Material things that you love that are actually "worthless"

[lifejoy]

I'll go first. I love glassware. This can be anything from my empty pasta sauce jar to my empty olive jar to an empty glass candle holder. I have such a hard time getting rid of things like this because I find them so beautiful and lovely!

I get crazy amounts of joy out of a special olive jar. Lol.

Now you. What do you love that is actually just "worthless"?

[AMandM]

Ratty sweatshirts.  I have two from my university days, ragged and paint-stained, but I love them because of the time/circumstances in which I acquired them.  I also have one from my husband's university that dates from its 100th anniversary almost 30 years ago.  I plan to wear it to the 150th anniversary celebrations, God willing.

[HappierAtHome]

Ratty old paperbooks of some of my favourite novels, which were out of print at the time so my Dad scoured ebay and picked up second hand copies for me (this was before amazon and book depository).

[FINate]

Artwork my kids have made, which is often funny, cute, or otherwise special to us. But there's too much of it, so we've compromised by being selective about what we keep and taking pictures of the rest before we discard (still hard to do)

[Lanthiriel]

I recently swapped out both of my shitty (no pun intended) plastic toilet seats for the good old fashioned wood ones and I'm a much happier person.

[lifejoy]

Ratty sweatshirts.  I have two from my university days, ragged and paint-stained, but I love them because of the time/circumstances in which I acquired them.  I also have one from my husband's university that dates from its 100th anniversary almost 30 years ago.  I plan to wear it to the 150th anniversary celebrations, God willing.

Yessssssss! I have a ratty old sweater that is like 15 years old now, and I've been wearing it regularly (at home) for all of those years. My gramma (who gave it to me) once asked me, "Oh! I see you're wearing that sweater I got you! Probably just because you knew I was visiting" and my sister was like "Uh, NO! She wears it ALL. THE. TIME." (Said with a hint of distaste lol).

This anecdote is extra special to me because both my sister and my gramma have passed away. But I wear that sweater like a hug. It feels amazing but does not look flattering in the slightest haha!

[shelivesthedream]

Lifejoy, I love the topics you start!

Mine would have to be clothes I have made. Even if they don't fit me any more. Even if they're worn and ratty. Even if I didn't actually make them very well to begin with. Even if they're not my style any more (I went through a very brightly coloured vintage phase about five years ago...). Every time I look at them I get the warm glow of "But I MADE this!"

I'm hoping to do some other crafts in the future, like pottery and woodwork, even if it's just taking a few classes, so the category of "But I MADE this!" can only expand...

[UKMustache]

I've got a couple.  I've got a nice set of wine glasses we received as an engagement present, those are beautiful and can make the cheapest plonk an enjoyable experience.  I'm sure there's little market for used wine glasses but they're important to me.

Another would be my running shoes, they are mostly always muddy and (in winter) damp but to me they represent a positive lifestyle change I've made over the last couple of years.

Oh and my Harry Potter books.
Though my copies are now nearly 20 years old, completely battered and mostly starting to fall apart through too much usage I won't replace them until they disintegrate beyond repair.

[NV Teacher]

Mine would be a worn out, full of holes cardigan I made in college 30 years ago.  I wear it around the house every winter.  It went in the trash once and I'm so glad I pulled it out.  I've told my sister to make sure it's buried with me when I die.

[Phil_Moore]

I recently swapped out both of my shitty (no pun intended) plastic toilet seats for the good old fashioned wood ones and I'm a much happier person.

+1

Also my dressing gown with a hood, that thing is old, but we've been through a lot together.

[Dances With Fire]

Ratty sweatshirts.  I have two from my university days, ragged and paint-stained, but I love them because of the time/circumstances in which I acquired them.  I also have one from my husband's university that dates from its 100th anniversary almost 30 years ago.  I plan to wear it to the 150th anniversary celebrations, God willing.

Yes, old sweatshirts, tee shirts, and old tennis shoes for working out in the yard, painting, etc.

2) Old magazines. (Mother Earth News, Coastal living, Boating World, scuba, or Travel magazines.) I really enjoy re-reading them during the winter months.

[partgypsy]

old postcards. The ones that were photos that are artificially colored. Harder to find now. I love linens but I guess they have a purpose. Jewelry. No intrinsic worth, but I love to wear and look at it. Glassware as well. I keep not throwing out old bottles, thinking if I can get a way to cut off the screw top part, they would make a nice vase or something.

[Warlord1986]

My fridge magnets. They remind me of all the neat places I've been to, all the things I've seen, and the people I saw them with. :)

[Moonwaves]

I keep not throwing out old bottles, thinking if I can get a way to cut off the screw top part, they would make a nice vase or something.

