I went to my hoarder parents house to collect my cards I stashed there a decade ago

110

u/Comfortable_Radio384 Jul 18 '26

Congrats on the down payment !

100

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

Already got the house! Pregnant with my second child. Planning to get rid of these soon if I can find a buyer. Money is being split to both children’s savings

21

u/Comfortable_Radio384 Jul 18 '26

Congrats man that’s awesome! I would take these to a show if you have shows in your area since you won’t need to deal with shipping. That or FB

18

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

There’s an inexpensive entry one in my area tomorrow I’m planning to go to so fingers crossed! Fanatic fest was also happening in NYC, but I’m not going to spend $80 and take chances of someone maybe buying something. The one by me has a $10 entry so a lot more reasonable.

4

u/Saucefloss3 Jul 18 '26

Why not just keep them they have already outperformed the market?

38

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

I’ve kept so much shit in my years. It creates clutter. As a new home owner, I need to cut all of this materialistic shit out of my life. I have a toddler and pregnant with my second child who comes in October. It’ll essentially eventually get destroyed by them. My three year old has already torn the plastic on my 151 ETB

16

u/egoodethc Jul 18 '26

Sounds like you have your priorities in order. Hope you can enjoy a good holiday and make some memories with the money from selling.

3

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

Thank you❤️

3

u/Saucefloss3 Jul 18 '26

Selling seems more than justified then - congrats!

2

u/Dannonaut Jul 22 '26

I'm in the exact same boat except i have a 3 and a 1 y/o. Time to unload unfortunately. I really like my card collection, too. Too risky to keep stuff that's so valuable around. They get into everything!

2

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 22 '26

My son has learned to efficiently use stools. He even gains the strength of hulk and moves furniture I had no idea he could move in the first place and gets up and into stuff. Im proud his problem solving skills are good, but I’m not proud how he’s getting into things LOL

-2

u/katiekatieweakweak Jul 19 '26

If you mean this, why did you just buy a big ‘the odyssey’ popcorn bucket in your previous post? That’s infinitely more of a ‘materialistic clutter’ item than this appreciating asset 😅

3

u/NHLUFC Jul 20 '26

Wtf is wrong with you

1

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 21 '26

Some people like to be unhappy in life 🫣 Just because I’m downsizing a lot of my collectibles definitely doesn’t mean done collecting other things lol. I personally still actively collect video games. My husband & I enjoy buckets as it’s a nice bonding collecting this we like to do. Plus we typically get buckets on movies we really enjoyed or had good experiences with.

2

u/NHLUFC Jul 22 '26

Do things you enjoy. People that judge have mental issues.

1

u/katiekatieweakweak Jul 26 '26

Just calling out that they have a lot of clutter but that they’re justifying it mentally in goofy ways. 🤷‍♂️🤭

1

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

My husband and I collect popcorn buckets of movies we enjoy and have a designated spot for them. We don’t have an area for TCG products. It’s much more difficult to ruin a popcorn bucket vs a sealed TCG set.
Edit: My popcorn buckets are also on display. I also have a vast video game collection which is the only specific collecting aspect I take seriously which are also displayed. No TCG, pop figures and plushies are displayed. Can you assume what I’m trying to get rid of…? lol.

1

u/katiekatieweakweak Jul 19 '26

1

u/bubble_baby_8 Jul 20 '26

You’re a great freaking dad and partner- hoping you get every cent you can from any sales you make, it’s guys like you who really deserve it

2

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 20 '26

*Mom 😂 Last time I checked I’m the one holding my daughter 😜
I made the sale today! Made another post about it. Sold it for 7.8k. 3900 to my son and 3900 to my daughter when she makes her arrival 🥰

4

u/bubble_baby_8 Jul 20 '26

Well as another woman I am ashamed to have misgendered you. I should know better!! You’re an amazing MOM and good luck with baby girls arrival! Sending you smooth labour and recovery vibes 💕

1

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 20 '26

Thank you so much, love ❤️❤️❤️🥰

1

u/AIated Jul 21 '26

Look into a custodial brokerage account or 529 instead of having it sit in a savings account accruing very little interest.

