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jannie_gw

What is it?

jannie
17 years ago

Do you ever see something lying on the floor that you just don't know what it is but it must be something important? Like a screw, it must have fallen out of something, maybe it was holding something together. Or a plastic door that looks like it came off the battery compartment of a remote control? What do you do with these things? I put all of them on a shelf in my bedroom. Then when I notice the leg on the coffee table is loose or the downstairs TV remote is missing batteries, I know where the part is!

Comments (11)

  • jenathegreat
    17 years ago

    Happens all the time. That's what the junk drawer is for!
    But sadly I don't have enough actual drawers for a junk drawer, so my "junk drawer" is a basket in the study.

    I currently am pondering the origin of a small wooden piece that looks like it should be the leg of something. To make it more interesting, it'd stained a dark blue/purple. No idea what it's for. I'll keep it for a while, at least until the junk drawer gets full and needs purging.

  • sheriz6
    17 years ago

    LOL, those are the things I obliviously vacuum up and then panic because what if it was something important? So far, I think these small mystery pieces have been mainly Legos, and I haven't found anything lacking screws or small parts in a long time.

  • jannie
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    The only things I vacuum up are pennies and bobbie pins, because my girls are now teenagers. I once vacuumed up a Bic pen. It got stuck and caused the biggest clog in my hose!

  • marie26
    17 years ago

    This happens to me all the time. I think I've kept things for years, just in case. Sad, I know. They start off in my junk drawer, then eventually get moved to a box where the tools are in the hall closet.

  • quiltglo
    17 years ago

    Goes to a plate I keep on top of the microwave. Sometimes it takes a month before I pitch it and sometimes a year. I must never find the battery covers for the remotes or games. All of ours have duct tape holding in the batteries. sigh.

    I no longer allow myself to have a true junk drawer because I just just filled it up with, gasp!, tons of junk!

    Gloria

  • brass_tacks
    17 years ago

    This reminds me of the time I was visiting my sister--she had to run off for something or other--I was needing a rubber band. I went into her junk drawer and found a whole slew of every imaginable kind of rubber band. Some were too old to be any good--so I threw them out and separated the good ones into categories and then put them into zip lock bags.

    Time was going by and I was getting bored. I decided I would surprise her by straightening her junk drawer. She had these tie bag things scattered all over her junk drawer. I gathered up a small bunch and secured them all with a rubber band, and threw most of them away. Thinking--with all these ties in this drawer, they're just in your way.

    Later that day, dear sissy went into her junk drawer and let out a scream--I should have known that ol sis had a thing for ties. I went into the garbage and recovered all the ties. Now I know where I get it--it's in the blood.

  • lisa77429
    17 years ago

    I kept a leather medallion for YEARS and YEARS not knowing what it went to and finally decided to toss it. Sure enough, within months of tossing it, I finally found where it belonged. It had fallen off the leg of an antique table :(

    Big mistake. Now I have a perpetual junk box. Should become an interesting conversation matter years after I depart this dear ol' earth.

  • jannie
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    I hang rubber-bands on a doorknob in my kitchen. Everyone knows where to grab one. The old ones get dry and crusty,don't stretch or work well. I throw those out once in a while.

  • stephanie_in_ga
    17 years ago

    The things I forget I had until we move. The movers pack them, each little tiny thing from the drawer wrapped in a whole sheet of packing paper. Such a joy to unpack them! I'm some have been accidently thrown out with the packing paper. The ones I need someday, no doubt.

  • lisa77429
    17 years ago

    stephanie, I was once packed by professional movers and it was a nightmare afterwards. Every single butter dish top was wrapped in six sheets of packing material - all graduated - so you had to peel each sheet off. I ended up with more packing material than I had in items. The worst part? Tennis elbow for 2 solid years from all that unpacking. I was one shot away from scheduling surgery. Lucky for me that last shot did the trick.

    This time I'm packing myself. It's much more organized than a professional would do and should be very simple to unpack.

  • petemich1
    17 years ago

    I have a "Parts & Pieces" basket.

    I come across a mystery item and just toss it into the basket.

    I keep it on top of a bookcase, so my kids don't go digging into it.

    Amazing what one finds when one "shops" the basket. So many times it holds the missing part of something.

    Michele

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