Hate to throw things away?

[chad67]

I hate to throw anything away that I think someone can use. Maybe it's because I grew up with a grandmother who lived through the depression, but if I can find a use for something-even if someone else is throwing it away-I'll snag it! The warehouse I work at was throwing away tens of thousands of the clothing hangers you see at retail stores. I looked at 'em and the light came on. I clipped both ends off and-voila!-clothes hangers, chip clips, etc.... I didn't take all of them of course, but I got enough to replace all my old wooden clothes pins and a bunch in reserve. I wonder what you guys save, no matter how crazy it may sound???

[68 Ford Stepside]

I save left over bolts,nuts & washers. Left over copper wire. Carb kit parts & a multitude of other things. Everytime I use something I saved, it means I am not burning gas going to get it from a store.

[jimmy828]

my rule of thumb is: if you can't make it, keep it

[averagef250]

My rule of thumb is if I haven't used in 2 years get rid of it. I'd rather have nice things I use then a bunch of junk piled up because of "what if".

[sargentrs]

I used to consider myself an amateur wood worker and was bad about picking up old pieces of furniture that people had dropped.off at dumpsters.or the curb and tell myself I was going to refinish it. People throw out a LOT of "good junk". Got so bad I had to put a one year expiration tag on everything I picked up. If I didn't do anything with it.in a year it went back to the dumpsters.

[chad67]

A while back, they were throwing away some banners that were vinyl and 4' by 6'. I got 9 of them and have already used one to protect my wife's van when I took my door to the car wash to get all the crud out of it. I'm sure I'll use them when I need to climb under my truck. I also got a bunch of the fixtures they use to hang baseball bats in the store. I made holders to hang my fishing poles, ladders, clothes, and weedeater. I've found a ton of good stuff sitting by the curb. Table saw, charcoal grill, chainsaw, are just a few. One man's trash....

[Nitekruizer]

Some of the stuff that I've saved over the years: - bolts, nuts, screws, brackets, hinges and various other hardware items, light bulbs (especially the small ones found in electronics & appliances), switches, relays, electric motors and printed circuit boards (I pull the transistors, resistors and capacitors as I need them). I've also saved used lumber, plywood, panelling and drywall, sheets of metal roofing/siding and, yes, electrical wire, electrical fixtures, some plumbing stuff and plastic pipe.
I guess it started when I was 13 or 14 and used to drag home old bicycles from the curb and the dump. They didn't supervise the dump in those days so, you could pick through stuff and take whatever you wanted. I used to grab all kinds of interesting stuff. I must have had around fifty or so old junk bikes. I used to build some pretty strange two wheeled contraptions out of them.
These days I hang on to car & truck parts. My rule is "don't throw away anything car related".

[wildcard]

I guess I keep mostly auto related stuff. Just about anything that's 12 volt that I may want to hook up in my truck or boat.
This weekend my GRANDdaughter is helping her Great grandmother hold a garage sale. She wanted to know if my wife and I had anything she could sell to make some money for herself. My wife has gathered her enough stuff that she could have her own sale if she wanted. I did throw in a set of truck mirrors I'm never going to use. And a set of 4 brand new 8-1/2" chrome moon hubcaps for a Peterbilt, a couple of CB radios and a scanner or 2. Probably will throw in a few tools I have managed to collect 3 or more of the same thing/size.
Now I'll have a little more room to collect some more things. Til she has another garage sale an papa has to contribute. Oh well, that's what kids and GRANDkids are for. They'll end with it eventually anyway.

[FordTrucks247365]

Don't get me started on being a packrat... I made 4 trips to the scrap yard in the past month (metal studs, random steel, bus bench seats, copper wire, etc, etc). My yard does look a lot better but I do miss some of my intended projects.

[abe]

I have been reading this thread. I save stuff too, but I don't have a lot of room to store stuff.

I wasn't going to reply to this thread but tonight I was a dumpster diver. They are renovating the house across the street from me. I went for a walk and looked in the dumpster. There was a 7' long 2x8 nailed to a bit shorter 2x4. After nightfall I took it. The 2x6 will fit at the end of my flatbed and the 2x4 will be used to make the stakes to hold the 2x8 in place!

[ToughOldFord]

I've collected stuff for years, but more recently started clearing things out. Stuff in the trash, some to the scrap yard, some stuff on eBay that might be worth a couple of bucks.
Trying to lighten the load, would like to get out of California some day. May be difficult, I'll own my house in another six years, but I still want to be ready in case the opportunity presents itself.

Of course it still does, and always will happen, keep XYZ around the house because I might need it someday. Finally get tired of looking at XYZ float around the house or garage for 8 years so it goes in the trash. Two weeks later I'm frantically in need of an XYZ and am searching all over for the one that's been hanging around for 8 years. Then it dawns on me.........