What Do You Hoard In Your SDBs, And Why?

Being curious as to whether other Neopians shared my fixation with collecting items in their Safety Deposit Boxes, I asked the Neoboards what they store in bulk, and why. I got many interesting replies!

There seem to be 6 categories of hoarders, all of whom had something to say to me about their compulsive collecting:

1. Unintentional hoarders, who merely cram everything into their SDBs

These were the majority of the people who replied on my threads. Unintentional hoarders simply take everything they win from dailies and contests and cram them into their SDBs, without regard for their value or rarity. Some people had a jaw-dropping 10,000 items in their SDBS, and were too lazy to price and sell them in their shops.

I wish I had that dilemma! I would *LOVE* to stock my shop with hoarded items and have the fun of watching my Shop Till grow! It would probably take weeks and weeks to sell everything... I consider that to be a lot of fun! Not only would my bank account grow, but I'd be watching my SDB shrink in size. it would be awesome to get rich while doing some SDB cleaning!

2. Intentional hoarders, who collect cool and awesome items

The next greatest concentration of replies were from intentional hoarders, who fill their SDBs only with items they consider to be cool, cute, or fierce. I personally am drawn to items that are lovely, but the people I spoke to were drawn to all sorts of items! Some people hoarded plushies, while others hoarded omelettes. One person even hoarded marshmallow items. No one person had the same intentional hoarding as any other, and I thought that was super cool!

One user named "itsthattimeagain" made me smile with sympathy. She claimed she collects: "Discarded Tuskaninny Plushies, they seem sad & I wanted to give them a home." I thought that was sweet! Another user named "kareesuh" said of her Resewn Shoyru Plushie collection: "it's adorable. they're even my userlookup shield." I thought that was sweet as well!

It seems that intentional hoarders all have different collections and values, but they all have the same big hearts and imaginations!

3. Resellers, who aim to sell their items when inflation hits

This category fits me to a tee! I like to collect rare wearables that are given out by site events and plots only once and never again, and then sell them when their worth is at their highest on the Trading Post. I recently sold a handful of wearables for around 3 million Neopoints, and I'm waiting for the other wearables to increase in value as well. My SDB is also full of Neocash wearables that I'm going to trade on the Customization Neoboard later, when their worth is also inflated!

Many of the people who replied to my threads admitted that they collect expensive avatar items, such as Icy Snowflakes or Meowclopses, in hopes of selling them when their prices are inflated. Other people admitted that they collect Codestones and weapons, since they're always in demand during plots and wars, and then sell them when war-oriented site events happen.

4. Haphazard hoarders, who collect whatever piques their fancy

There was a rarer category of hoarders who I call "haphazard hoarders." These are people who put "interesting" items in their SDBs when they come across them, while putting everything else in their shops or donating them to the Money Tree. It's how "hanoli23" collected 439 Banana Faellie Cakes without really trying, and how I myself collected 30 Spirit Of The Ruins Fizzes!

5. Gifters, who plan holiday gifts months in advance

This is another category that fits me to a tee. I have a handful of really close Neofriends who are always in dire financial straits, since they don't restock, play games, or play the Stock Market. They also don't participate in any contests that give out prizes. It pains me that many of my friends, who are creative and active roleplayers, writers, and artists, have never had a million Neopoints in their banks!

This is why I plan out my holiday gifts months in advance, and stash them in my SDB for later gifting. Some of them are dream items that my friends really want, but can't afford. Other items are for my friends to re-sell, such as Baby Paint Brushes, so that their bank accounts won't be totally empty. I try to make my gifts personal and thoughtful, and I smile every time I spot them in my SDB, happy that someday they'll end up in the inventories of friends who truly deserve them!

6. People with numerical goals, who are striving to collect "X" total items

This tiny, almost obscure category featured people who were striving to collect a huge total number of items in their SDBs. For instance, one person who recently reached 11,000 items decided that she wanted to reach a total of 20,000 SDB items. Many people had similar goals, though they were different in number, such as 5,000 or 7,777.

Others were just trying to reach 1,000 unique items, in order to get the "SDB Pack Rat" avatar. I applauded these users, because I remember how long it took me to get the Pack Rat avatar myself. Trying to collect 1,000 unique items is a massive undertaking and everyone who attempts to get this avatar should be praised and given a hearty high-five!

Conclusion:

Most Neopians are hoarders, but in different ways. Some hoard items, while others hoard pets and Neopoints. I loved writing this article because no matter how weird we each think we are as SDB hoarders, we still fall into the same 6 categories I mentioned in this article. Do you collect spoons? Toilets? Is your SDB full of hundreds of avatar items? You are not alone!

Thanks for reading this article! May your SDBs be always full of interesting and unique items!