DH does the cork thing but the mice love cheweing on them. Even in those zip loc bags it draws them like a magnet. Since most of them have been in wine bottles,maybe that's what's bringing them in.

Ok...sicky hoardy things? Plant labels from 20 years ago. Now why do I need that plastic commercial label for Silver King artemsia when I will never grow it again???

pieces of wood. When something finally bites the dust,and it's made of wood,I keep the pieces because,well,you never know. Right? I have the most beautiful small piece of purple wood from an old bird house.

lampshades. I'm not even going to go there.Thank God we have a big basement,which is getting smaller. I figure it's my son's rite of passage to clear all that junk out when the time comes.

I am a heartless and relentless thrower-out of stuff. I have no extraneous corks, patterns, pieces of wood, string, empty jars, nothing like that. No old textbooks, no old Fine Gardening mags, nothing.

But you should see my jewelry box, my necklace rack, the boxes of stuff in my dresser drawers. I have met very few pieces of jewelry I'd discard. And I don't think you can build a geiger counter from an old pair of earrings. Utility has nothing to do with earrings. Or necklaces. Or even bracelets.

There must be some primal need to save corks, we are really disappointed when a bottle of wine has a plastic stopper rather than a cork. I've got a 3 gallon stone jar full of them and a plastic bag about half full. They are in my shop, I guess in the back of my mind there lurks the idea that I'm going to make something out of them. Perhaps we all should get together and have one huge collection of those valuable corks, we may have enough to make a boat out of them.

My passion is old Southern Living Magazines and ALL
my gardening magazines.
It kills me to throw or give them away.

I don't have a thing for corks but after reading the posts
here maybe I should take a second look at them.
I like Gandle's idea of getting together for cork workshop.
Perhaps it's just that i'm thinking CORK PARTY.

Yarn. It used to be fabric and sewing notions. Now that I think of it, I still have several boxes of sewing items, but at least I'm not adding to them. I actually donated all the fabric to a quilt-making group, and only regretted it for a couple of years.

OTOH, I have boxes and boxes and boxes full of yarn. I inherited many of them, but my collection was already well-established. AND I'm still buying more. What's that word that means 'an uncontrollable compulsion'? I'm afflicted with [that word], whenever I see skeins of yarn -- I just *have* to buy several skeins.

Jan..I used to have stacks and stacks of gardening magazines and couldn't bear to part with them. Finally,one cold January day several years ago,I started going threm and tearing out everything that I thought was importatnt. Obviously after going through about 10 or 11 I realized that what was really important wasn't.Now I have all those articles filed away and only one year's worth of magazines in the house. It was fun going through magaiznes I hadn't looked at in years and amazing how outdated some of the info was.I think I saved more garden photos than anything else.

There is actually a gardening use for corks. I've lost the closed ends of a couple of soaker hoses & pounding a cork into the end with a hammer works really well. Other than that, is you're crafty you can make them into bulletin boards or wreaths, both of which I've done as presents for friends.

But they are now getting to be rarer on the ground. A lot of wines now come with plastic "corks" and some are going to screw tops altogether since it really doesn't matter if the wine is stopped with a cork or not.

As far as hoarding goes, I'm trying to get more brutal about throwing things out, but I'm constantly fighting my pack rat genes. I've got a whole plastic tub full of memo pads that I've gathered up from Lord only knows how many years of business travel from what must be every hotel chain known to man.

Now anyone who has attended a Chicago Get Together will tell you about corks in the garden. They're tucked beneath the Sarah Bernhardt peony so that when you're weeding the garden you'll find it and reminisce about the brunch and all your gardening friends.

Corks here also - in the garden and in containers. My friend actually made a trivet from the wine corks of bottles we'd shared together. Quite clever.

suzy - I had hundreds of patterns (remember I used to work in Gag Marts fabric dept.) and enough fabric to clothe the inhabitants of a small country. I did finally part with the patterns but the fabric never.

The day after we returned home from vacation the collar on the sump pump hose decided to shimmy itself loose. Now the sump pump in located just under the in home office where I access the computer. I'm sitting here thinking to myself, "That's odd it sounds like someone is taking a shower". And there's not a bathroom anywhere near this room. So I jump up and rush downstairs to find the sump hose spewing ice cold water 5 feet into the air and down on my 50 or so containers of craft stuff.

