Please don’t laugh at me, but ...
I save little slivers of soap.
I stack them together in the rack that hangs from my shower. I think they might merge into a larger bar of soap, which I would use, of course.
I save rubber bands. Been doing this for a long time, which explains why they snap apart when I pull them out to use them. Yes, I do use them. Now and then. (I also save twist ties – those little paper-covered wires that keep bread bags closed.)
I make to-do lists all the time. You know, to stay organized. I have at least four on my computer and one handwritten on my desk, somewhere. All the lists have items I should have done long ago.
Perhaps I should add one more to-do, right at the top: “Create one master to-do list and check it every day.” (This will never happen. In fact, I should add this instead: “Write a column about how to-do lists are a waste of time.” Yeah, I like that.)
I have a box full of stuff I will never use again. Much of it is labeled, such as “screws for bookcase.” More of it is mystery. It’s my junk box (not a drawer) for stuff that has a purpose, I just don’t know what it is yet.
I have tucked away in various places little notes I wrote to myself. Some more than 10 years old. Ideas, useful websites, phone numbers, addresses, more things to do. Many are scattered across my desk so they can be ignored only for awhile. Others I rediscover in old files or drawers like little treasures. Instead of tossing them I struggle with the never-ending question: “Where should I file this?”
I have a little red book with tabs such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, etc. I try to keep track of TV shows to watch. I’m thinking about creating an index card file. There are so many programs out there now. Plus my wife and I tend to look at each other each night and wonder, “What were we watching last night?”
The world of TV now dominates conversations. It’s more popular than the weather, unless you want to talk about weather channels.
Remember, no laughing please, when I tell you I also save every new calendar I come across. Two are displayed but rarely used. I do have one in a “budget” folder to track when bills are due and paid. Others are filed in case I need them. There is one I rely on with notes and reminders. It’s on my phone.
My metal file cabinets are dotted with advertisements and contact info for businesses. Information I seldom look for.
Why do I save these? Because they all have magnets on the back, silly. You never know when you’ll need a magnet to hold something.
Anything with a magnet on the back I save. I have four that are exactly the same. And one that is shaped like a van with contact info for an appliance repairman who is no longer in business. (That info peeled away, leaving a magnet shaped like a van. I’ll keep it. )
Also there are two outdated baseball calendars I never used. (I just realized I could cut off the calendars and save the magnet part. So I did.)
I have at least seven (probably more) beautiful bound journals. One is leather-bound. Sometimes I just hold it to absorb its sense of purpose.
Actually all are potential journals. Because nothing is written in any of them. I tend to scribble on whatever is close at hand. (See previous confession about notes.) Besides, these journals are too nice for scribbles.
Now, more about calendars. I used to get little desk calendars with great quotes or “Far Side” cartoons. The kind you peel off each day. There’s a plastic tab in back that pulls out to let it lean on your desk.
I have at least four of those leftover plastic frameworks tucked away. That framework makes a great paper holder or anything you want to prop up for display. Maybe someday I will. I’ll be ready.
That’s right. I will be ready, which is an instinct that’s hard to defend these days (as part of an ongoing conversation with the wife).
I did not live through the Great Depression. But I tell people I did ... because my parents did. They squeezed value out of everything they owned.
As a result, I have a hard time parting with anything that might be useful ... someday. And (sorry wife) that includes just about everything.
OK. Now ... you may laugh.
• Lonny Cain, the retired managing editor of The Times in Ottawa, also was a reporter for The Herald-News in Joliet in the 1970s. Email lonnyjcain@gmail.com or mail The Times, 110 W. Jefferson St., Ottawa, IL 61350.