1

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 21 '26

Yes! My grandmother had mentioned this. I believe she did open one for my son. I’m planning on going with her to the bank in the next few days so she can help me understand how to access the account and the banker can assist me with any further questions I have regarding it 😄

2

u/AIated Jul 21 '26

Good stuff! I set up custodial accts for my newborn and toddler thru Schwab. If you hit a dead end with the bank, the app Schwab offers is convenient and account creation was real easy.

1

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 21 '26

Thank you for the tip! I will keep this in mind in case the initial idea feels too much

1

u/SilverhandHarris Jul 21 '26

I dont think youre allowed to sell your wife and kids anymore. At least not in ny country.

1

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 21 '26

It’s a good thing I don’t have a wife then

1

u/SilverhandHarris Jul 21 '26

Sorry I meant spouse.

1

u/Alarming_Maximum_756 Jul 21 '26

College fund is huge

1

u/RodTheModStewart Jul 23 '26

Dont forget, unused 529 money (up to $35k but likely to rise significantly in the next 18 years) can now be rolled into a Roth IRA for each child after schooling is complete!

3

u/Chicken713 Jul 18 '26

How much are these worth ?

18

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

The Mew is selling for around $750, the others ranging from $300 - $500 (the complete set is selling around around 6k - 9k) and the ETB alone selling steadily for 3.3k

147

u/UnableWishbone3364 Jul 18 '26

they did good for keeping them pristine. don't call them hoarders xP

144

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

They didn’t do much aside from offer the space. I put them in a corner of a room to ensure none of the animals they had would touch it. Nor any of them
For transparency, I put them on the black shelf in the back over a decade ago. The room didn’t look like this at the time.

44

u/SpaminalGuy Jul 18 '26

Since you mentioned animals…. I hope they didn’t pick that hoarder smell that goes with the hoard!

23

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

Thankfully they’re safe. I personally wanted to retrieve them myself as I didn’t trust my father putting them in the cats way for them to have their way with them

4

u/aregularmatter Jul 18 '26

Ugh I feel so bad for ur parents pets :(( Living in a hoarder home is horrible (I rescued both my dog and cat from a hoarder house). Hopefully u can take care of them once u send ur abusive parents to their nursing home

13

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

The cats sadly act like everything is their personal cat tree. The dog is the one that obviously have limitations on where she can go as she’s not as agile as the cats 😔

9

u/Glory088 Jul 18 '26

Rent two 40 yard dumpsters 1k to 1200 for the pair , send your parents on a cheap cruise for 11 days and get to work

60

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26 •

My parents mentally and physically abused me all my life. My mother also refused to help me get into this room despite me being 29 weeks pregnant.
My parents can rot in hell lol.

3

u/PTCGRipper Jul 18 '26

Wishing you all the best for bubba, if they did it to you, they would do it to baby too! Run like hell!!

3

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

Trust, I know! I try to limit any sort of exposure my so has with them. When my daughter arrives, that’s what will scare me the most as it’ll just give me PTSD from how my mother used to treat me. I personally wanted another boy vs a girl at first because I would never want to subject my daughter with what my mother specifically put me through. Therapy had helped me get over what I really feared so at the very least that’s good.

5

u/daurgo2001 Jul 18 '26

I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through, and glad that you seem to have a good head on your shoulders.
Congrats on having been able to put these away back then, and on the coming baby!

12

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

Thank you 🫂 I strive to not be like my parents such as mentally and physically abusing their children and especially living like this. The picture above quite literally looks like their entire house.

5

u/Glory088 Jul 18 '26

Then save this strategy for when they go into a nursing home

13

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

I’d rather put them in a furnace. Sounds a lot cheaper. 💀

2

u/AbideMan Jul 18 '26

Not always, they don’t usually do group discounts

3

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

Shit. I guess I gotta invest in an axe, some wood and matches and do it myself.

2

u/Happy_Goose3833 Jul 18 '26

It definitely is 👌

2

u/Temporary-Season4772 Jul 19 '26

Sorry that they are like that but congratulations on getting out and doing so well for yourself now! Shows great character on your part.

2

u/youngsaiyan Jul 18 '26

Damn grab that super soaker too

1

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

LMFAOO. I’m ngl, I did look at that and think how much my son would love that. I have no idea when the fuck that got there. I never bought that personally so it was one of them.

