t get a lot of the things people collect, but whatever, to each their own.
I used to collect carnivorous plants, but I don't grow them anymore.
I grew them outside.
I had tons of Sarracenia, and some Drosera.
My favorite Drosera are the multi-fork-leafed varieties.
EDIT:
LuxWad:
Do you know about the NASC Fall Auction on Facebook that ends tomorrow?
There's not a lot of Drosera in this auction, but there are some.
LuxWad, I have some friends who are “Olight Fanatics” and they do buy same Olight flashlights in different colours and LED types.
One incentive motivating them to buy more and more of the same is the satisfaction of getting them at a good discount price, and to accumulate more points and advance in their membership class. With Gold, Diamond, Platinum etc., they gain early access to the monthly “big sale” and have first choice of rare models. In the end, it is mostly personal pride in bragging right over fellow “Olight Fanatics”.
BTW, the September Olight “sale” is underway. And I just spent US$150 on some Olight Open Pros that are good enough for year-end gifts for my daughters. And I am only at the novice stage of being just a “Silver” member. Still a long way to go and hundreds of dollars to spend on Olight each month in order to move up to the “Gold” level. 
This is such a loaded question and it would be soo easy to unload on what others may perceive as “totally effed up” so I will just present a few random thoughts.
Gold, what if the majority of people across the Globe just realized it is just a shiny soft rock that can be molded into many shapes, not unlike a fishing lure that sparkles when the sun hits it in the water?
It would crash the world economy. Such a hoax, perceived value at it’s best.
Only Gold I own is my wedding band. Glad to be born without the vanity gene. To me people with 10 chains are trying too hard but realize it is a personal thing so to each their own.
Bitcoin, dogshitcoin, whatever coin.
Let me get this straight, it’s an answer to a really complex math formula/problem that takes computers forever to solve and therefore somehow it is worth enormous sums of money yet it is backed by no nation, no hard currency, nothing, like vaporware?
Yeahhh, OK, Suckers
Just shows the true value of peer pressure, media whoring fluff and dump. YMMV.
After that, yeah all our fetishes with flashlights, weapons, etc. are bullshit as well, BUT at least OUR bullshit can perform a function.
Can a Beanie Baby find your keys that have fallen into the bushes next to your car in the parking lot of the concert that ended 3 hours ago?
Or the Hot Wheels hippy van redline? Nope
Once I discovered Electric Aurora Thunderjet 500 slot cars actually powered themselves and it was possible to modify them to go really fast and loose, Hot Wheels got thrown aside for a “working toy”
Tearing into that slot car and modding it helped me in many ways throughout my life. Made my dare to tear into things to see how they work, what works and why and things no book can teach you without being hands on.
Anyway good thread, carry 0n!
Thanks for letting me know! I wasn’t already aware of it, sadly it’s too late now to get into that but I’ll make note of it for next year. It’s cool to know you’re into these plants as well!
I try to be very careful about my budget and space for these things, and I haven’t really gotten into Sarracenia yet. I mostly collect the smaller sundews, I’m especially into the weirder varieties from Australia. I also have a couple Nepenthes, beautiful plants but they take up tons of space. The temperate plants have been much trickier for me to get the hang of, I had a little success with a couple Sarrs in the past but I’m mostly focusing on the smaller stickier carnivores for now.
Guess I can kind of understand that, some of the LE models are pretty cool and Olight does send lots of neat extras. TBH though I’d have to sell all the lights accumulated in the process, I wouldn’t want to have so many basically identical models. One thing’s for sure though, Olight is very good at what they do. I’ve given them a fair bit of money and am only Bronze…
I have trouble understanding men collecting sneakers.
I mean I get it. Designer sneakers can look really amazing and interesting. But some of these people have whole rooms taken up with their sneakers. WTH?
Leather shoes is one thing. But sneakers are SYNTHETIC. And guess what? These polymers, rubbers, and plastics have a shelf life. I know this from experience. I had a few sneakers that sat in the back of my closet for 2 decades. When I unearthed them and started wearing them… THEY FELL APART! The soles separated.
So really, those rare collectible sneakers are not even meant for wearing. And that’s just stupid. I once spent an hour of my time watching a couple of videos on sneaker collecting. A few people have made a killing holding onto a sneaker release that ended up being limited enough and then coveted enough that they could turn a handsome profit. But MOST sneakers don’t appreciate very much, while many more depreciate. And that’s as an investment that you won’t wear.
I have about 30 pairs of shoes.
One pair of water shoes, two pairs of Crocs knock-offs, a pair of sandals, and the rest are either leather or suede.
Most of them are like new, so I could try to sell the ones I don't care for (if I felt like it.)
I bought so many just to try to find the most comfortable (budget) shoes I could find.
I haven't bought any shoes in a while, but I might start up again.
Dat just nasty. Naaaaaas-ty.
“Collectible” sneakers, and monkeys.
I don’t get the sneaker thing. Get some ugly-ass orange sneakers which some basketball player makes famous, go through a big stink about whether it’s “authentic” or a fake, pay hunnerts of bux for ’em, just to have ’em sit around in a closet. Can’t even wear ’em, lest their “value” go down.
And monkeys. I don’t get that, either. Who in Hell would want to collect monkeys? They walk around in diapers all day, they stink, and they can rip off your face if you piss ’em off. Worst ones are those that go “bloop! bloop!”, like it’s something cute. F ’em.
Hey, I’m a geologist so basically do that for a living 
I also don’t get people who have a knife/gun/flashlight obsession. You can be into something without going overboard, cover a few bases and have a favourite then get outside and use the gear you’ve got.
Re. Bags of coffee, I’m a coffee nerd and keep the front of the nice bags, they’re a bit like vinyl or CD album covers, they’re art in themselves.
I feel bad for people who are drowning in debt but even when i have helped people tame debt they just dive back in soon thereafter.
Its as if they must have it and have as much of it as they can accumulate.