I probably am - Throw/give away old one

I see Leah50 is in same situ as me! You only need them when you've chucked them?i clear out occasionally,but ive 2 sons who keep everything!! (Must be a bloke thing) thing is,they never know where exactly they've put the 'stuff' and then come ask me,where it seemingly becomes my job to help look/find said items,and my fault if we cant!?

Leah
I rationalized mine the other day from a large box down to a smaller box. Some of it is nearly as old as yours.
Now need to do the same with the yarn!

In our house we've 2 cupboards of 'stuff' and only ever need them when we've cleared them out!!? the junk drawer is so heavy its breaking,but whenever we clear anything it always seems to all find its way back in again! ?The boxes things come in get folded flat and shelved,but once an item is got rid of the box is recycled.

As a seamstress I'd kept drawers & boxes full of might-come-in-useful fabric scraps, most less than one metre, some for over 40 years. The week after my ruthless clear-out a friend phoned to ask if I had any pale pink fur fabric to cover a child's stool.....well, I DID have until a few days ago!

Meant to add - we too have an old non-working electric razor on top of the bathroom cupboard, collecting dust. I made the mistake of asking him why it was still there, so now it’ll be there till the end of time ?

I’ve found the best thing is not to mention the ‘replaced’ item, then quietly dispose of it when he’s not around, preferably just before bin day. Then when he asks where it is, I can act all genuinely surprised and sorry as I tell him I threw it away because I thought he no longer needed it ?.
Once you’ve said “why have you still got xyz?” and he tells you he wants it because it might come in handy, then it’s too late - you’re stuck with it!!

DH will put things on kitchen cupboard shelves, drives me crackers.
On a shelf that should just be mugs I found a glass stopper out of a bottle, a magnet off the waste bin door, a small cake tin with a shot glass in it, half a dozen or so screws and the microwave instruction book so he doesn't have to walk across the kitchen to look for it.
On Thursday he actually made it to the tip with stuff that had been in the car since Christmas.
I, on the other hand, bin stuff exactly one week before it becomes a crucial must have.

We have a desk which belonged to my husband's grandmother. There are two slender drawers in the top absolutely full of little things. Fuses from plugs, tacks, nails, screws, tiny dice and tiny toy figures.
You've no idea how useful these little things have been over the years.

I needed a small Allen key this morning and actually found one saved from an ancient Ikea kit.

Re your little plastic ‘bit’, Calendargirl, we’ve got a kitchen drawer (just one) full of things like that - you can’t remember or fathom what they’re for, but they look as if you might just need them one day.

Though of course the one ‘bit’ you will actually need will more than likely have been binned a week ago last Tuesday, after you thought it was ridiculous to have kept whatever the hell it was for so long, the drawer was getting too full, time for a bit of a clear-out....

That’s brilliant Marydoll! Obviously women know EXACTLY what to keep “just in case” ?

When I was teaching, I was in charge of the IT in my school. I had boxes and boxes of cables, kettle plugs, hard drives, monitors etc., I never threw anything out.
My boss kept telling me to clear it out and I just ignored him.

It was a different matter when a new extension was built and he realised he hadn't allowed for purchasing new IT equipment in his budget. I was able to cobble together a fair number of systems. It cost him nothing.

The IT technicians used to come and raid the boxes to repair equipment in other schools. It saved those schools a fortune. Often I would find a bar of chocolate or a cake on my desk and I knew the techies had paid a visit!

CanadianGran
But we know that stash of yarn will come in useful!

My husband saves everything as well. We have a big row discussion from time to time to get him to take some stuff to the tip. He currently has three barns containing crap useful items.
He saves the boxes as well Scentia

It could have been the whole thing for a while until he dismantled it janipat!
I just don't go into the garage any more, except absolutely necessary. It's full of might-come-in-useful bits and pieces and no room for a car.
He doesn't keep cardboard boxes though, and I'm often searching for one without success.

Best thing to do is move country! Had a major clear out of extraneous items, but have come to realise many things would have now definitely come in useful.
However.........OH refused to part with 'precious railwayana collection' which has seen removals thus :
UK - SA, SA - Oz, Oz - Belgium, Belgium - France, France - UK.
You think you have problems?!!!

Opposite issue at my house. Hubby is uber-organized and is always wanting me to clear out my 'stuff'.

That bin of yarn in the attic will be knit into hundreds of hats and mittens when I retire! I at least got rid of the knitting magazines from the 80's when he reminded me that when I do start a project I look for a pattern online.

Well done Callistemon with the boiler! I note though that your DH dismantled the neighbour's old one and kept the parts. He didn't keep the whole blooming thing in one large piece "just in case" it could come in useful. I have no objection to DH keeping parts that will service something we have, it's the randomness of so much I question Still he's not like my dad who kept the packaging boxes for absolutely everything, even microwaves that had gone to the skip years before!!

When Dad died, Mum asked us to go in loft and clear any junk items he had put there. We found 2 Video recorders, seems when they no longer worked, he bought another and put them in the loft 'just in case'!

Ok thanks. It seems I'm not being unreasonable at all then.
Once, when the children were small, I spotted something ontop of the kitchen units. clearly I'd not been cleaning properly I got the step ladder out to look and I was amazed at what he'd been putting up there ! Obviously out of my sight. Little screws, and bulbs and well you know stuff. We have a utility room with boxes full of stuff as well. He is lovely though

When we installed our new kitchen ceiling lights, there was a little plastic thing in the box. DH said ‘chuck it, it’s rubbish’ . Normally we don’t do that.
Fast forward to when the bulb needed changing, yes, that little bit of plastic was what you use to get the old bulb out! You can still do it, but very fiddly.

Yes!!

When our neighbours had a new boiler DH dismantled their old one and the parts came in very useful to keep our boiler going for quite a while longer. The gas engineer was pleased as he said he couldn't get the parts any more.

We've had a new boiler since and thank goodness the plumbers too our old one away.

Can anyone remember one time, just one, when any of this junk treasure has ever "come in useful"? No me neither.

My husband is the same (well, he would be, if I didn't get rid of things) and his parents were both like it.

I go through things in the house and shed, and if we don't use them or things are no good, they get thrown away.

It's not the whole razor, May, it's all the components of the razor that might just come in useful for something sometime.

You just don't understand the possibilities of this rubbish useful item .

DH has a garage full of things that 'just might come in useful one day'.