6 things I’ll never have to buy again. If only I could find some of them.

Since we had to pack up all our stuff and move, I’ve discovered that, aside from the enormous amount of crap we own, we have multiples of quite a number of things. So much, that we’ll never have to buy more again.

- Paper; Blank paper, colored paper, lined paper, drawing paper, foolscap, notepaper, legal pads – you name it, we probably have it. We own stacks of paper. I have paper that I know is decades old that I got from my grandmother’s place. Heck, I even bought a box of assorted paper for a dollar at a yard sale. We bought a box of 8×14 printer paper from an office supply store more than 5 years ago. We’re on our second package of ten. This knowledge has not stopped me buying pretty paper at scrapbooking stores.

- Books. Theoretically I should never have to buy another book again. Especially since if I need to look something up I just Google it. Why should I dig for a recipe in my massive, yet pared-down, cookbook collection? We go to the library as often as once a week. I trade books with anyone. I don’t keep fiction around unless it’s really good and memorable or considered a classic. Here in our new house, we have a whole room full of bookshelves, mostly reference and sorted by category. And yet somehow they still get in.

- Pencil crayons. Again, it’s like the paper. We bought some at the start of every school year, but who really uses them anyway? I have pencil crayons I remember using as a child. Thanks again, Nanny, for saving them for my kids.

- Scissors. I think when I unpacked I counted six pairs of scissors. This does not include a pair of tiny sewing scissors and any small kid’s scissors I’m sure we have. My good sewing scissors made their way into general use at some point, and I went and bought two cheap pairs when we once again could not find scissors in the kitchen junk drawer. I think we need one pair in every room where we use them, and we have almost that many. If we could find them.

- Flat sheets. I discovered when I sorted my linens that I have a HUGE pile of flat sheets. Bottom, fitted sheets wear out and it’s just too time-consuming to mend them, even if my grandmother taught me how. It’s also pretty picky work to convert a flat sheet to a fitted. I mostly hate sewing all that elastic. At any rate, I’m sure you’re aware that when you buy a complete set of sheet, the bottom one wears out first and eventually you are left with a small number of threadbare bottom sheets and a huge stack of flat sheets. Good thing I like to mix and match. Also, for a few years whenever my mom asked what we needed, I’d say sheets and she’s scour all her thrifty haunts. They mostly had – you guessed it – flat sheets. (But they were only a couple bucks each!)

- Nail clippers. Now I don’t know about you, but every time someone needs a nail trim, there’s a massive hunt for nail clippers. I’m pretty sure my mom has bought Ron a “man’s grooming kit” complete with nail clippers, at least twice for Christmas. Ands I know when we packed, I kept seeing nail clippers enter a box here and there. At the rate we loose them, it could have been the same set, I don’t know. All I do know is that if we looked hard enough and spent all day at it, every member of the household could have two pairs. I’m sure of it.

Now, I’m also sure that if I looked around, I’d find even more – like extension cords and computer cables, but this list is a good start. How about you?