That begged to be googled and I may end up losing several hours to looking at the results. Here's one instructable: http://www.instructables.com/id/Drinking-Glasses-from-Wine-Bottles/?ALLSTEPS and one video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxKZ8hhcmvg. Something else to add to the list of must-try-that-sometime. :)

[soccerluvof4]

For me its a ring my Step- father gave me 30+ years ago before he was awarded and passed to me that he got during world war 2. Yes its gold but its value is really nill. I have had to use fillers a few times to keep it together. BUT its value to me is irreplaceable. When I go through tough times for an extended period of time I flip it around on my finger the other direction and it helps me think things are going to turn around because form somewhere above he is watching me. I will be giving/passing on to my oldest son when he moves out as well.

[lifejoy]

Coins that have pretty pictures on them. I keep any deviations from our normal currency, usually special commemorative coins and the like. They're not actually worth anything more than the other "standard" coins (YET!) but I get such a kick out of keeping them :)

I get really attached to mugs, especially ones I use for tea. Water glasses, too. Especially if I bought them in a special place or under memorable circumstances, like the tall pottery mug I bought on my honeymoon that looks like it was painted by the ocean.

Cards from my husband. I put them in my jewellery box with all my other little treasures.

[shelivesthedream]

Also my dressing gown with a hood, that thing is old, but we've been through a lot together.

Oh yes. I'm 26 and my dressing gown is over ten years old. It's light blue fleece with a sort of all-over organic pattern of mysterious stains, but I just can't imagine wearing another one.

[partgypsy]

I keep not throwing out old bottles, thinking if I can get a way to cut off the screw top part, they would make a nice vase or something.

That begged to be googled and I may end up losing several hours to looking at the results. Here's one instructable: http://www.instructables.com/id/Drinking-Glasses-from-Wine-Bottles/?ALLSTEPS and one video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxKZ8hhcmvg. Something else to add to the list of must-try-that-sometime. :)

ooh, thank you. Another thing I keep wanting to do, is I saw a stained glass window/sculpture made of the bottoms of winebottles. Very cool. Guess I will keep some of the bottles for now.

[sparkytheop]

My fridge magnets. They remind me of all the neat places I've been to, all the things I've seen, and the people I saw them with. :)

Me too.  My fridge is covered with magnets from all the travels my son and I did.  Some I picked out, some he picked out.  The first one was a freebie, given to me by a monk in Edinburgh. 

I also have postcards I sent home every day, where I wrote down where we visited, food we ate, funny moments, etc.  They are in a book I keep in the living room.  I hope to expand it to many books over the years.

[gardeningandgreen]

My husband and I have a growing collection of pint glasses that we get when we travel. We love beer and many breweries we stop at have these cool glasses so we buy 1 or 2 every stop. We do use them everyday for our glasses which reminds us of all the cool places we've been so far!

[HappierAtHome]

Mugs are a thing for me too. The right mug feels good to hold! I have one that says ''Proud to be a [my last name]'' which is especially dear to me. My Virginia Woolf mug was another favourite before it fell apart.

I have a few things that belonged to a relative who passed away some years ago, who was very important to me. I'm using a boarding pass of hers as a bookmark right now - found it tucked away in one of the books I inherited. Completely worthless, but meaningful. I'm not even a very sentimental person!

[ErrantPen]

My Anne of Green Gables books. I bought them used on Ebay years ago. They were probably 20 years old when I got them. I have re-read them annually since then. They have that wonderful, musty, old book smell. Some of the pages are starting to fall out of a few of them because the glue is so old.

[TravelJunkyQC]

My jewelry, some of which is valuable, most of which is just a bit, but not much. However, everything I still have has immense sentimental value to me. Also, every single one of my books, old or new, I have hundreds of pounds of books, all of which I refuse to part with.

[mozar]

My grandmothers jewish cookbooks and a map of the 2005 july 4th dc metro that i found in the trash.

[spicykissa]

My stuffed bunny that plays "It's A Small World" when I press his belly. My mom sewed the button into him when I was little. He also has two chocolate finger stains on him that make me laugh, because I still have a big sweet tooth.

My husband gets sentimental about old video games . . . we have discs that we can't play because we sold the system they belong to years ago, but he still can't get rid of them. Luckily it's only a few, and they fit in our two designated "sentimental" banker's boxes. 

[Dicey]

As a lifelong frugalist, very little of what I own has a whole lot of value. If you were inside my lovely clown house, you'd never know it. Because of this, if I lost everything...meh, I'd just start over. That said, I love my gray polar fleece bathrobe. It's more than a decade old and is rather shapeless and ratty, but I love it and wear it every morning. Occasionally all damn day, even.

Last week, I washed every stitch of MIL's clothing. She's lived with us for three years and it was time for some judicious wardrobe editing, plus her room was smelling bad and the only thing I hadn't nuked was the clothing. (It helped quite a bit. Note-she never wants me to wash anything. She hand launders her underwear in the sink every morning and washes (or lets me wash) Nothing Else. Y'all remember she has Alzheimer's, right?) Her robe and dressing gown literally fell apart. I took her shopping and found a lovely new robe and two pretty dressing gowns on the 75% off rack. The rack was chock full of yummy new markdowns, but it never even occurred to me to look at one for myself, as I love the one I have, lol.