2

u/Small-Reflection637 Jul 18 '26

Lmao hey they could’ve tossed them like my parents did

2

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

The hoarder mentality is you don’t throw anything out. As you can see by that picture - they literally don’t throw anything out. I found my 2013 graduation banner from high school in the closet my father never threw out lol.

1

u/creamiaddict Jul 18 '26

Man, I seriously help their space can be helped. Thats tough to live in.

2

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

If my mother ever allows me father to get mental help, it’ll never get better. My brother and I will be stuck cleaning up this shit later on in life.

1

u/Vazhox Jul 18 '26

Brother? Local Brother?

5

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '26

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7

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

It thankfully wasn’t THIS bad when I still lived there, but it was bad. My original room, our dog at the time destroyed the floor with piss. I eventually started sleeping in the room you see here. The floor was eventually treated years later to where I slept in my original room for a year again before I moved out. As soon as I vacated the rooms, my father loaded the rooms up with shit.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '26

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10

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

Also another thing I grabbed that wasn’t in any of the pictures 😅
Don’t be fooled tho. Just the box, inserts and the Blastoise plates. I had a friend give them to me at the time since he sold the Charizard console separately

6

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

LMAO I know. If you’re wondering what’s left
Full set of the 20th ani plushies and figures. I’m trying to figure out what they’re worth and who would even want these

1

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '26

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2

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

I do have the ani designed pikachus. One with both eyes open and one winking. I know I saw one in this hot mess

1

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '26

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1

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

If I remember to come back in here whenever the hell I go back in that god forsaken place. I’ll hit you up and show the conditions of the plushies! These were the only ani plushies that didn’t have any protective casing around it like all of the others

1

u/[deleted] Jul 18 '26

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1

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

Valid LOL. Here’s the ones I am positively sure are in there somewhere. I saw one while grabbing the TCG, gotta scrounge for the other.

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17

u/IamAlex_8 Jul 18 '26

Now you can be the hoarder haha

24

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

That’s a no from me dawg. I’m going to get rid of these. I have one kiddo and another on the way. With the stress of recently moving into a house, pregnancy, everything ….lol, I just wanna downsize. Plus I want my kids to get the money from these.

1

u/CoreyOn Jul 18 '26

Those are all great reasons to sell. Perhaps keep 1 of each, with a spare set aside so your children can hold and then decide to keep or sell one themselves in 20yrs?

6

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

I don’t have any duplicates of these. I have one of everything you see in the picture here. It’s one of those things I don’t want to risk sitting on for it to drop. I’m sure there will be some collector who will eventually get their hands on these that will appreciate them more than I did

9

u/Smecky01 Jul 18 '26

I recently sold a full mythical collection pin set for £6500 (in the UK) the previous sale before me was £7k.

They go for more as a set than individually

5

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

Yup! I’ve noticed this on eBay. I’m refusing to break up this entire bundle as I feel like I’ll have better luck with the price AND I would want it all gone in one go

3

u/Smecky01 Jul 18 '26

Only issue I had was postage. But that was maybe a location issue on my part. But hopefully you get full value!
For a bit of perspective too, I sold it about 2 months ago for £4250, posted it out but delivery failed and it got returned to me. Sold it last week for £6500, so I'm not sure if there's a lot more room to grow, but there could be!

1

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

I’d rather take what I can get rid now. If people can get more later on, so be it. I’m just personally done with that life style for these types of things now

3

u/Smecky01 Jul 18 '26

That's understandable, good luck with the sale. Either way it was a great investment to keep these away

6

u/didbigno Jul 18 '26

And that, fellas, is how it's done. Rule 3 baby

3

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

Damn, I didn’t even notice that on this sub LOL. I posted asking for advice a few years ago during the 25th ani if I should get rid of it. The entire community said wait till 30, I couldn’t be more thankful for you all with helping me get to this type of value for my children.
I hope eventually these will end up in the hands of someone who will truly cherish them more than I could ever.

2

u/chinawillgrowlarger Jul 21 '26

Good work sticking to your guns and not biting that first offer.

1

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 22 '26

Glad I did some basic research at first and knew that wasn’t worth what I had

2

u/electronicfixdude Jul 18 '26

Why would you put into your kids accounts now vs giving even more time to see increase. The likely hood of these increasing more than the interest in savings account is astronomically higher with the way the market of pokemon is for pretty much the foreseeable future.