I viewed this as a message from above - it's time. So this week I've been spending going through all this stuff and preparing a large donation to Goodwill. Folk art painting fell off my repetoire wagon a while back so the 90+ bottles of craft paint in every color imaginable should make someone happy. The buttons stay. You never know when you'll need 3,000 assorted buttons. Beyond craft supplies I don't really hoard.

I leave that to my MIL, who is a product of the great depression. I know the depression was bad, and I know it left an indelible mark on people but it has created some habits that defy explanation.

My MIL has the iron she received as a wedding shower gift, and the ironing board. She's 86. The iron hasn't work in half a century and the board weighs a ton and scratches the floor mercilessly. She saves string, paper and cannot bear to throw the tiniest scrap of food away. We opened a box of Bisquick to find that flying insects were having a tea party inside. HONESTLY I could see her wheels turning as I tossed the box into the trash....."is there some way to save that Bisquick, pick out the bugs????"

She keeps a mental inventory and if one piece of her "stuff" goes missing it sends her world into chaos. It is sad to watch someone who is a prisoner of their stuff, attached in ways they can't explain and make no sense regardless.

If only I'd known...

About the importance of corks.

After my grandparents passed away I saved a garbage bag filled with unused corks of all sizes that my GF had collected. There was everything from tiny pinky-nail sized to almost 3" diameter, even several wooden plugs. Over the years as we'd have garage sales and thrift shop clear-outs I slowly whittled down the bag. I think I have maybe 5-10 of the original 200-300 or so.

My weakness is paper. I do artwork so I collect all kinds of paper...everything from new colored packs of paper, to grocery lists, old stamps, NG maps ...all kinds of ephemera as well. I plan on doing artwork with most of it. It is at least well organized in a filing cabinet.

I finally got tough (when we moved to Denmark) and ridded out all my old gardening, home-decor, science and art magazines and just said no to inheriting my grandparents' collection of NG (that my parents have been holding onto and adding to). Now if I can just convince DH that we don't need to hold onto all his Mechanical Engineering, Absolute Sound and Kiplingers magazines.

Another "corker" here....some day I may make a trivet if someone shows me how. Meanwhile, every decorative pitcher, bowl and crock is filled with them.
Recently, when I went a week without electricity due to the ice storm and many things in the freezers thawed beyond saving, I discovered that I also hoard pesto! I make pesto in the summer and keep making and freezing it as long as the basil produces. Well last year and perhaps the year before must have been good years. I had 16 1/2 cup containers and 2 bags of cubes...24 cubes to a bag. It gives me comfort knowing that if an army ever stopped by, I could easily feed them a nice meal of pesto pasta...if they brought the pasta!
Linda C

About the corks. I've seen pictures in the how-to sections of magazines about making picture frames out of them. Or a nice bulletin board.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
How about batteries. I'm always getting good sales on them and adding to my stash. I have a portable TV that takes a lot of the big C size and want to keep enough on hand in case of power outages. I looked the other day and I must have a couple hundred of each size. I've checked out the those not enclosed in plastic and they are ok. Funny thing I came across a couple of old radios and the betteries still work in them and they must be at least 5 years old.
I decided not to buy anymore for a while but it hurts to pass up a good sale.

I think we all must have some inner feeling of being the one in the neighborhood that will save all in time of attack or something. Someone will need a couple of corks.

I cleaned out the walk in closet in my office this weekend. There were 22 boxes stuffed into the corner behind the stereo equipment that had not seen the light of day for ten years. It was Missy's stuff that was put away when reorganizing the living room. Some we remembered and a lot is going to be given away or sold.

I will find stuff in my shed or the garden work area and remember what piece of equipment it came from even if it is obscure, 20years old and totally unrecognizable to any one else. I notice the looks of awe when I tell hem what it is and what it is used for. They usually ask me on stuff that is wierd looking. I should have worked in a parts store.

Hey Gandle...someone actually did it and wrote a book about it.

"Cork Boat tells the story of Pollack's improbable quest. Overcoming one obstacle after another, he convinces skeptical bartenders to save their corks, corrals a brilliant but headstrong partner, and eventually cajoles more than 100 volunteers to help build the boat - many until their fingers bleed. Ultimately, Pollack completes his vessel of 165,321 corks and sets sail on a fantastic voyage down the Douro River in Portugal, where the Cork Boat becomes a national sensation."

