I’m not sure where I saw this but it resonated with me as truth, and also made me laugh.

I confess that I have a garage full of things I’ve saved just in case I’ll ever need them, and you’d be surprised how often I’ve needed what I’ve saved, so I feel fully validated.

Here’s what I save, or as some people call it, hoard:

Boxes of all sizes, empty jars and containers, plastic bags, random sticks of different lengths (for plants), towels, blankets, broken coffee mugs, wrapping paper, gift bags, picture frames, clothes I haven’t worn in decades…

Recently, when I was looking for something super long to stake a fiddle-leaf fig, I remembered that I had SAVED a few curtain rods and that turned out to be an absolute success. enchantedseashells.com/2026/10/19/diy-plant-stake-hack/

My mom used to save buttons and I still have her button box. It’s not like I use them; now it’s mainly nostalgic, and proof that the apple did NOT fall far…

I admit that I don’t like to throw anything out because you never know when you’ll need it.

A while back, I was clearing out the garage and found several old coffee makers that I had preserved IN their original boxes (see how handy it is to not throw out boxes?), and I actually tossed them out because, after several years, I determined that they were never going to have any future use, so it’s not like I hoard EVERYTHING.

What kind of random things do YOU save?