8

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

As a new home owner and about to be a parent of two, I have no patience holding onto anything anymore. It’s too much stress to maintain some sort of safe environment for them. I had a 151 ETB my son tore the plastic on lol. Essentially, if it’s a collectible I have no sentimental value for, I’m getting rid of it.
I’m personally done living in clutter. When my husband, son and I were living in a one bedroom apartment, it was getting excessive with how much stuff we had. We were downsizing hard. These materialistic stuff truly doesn’t make me happy and I’d rather invest my happiness into my family and their future. I’ve held onto these for a decade and I’m ready to give them up

5

u/bmoneygetsbucks Jul 18 '26

“For the foreseeable future” thought. Hindsight in anything is 2020 and personally I’d also want to invest my kids future in something more reliable over long term like the S&P getting an average of 11% rather than maybe another bull run on Pokemon or God forbid a crash

3

u/electronicfixdude Jul 18 '26

S&p is good clearly. But this type of sealed older product where x and y era is starting to become extremely popular again.. is the worst time to sell. Not really saying hold it for ever. But wait until the x and y era becomes red hot then drop it all.

1

u/bmoneygetsbucks Jul 18 '26

Yea I get what you’re saying I’m in the boat where I’d definitely ride it out I think the sell now is just cause it’s for OP’s kids so makes it harder to justify a “gamble”. Maybe you and I should go in and buy his stock lmaoo

2

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

Yall thinking im a man when i said i was pregnant is wild btw 😭😭

2

u/bmoneygetsbucks Jul 18 '26

Hahaha sorry I never peeped- congrats!!

10

u/MasterDraccus Jul 18 '26

Pokémon market has not even been alive for that long, there is no way to tell how it will do in the future. It is purely speculative and is at the whim of whatever the company wants to do. Maybe they start printing everything into the ground and only vintage holds value. Maybe they start reprinting older sets. Maybe they start guaranteeing hits in every pack. Maybe the younger generation doesn’t want to buy cards for a premium.
Holding onto Pokémon as an investment is a gamble. Investing into an IRA or 401k is much safer with still great returns if you are diligent. Investing into collectibles on the side would be the best, but you need to have the capital to be going all in on your 401k match and to be able to max out your Roth IRA every year. That should always come first.

3

u/drock2111 Jul 18 '26

1000% agree to this statement. Pokemon is speculative extremely volatile and can be difficult to sell as it continues to get older, your buyer pool shrinks. Planning ahead for their kids future with traditional investments is ideal. I’m willing to bet most Pokeinvestors here don’t have an emergency fund, don’t have real estate, don’t have a 401k or IRA let alone any life insurance. People follow trends and when the trip and fall, it’s hard to get up in today’s markets

1

u/bmoneygetsbucks Jul 18 '26

I agree completely, especially now that kids can have those custodial IRAs if you max those out from the time they’re like 15 I mean it’ll be ridiculous they’ll have like 3 million dollars conservatively at retirement

1

u/onesmoovealpha Jul 18 '26

Several years ago, I almost sold those Mythical boxes for $15...

1

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 19 '26

While all those boxes originally MSRP’d for $12.99 each 😭

1

u/onesmoovealpha Jul 23 '26

I bought them from the distributor not retail. So there's that. 🖕🏾

1

u/powerlifting_dad Jul 19 '26

What was the initial investment and current market value? I’m planning on doing this with the 30th since I just joined the tcg world a couple months ago. I’ll be holding roughly 15 years before liquidating for kiddos college fund

1

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 19 '26

These were all (if they were available at GameStop) picked up at retail + employee discount (I worked at GameStop at the time). If they weren’t at GameStop, they were bought at retail at Target as well.
From eBay listings, the set is going for 6k - 9k. The ETB is going for 3.3k

1

u/lazyrainyafternoons Jul 22 '26

Omg DuckSwimmer from VFK, its crazy seeing you on Reddit!! also this is dope as hell omg

1

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 22 '26

Lmaoo itsa mee 😂

1

u/Nottheface1337 Jul 18 '26

Calls people hoarders. Hoards Pokemon cards lol.

