I'm thinking you guys are rank amateurs at this stuff. My father lived through the great depression and forever corrupted my little mind. If its free, its mine. If its cool, I want it.
We collect stuff. My wife and I get along well because her parents were the same way. Our stuff gives us pleasure. We know we've got what we need. She collects trash, I collect good stuff. Doesn't matter. We have way too many hobbies. I even indulge her with occasional presents. I've bought her a series of embroidery machines. Computer controlled sewing machines, really. She needs supplies. So one day at the flea market, we found a guy who'd bought out the Cannon textile mills old handtowels. I bought her 50 of them for $50. She loved them. So the following weekend I filled my pockets with green and went back for serious shopping. Turns out the guy had almost nothing in them, but wanted $1 each. I asked him for his next price break. He asked how many we were talking about. I ended up buying 1000 of them for $400.
About 5 or 6 years ago a local embroidery factory was going out of business. They had an auction. I took a few hours off work to visit. My wife, intelligently, decided I couldn't be trusted alone. She showed up unexpectedly (by me.) Anyway, I bought one of about 10 tables full of thread. The one I bid on had boxes under it. They were filled, too. We own enough thread to make a string easily to the west coast, probably back to KY. Colors of the rainbow, too!
The company I work for had a telemarketing division. We sold crap to gift shops. Gift shops wrap presents. We had pallets full of stuff that just sat in the one warehouse, gathering dust. Maybe 3 years ago someone decided it was going into dumpsters on the following Monday. I was polite and asked. We worked the Saturday morning. Her station wagon, full to the roof. My oldests minivan, filled twice. I own more ribbon, the kind you tie packages with, than most suppliers. Other crap too!
And thats just the sissy stuff.
I never throw away tools. Or hardware. I've got bolts. I've got screws. Nails? You betcha. Cloth chokers found along the road. Same for the $10 gas cans people buy when they run out of fuel, then leave along the road.
Wanna talk about gun stuff? In 1965, I bought my Browning T bolt. I've still got the instructions, the extra mags (now worth about $100 each), the floor plate and lift to convert it to single shot. Everything else I've accumulated, too.
But I don't have the disease bad. When I clean a gun, I throw away the dirty patches. And I never keep the fired 22 rimfire cases. But I do accumulate old plumbing stuff, like old copper pipe.
Yes, I took it back to a metals recycler when copper got to $4. But don't feel too sorry for me, its growing again. Or do feel sorry for me, send me your old wire and copper pipe!
Beside the garage I've got a ramp from a delivery truck. Its aluminum. Weighs several hundred pounds. No real use for it, but its worth $$. When the local AMC/Jeep dealership closed down I was given a few cases of synthetic gear oil. Still have it, too.
If I go to a yard sale, I buy stuff I think is a bargain. Thursday I had to go to another of the company's buildings. I passed a yard sale on the way, so I stopped on the way back. I paid $2 for a table cloth for my wife. Brand new, and it fits our dining room table (good guess on my part.) The only problem is its bright red. We'll use it. If not It'll become a table cloth at a gun show.
Want to talk about odds and ends of ammo? If you've got me beat, you've got quite a pile.
I just realized...I'm a junk-a-holic!
