Foolish Things People Throw Away

Aside from the dusting, the sweeping, and the mopping, Spring Cleaning tends to involve the trashing. As in, yanking all those old boxes out of the closets and attics and dropping them into the nearest garbage can. 

Good for the soul? Maybe. Good for home order. Possibly. Downright foolish? Maybe more than you think. 

1. Books

This is can be a little complicated. Books take up space, they collect dust, and most of them only get read once or twice before they end up forgotten on a shelf or in a storage box.

So why would it be considered foolish to throw them away? Because they’re valuable, and not just for the monetary reasons. 

True, certain editions of certain books can command hefty prices on the open market. And yes, sometimes the right buyer will pay a respectful price for a paperback copy of a 1990s techno thriller book that’s been sitting on your shelf for years.

But really, it’s foolish to throw books away if you love them. 

Yes, they take up space, but the joys of holding an actual book can still be experienced in the age of electronic readers and PDF classics. So, if you want to throw them away (or donate them), consider any personal attachment you could have to the book in question. If you love it, you don’t have to set it free. 

2. Lunchboxes and Tiny Toys

Pop culture items never really die; they just go out of style until anyone harboring fond memories of them will pay top dollar to get them back. And few things will make a grown person feel more foolish than learning that Transformers lunchbox they had back in 1984 now commands a four-figure asking price.

Whether it’s an older metal lunch box featuring The Wizard of Oz or a streamlined late-80s plastic beauty with Superman’s likeness, those old lunchboxes can be worth some good money. There are some minor requirements that have to be accounted for, like whether the lunchbox remains intact and still has the thermos (if it ever had one). Also, potential buyers might be less interested if the artwork has been scratched off. 

Same goes for old toys, especially all those old Happy Meal toys. For example, a Hot Wheels car from the 1983 Happy Meal line can go for $40 a car. Those Changeables toys from 1987 featuring robots that transformed into food items? $70 a toy, if in good condition. A 2013 Jerry the Minion? $120. The Snoopy toys released in 2000? That’s $180 a toy.

These toys rank as a Foolish Thing to Throw Away mostly because they’re so easy to acquire when they first hit the market. Odds are good that anyone reading this list can remember owning at least a few Happy Meal toys in their lifetime, and the idea of missing out on a payday by throwing them away can certainly make one feel foolish. 

But before you get too excited, keep in mind that anyone willing to pay top dollar for these old toys will want the whole set. So if you’ve got five out of six Power Rangers, you may need to go find that last one before you put up the virtual “For Sale” sign.

Or you could just start collecting all the current toys and wait 40 years for them to get popular. 

3. Tools

Good idea: disposing of a tool that can no longer serve the function it was created to do. Bad idea: disposing of a tool just because an immediate use for the tool does not spring to mind.

While there remains a healthy market for antique tools, these items fall on the Don’t Throw Away list mostly because there’s never a good reason to dispose of a functioning tool. 

Take screwdrivers, for example. Doesn’t matter how many a person owns now; there’s a fifty-fifty chance they’ll need a different-size flat head screwdriver down the road. And unless a screwdriver in question has been snapped in two, even a rusted one can still be used. 

Obviously, some judgment has to be exercised; a cordless power drill may just need a new battery, while a short-circuiting corded drill can be dangerous.