There are a myriad of board games out there. From simple dice games that only require a place to throw them, to print-and-play (PnP) for the people who like to DIY, to video game engines to create your own board games (Tabletop Simulator).

I didn't want a library full of game boxes that required an indexing system, or even worse that would just gather dust. So I aimed for the smallest possible set of board games that could cover the main game mechanics I was interested in.

Browse Board Game Mechanics | BoardGameGeek

TL;DR

This article is for you if:

You are short of space, money, or just starting to dive into board games
You are a recovering hoarder that still wants to build this hobby

Takeaways:

Rely on generic components for the majority of games (standard decks, dice, tokens)
If a friend has it, don't acquire it
Don't acquire more than 1 game for a given game mechanic
Try a game in a board game bar a couple of times before you decide to acquire it
Buying new should be the last resource. Consider DIY games, used marketplaces and trading
Prefer small games, as they can be brought in trips, to school or work

The Generic Components

Board games are quite expensive nowadays. Luckily, a considerable amount of games can be played with these cheap pieces:

2 standard deck cards of the same colour This allows you to mix them together for games that require more than 52 cards
2 dice. Fun fact: they are older than recorded history itself
Anything that can be used as tokens: pebbles, beans, coins, bottle caps