Strangely enough something very real happened to me in the last month, my father died. I am now in the process of cleaning up his hobby basement. It will take me weeks, and although I would like to treasure all the things he built and crafted, the sheer volume is staggering. I'm forced to throw a lot of it out. I think Grant is right. I think most of us confuse the creative process, with creative hoarding. I enjoy the making of things, but not the holding and reorganizing of things. Down in the basement my Mom made an interesting point while we were cleaning up. "I know he left us a mess, but all these things made him happy." The only bright spot in my Dad's funeral was giving a ton of his work away. People seemed genuinely delighted to receive it. I think he would have been happier knowing all these items went to his friends and family. Holding on to all that stuff must have made him sick to his stomach. No criticism to others, but we should all be more committed to the process rather than the end result!
I just donated a ton of my 28mm stuff to my local gamestore.