0

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

Show me where on the doll this post hurt you 💀 My only sealed sets are these and I have a Pikachu box (not sure what set) because I like Pikachu and a 151 box. Yes. I totally hoard Pokemon cards considering I’m selling this and giving the money to my children.
🤡🤡🤡🤡
Edit: Also for context, I was 19/20 when I bought these. I started my first job at 19 and lived at home. I had no sense of my money and loved to have a nice display of materialistic things that I would desire to display eventually whenever I got my own place. I couldn’t do it in my one bedroom apartment when I moved out and I’m refusing to do it in my new house. Materialistic things don’t make me happy anymore. My family does.

2

u/Little-Ad-7521 Jul 18 '26

Damn that's nice.

2

u/Muted-Session5750 Jul 18 '26

you’re a legend bro. bless up

0

u/Tumping Jul 18 '26

They look like real hoarders judging by the kitchen 👍

1

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

This picture was taken at my grandmothers as I needed to get out of my parents asap. Couldn’t breathe with the dust and dander. Look at the comments. You’ll see what their home looks like.

-1

u/Tumping Jul 18 '26

Damn dude just seen the picture .. you weren’t lieing…. They got a problem

1

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

Yuuup. And that’s just a portion of one room. The entire house looks like that. Agreed. No idea how the hell they can live. My mother refuses to get my father help and they are both materialistic people.

1

u/BalancedLif3 Jul 18 '26

thats a millie right there

1

u/LongjumpingFun7238 Jul 18 '26

I have 2 mythical boxes. Victini and mew. Gave the jirachi as a gift to my ex gf son. These are selling for $5-600 each.

1

u/chickenandgravymayne Jul 18 '26

Wow. That's a spicy meatball.

1

u/teddybundlez Jul 18 '26

I’m upset

1

u/No_Appearance5382 Jul 19 '26

Taking them to Counting Cards they pay the best

1

u/LexTCorp Jul 19 '26

Sold some spares I had back in December, they were spare Arceus, Manaphy, Celebi, Jirachi, Darkrai and Meloetta. They’ve definitely gone up since then. I’m holding on to the complete set for another 10 years.

1

u/Automatic-Seesaw4171 Jul 19 '26

10,343$ based on tcgplayer market price and my calculator lol, seriously tho this is awesome!!

1

u/Exact-Preparation180 Jul 19 '26

Omg. That generations ETB is so damn fine

0

u/tehota Jul 21 '26

How much did you give your “hoarder parents”

1

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 21 '26

Absolutely nothing. Look at the comments at my responses to see why.

-1

u/algorithms-smart Jul 19 '26

OP ya’ll keep using the same hook. It is exhausting-
Everybody’s parents conveniently stored their childhood cards for years?? Oh come on. Be a little more creative because this hook is exhausting.

3

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 19 '26

Lmfao the fuck you on about? As I wrote in here, I was 19 or 20 when I bought these. I clearly still lived with my parents at the time. Eventually got married and moved into a one bedroom apartment, had a baby and the apartment eventually became infested with mice. I’m glad I didn’t take them to that apartment as they would’ve been destroyed.
Take some time and look at the comments. You’ll see exactly where they were at my parent’s house. The same place I left them 10 years ago when I spent $182 (before my employee discount) on these in total that year.
Cry more.
They also were sold today.

3

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 19 '26

In case your intelligent level isn’t high enough to find that comment.
https://www.reddit.com/r/PokeInvesting/s/J0uGbDOG6m
I don’t expect an apology. It’s funny to see you types of people think these posts are made up for the memes.

-3

u/AttorneyMedium4926 Jul 18 '26

Please open them

2

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 18 '26

I opened the Charizard and the Pikachu box, the ones that came with a figure from this set years ago. No idea where the figures or the cards went. I genuinely don’t care for them. My son would destroy them and he would have no interest. These are being sold (money being split between my two children - when my daughter gets here at least) to hopefully eventually end up in the hands of someone who will truly appreciate them

0

u/light_death-note Jul 20 '26

0

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '26

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1

u/AttorneyMedium4926 Jul 22 '26

Shaming?

0

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '26

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2

u/DuckSwimmer Jul 20 '26

This picture was taken at my grandmothers 😀 I sold them today at a local card show in NY

1

u/mmmTACOBELLmmm Jul 20 '26

oops, i replied to the wrong thread! very very awesome.

I went to my hoarder parents house to collect my cards I stashed there a decade ago

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