If you’ve spent more than a few hours wandering the irradiated hills of Appalachia, you know how easy it is to fall into the trap of hoarding. Fallout 76 is full of lootable treasures, from useful gear to utterly useless junk. And yet, no matter how often we tell ourselves we’ll only carry what we need, our stash boxes end up overflowing with the same oddball items again and again.
Whether it’s out of habit, nostalgia, or the fleeting hope that maybe one day they’ll come in handy, these are the worst Fallout 76 items you can’t stop collecting—even though you really, really should.
1. Silver Forks, Spoons, and Plates
Every Wastelander has been there: looting a raider camp or scorched den only to walk away with a backpack full of silverware. It’s shiny, it’s everywhere, and it adds absolutely no value beyond a few scraps of steel or silver. Yet somehow, these utensils keep making their way into your inventory. They’re not even particularly light, making them a prime suspect in your overencumbered status.
2. Teddy Bears
Admit it—teddy bears have an emotional hold over all of us. Fallout 76 is littered with these adorable relics of the pre-war world, and despite offering nothing but cloth and maybe a spring or two, we just can’t leave them behind. There’s even a whole range of them—from the Soldier Teddy to the Comrade Chubs—all equally useless but irresistibly collectible.
3. Pre-War Money
It stacks nicely. It looks cool. And it’s virtually worthless in the grand scheme of survival. Pre-War Money is the quintessential packrat item. Sure, you can scrap it for cloth or use it for some light bartering, but that’s hardly enough to justify the mountains of bills many players have stored in their stash boxes. Still, every time you see a pristine note peeking out of a desk drawer, you grab it. Old habits die hard.
4. Alarm Clocks
These things are everywhere, and they’re mostly collected for the promise of screws, gears, or springs. But let’s be honest—there are better ways to farm those materials. Alarm clocks are bulky, hard to sort through, and they fill your stash with a sense of false productivity. Still, we keep grabbing them because, “Hey, I might need screws later!”
5. Baseballs and Baseball Grenades
What starts as a fun throwback to America’s favorite pastime quickly becomes a storage nightmare. Baseballs are heavy and provide little crafting value beyond a quirky grenade blueprint. But once you’ve learned to make Baseball Grenades, you feel obligated to stock up on every ball you find. Are you really going to use them? Probably not. But collecting them feels like a quirky Wastelander tradition now.
6. Moldy Food
Not every Fallout 76 player keeps moldy food on hand, but if you’ve spent time with survival mechanics or dabbling in mutations, chances are you’ve hoarded a few moldy edibles just in case. These disgusting items don’t do much besides slowly kill you, but when a quest or crafting recipe needs something radioactive and rancid, you’ll be ready. Until then, they sit in your stash, radiating guilt (and actual radiation).
7. Holiday Event Junk
That snow globe from the Fasnacht event? The Halloween-themed candy bowl? You don’t need them anymore, but you can’t bear to part with them either. Holiday junk becomes sentimental, and Bethesda knows exactly how to hook collectors. But your stash isn’t infinite. And neither is your patience when you’re 10 pounds over carry weight because of last year’s festive clutter.
Why We Keep Picking Them Up
So, why do we keep collecting the worst Fallout 76 items? Part of it is nostalgia, part is the RPG hoarder mentality, and part is the design of the game itself—encouraging exploration and curiosity. Even the most experienced players fall into the trap, hauling back a dozen desk fans and typewriters after a loot run.
If you’re struggling with stash space, consider selling or trading these items. Some vendors like U4GM offer cheap FO76 items if you’re looking to offload the bad and restock with the good. Streamlining your inventory makes gameplay smoother and more enjoyable.
You may not be able to quit your bad collecting habits cold turkey, but identifying the worst culprits is the first step. Fallout 76 is a game about survival, yes—but it’s also about embracing the weird and wonderful quirks of Wasteland life. If collecting spoons and teddy bears makes your journey more fun, we won’t judge. Just remember to leave a little space in your stash for the things that actually keep you alive.