wine on the keyboard

Box Collector

by Kay~Kacey on 9/30/2008

I collect many things. Teacups. Rocks and minerals all polished up shiny that I have scattered around my desk. Glass paperweights. Reading glasses. Camera lenses. :mrgreen:

But one weird thing I seem to collect? Boxes.

box collection

Really. I have a hard time throwing away some boxes. Like the ones computer equipment comes in. Or camera lens boxes. Well, boxes from anything techie. Why am I keeping them? Not a clue. That Toshiba laptop box? It’s not even for my laptop. I think it’s either for my dad’s laptop or one of the boys at college. Yet I still have the box. I did manage to throw away the box from my beloved iMac desktop just the other week. It was big. I figured I wasn’t going to return the computer, why was I keeping it? Of course you could say the same thing about all those other boxes I’ve collected and saved… 🙄

There was the time, in a fit of cleaning, I threw away a bunch of boxes. Right after the trash guys came, I realized I’d thrown away a box that I hadn’t taken the UPC code off of…for a $50 !!! rebate. Yes, that was an expensive cleaning day.

Oh, and weird things that SuperGuy collects? Pieces of wood. I swear he collects pieces of wood. They are all in my garage that I can’t park in!

How about you? Do you “collect” anything weird like this? Do you save boxes? Gift bags from presents you’ve received? Really, tell me about something weird you collect so I’ll feel better.

I might even go pitch some of those boxes. Heck, at least the one for the laptop I don’t even own! :mad2: Though you can be darn sure I’ll make sure I don’t have any outstanding rebate forms that I need the UPC code for before I do any housecleaning!

Becky September 30, 2008 at 6:38 am

I am a box collector, too. Everytime I throw one away, I find something I could have used it for. Big or small, doesn’t matter, I keep them all. Until I get tired of walking around them. Then I pitch the whole lot of them and start over.

Mental P Mama September 30, 2008 at 7:39 am

I am a box hoarder, too. So is my son. It’s a problem :wallbash:

Deb September 30, 2008 at 7:57 am

For years and years, I saved all of the boxes that my Hummels and Boyd’s Bears came in. Finally, as we were moving from one house to another, I said to myself, why am I saving these? I don’t intend to return these collectables and out they went.
It is difficult to purge things that you can wrap your arms around and even more difficult to toss away old files on my laptop. Silly, I know.

Dru September 30, 2008 at 8:08 am

Sorry to say that I’m not a collector – only because I don’t have the room to collect things.

Gayle September 30, 2008 at 8:09 am

I have a collection of those bread twist tie things! But, I don’t know if that counts because they are useful. Other than that, I can’t think of anything. I am the opposite, which can have it’s problems, like the one you mentioned of losing out on the rebate. There have been times that I’ve thrown away things and then wished I had kept them. But my husband saves electronics boxes!

Treasia/TruckersWife September 30, 2008 at 8:38 am

I really can’t think of much I collect. Wait I lied, I do save tissue paper, gift bags and bows. I recycle those for someone else’s b-day, christmas or event. :rofl:

iPost September 30, 2008 at 9:21 am

i don’t collect strange things like that. i am too OCD! 😛

Kate September 30, 2008 at 10:15 am

I work with a box hoarder. She keeps them behind this one door. They fall on me sometimes, but they really do come in handy when I am looking for something to use for mailing purposes.

My husband brings me things he finds on his walks. Feathers, bones, pieces of wood. Skulls. I get rid of them when he is not looking.

What I do keep, and we just threw out a ton of them are shirt boxes from Christmas gifts. Crazy. :lips:

Michelle Willingham September 30, 2008 at 11:01 am

I collect books! 🙂 :book:

Tori Lennox September 30, 2008 at 12:01 pm

I’m a box collector too! I also collect books (1356 currently). I also collect rabbits. I got this porcelain rabbit on a big egg for Easter when I was a child. Then when my grandmother died a few years ago, I ended up with a ton of rabbits made from resin. I gave in and now actively collect them.

My mom collects pencils. *g*

cgreno September 30, 2008 at 12:24 pm

Boxes. Also. and very annoying. Just can sem to let them go. Oh, and Martha Stewart magazine. Once moved 5 years worth all tied very neatly by year, heavy as heck, only to throw them away 2 years later. Just too pretty and full of good stuff that i “expected” to try. Never did and can now get it all on line! besides, it leaves more room for good boxes…..

Tina September 30, 2008 at 1:18 pm

Well, I have a problem with magazines. I just wrote a post on my blog the other day about it. I am a recovering bag collector. I saved plastic grocery bags by the hundreds. I now have a bag holder and only keep as many as will fit in that. And there are many boxes to various things laying around the house as well. I am getting better but am not cured yet.

Maria September 30, 2008 at 1:51 pm

My best friend is a box collector and I kid her about it all the time. I tend to collect pets not things. This has led to having a cattery in the garage, a kennel out back, and an aviary for birds.

At least I have the pet thing pretty much under control now having only three dogs and two birds.

Must confess there are many boxes in the garage, but those are my husbands.

Amy A September 30, 2008 at 3:06 pm

I’m over my box habit. Now I just seem to collect bits of paper. Notes, memos, business cards….sadly, none of it seems to be money (though I know money isn’t technically paper, it’s fabric, still, it FEELS like paper).

We are really working to cure ourselves of our pathological need to save things we’ll most likely never need again.

Sandra September 30, 2008 at 4:40 pm

While we were living in our farmhouse I decorated “Victorian,” so I started collecting old handkerchiefs, because I wanted to decorate a bedroom Christmas tree with old costume jewelry and handkerchiefs, as I had seen in a home on a Christmas walk. Then I decided I wanted some way to display the prettiest of the handkerchiefs year ’round, so I started collecting ceramic hands. I still have the handkerchiefs, but I past the hand collection on to my daughter-in-law when we moved from the farm. I loved collecting the hands especially, because it was a little “treasure” hunt” every time I went to an antique store. I was amazed at the variety of them!

annbb/TSannie September 30, 2008 at 10:37 pm

I’ve collected so many things (books being a major one) it’s just ridiculous! I’m trying to purge, but success seems slow in coming. (help!)

BTW – my dad collects boxes, too. Must be a Missouri thing. 😉

MAYBELLINE September 30, 2008 at 11:24 pm

Rocks. My friend travels and wants to bring me souvenirs. I don’t want a t-shirt or coffee mug. I ask her to simply look down whenever she is thinking of me and pick up a stone. I have a wonderful collection from her travels.
She and I took the most wonderful Thelma and Louise road trip 15 years ago. I don’t think we could have made it any better unless Brad Pitt showed up. 😆

Gabrielle October 1, 2008 at 7:06 am

Starbucks coffee mugs. Tragic. But I love their designs!

superguy October 2, 2008 at 12:19 pm

In my defense, I at least use the saved wood for later projects!!!

This Eclectic Life October 2, 2008 at 1:39 pm

We have a collection of boxes (and we don’t bother with keeping just the sturdy ones). For that Share A Square project, a gal in Alaska and I reused a shipping box seven times before it fell apart.

Name it, we collect it. How many oscilloscopes do you have? We have five. I don’t know what they do…but we have them.

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