Here is a link that might be useful: video of cork boat

See what we could do if we all piled our corks together!!!

I keep on thinking about all the bottles of wine we must have opened between the lot of us:)

At one time I too had a large collection of corks that I was saving to do just that...make a bulletin board. Pottery Barn was selling them for a good bit of money at the time. I finally gave up on it but it was hard parting with the corks.

I was sorry to see corks being done away with not just for sentimental reasons but because cork is recyclable and a renewable source. Now we're putting more plastic into the landfill.

I am just blown away to find so many people who save corks! LOLOLOL. That's hilarious, because I had no clue why I felt the compelling need to save corks. Priceless.

I had a hard time viewing this I had to manually move the slider bar to see the corks!! That was pretty neat.

I forgot - I save the empty kitty litter jugs. I'm down to one cat now so don't anticipate too many more. I have them filled with water in case I need them for flushing and can always use them for watering. I think I have about 12. Did have more but DS convinced me I didn't need thirty.

Corks here, too, from 4" flat stoppers for cookie jar to tiny ones for vinegar & oil cruets. I've bought lot of hand thrown pottery from a studio here and love to find a cork to fit. My extras are stored in my collection of tin containers...LOL

Bits of string, ribbon, embroidery & crewel yarns, plastic cord, wire...I have a big glass pickle jar with lots of bits and pieces neatly coiled...easy to see what I'm rooting around for.

Bamboo..we grew our own in former garden and brought huge stash with us (including two living pots full). DH has covered a lamp base with Black-stemmed Bamboo, I use it in pots to support vines, the larger taller pieces we argue about best use, LOL, and grudgingly apportion out the smaller lengths.

Beanmomma, I too save paper ephemera for collage: Tarot cards, blueprints, foreign language mags. Whenever anyone travels they know I love soap wrappers, matchbooks, calendars or stamps...I'm cheap to buy for LOL plus I often just give them $20 to mail me whatever paper stuff they run across.

DH builds tiny buildings for his 1950's era L&N RR setup, plus builds architectural models and I'm usually into one craft or another so these bits and pieces are frequently useful. We both have art supplies galore but a piece of my wallpaper stash makes a great floor or maybe roof for a model...LOL

Fun thread. josh

Cork horder here too, still am going to do the trivet or serving tray that i've been checking out for the past 10 years, if not call me and i'll send em for the boat. Since we are empty nesters i am trying slowly to throw things out...tough job but somedays it's kinda easy and you say to yourself "what was i thinking?"

My name is Maryanne and I hoard twist ties. There may be a few corks hiding in the back of the dammit drawer (fess up, you all have a dammit drawer in the kitchen that is so full of junk that when you open it you automatically say "dammit!"), but you'll have to dig through about 6 gazillion twist ties to find them.

When y'all start your cork crafting workshops, call me. I have the twist ties to hold them all together.

Oh...and buttons. Jars, and jars, and jars of buttons. But I don't hoard buttons, I have a fetish for them...

I had no idea that there were that many corks in the world, let alone all the people who "collect" them. I used to save buttons until I realized that if I needed three I only had two, and that NO button ever was exactly what I wanted for the job at hand. So they are gone--one of my DILs takes care of that department. At a flea market, a basket of buttons can keep her occupied for a looong time.

My husband saves old watch bands, in every color you can imagine--stripes, solids, plaids (ugh!). He must have about 100, which does not include the 30 or so I ditched about a month ago.

The only thing I wish I could hoard more carefully is $$$!!!

Pidge, you know now that you're making jewelry, you can make some neat things with buttons.

I doubt if I'll do any but here is a google list of crafts for corks!! Fun to look at!!

Here is a link that might be useful: cork crafts - Google Search

LOL! Minnie, I think you're an enabler.

Well sorry, I ruined the cork in the bottle of wine that needs to be finished - but here's a toast to all of you who have saved them!

I hoard fabric (my mother trained me for that); out of date plant labels (who knows, I might decide to grow *_____* again, and I'll need those tags before I ship them out to customers - yeah, right); gardening magazines; AARP magazines (don't ask me why...I don't have trouble remembering I'm a Baby Boomer!); and books. Yeah, I can just see the boys shaking their heads when they clean out the house and the storage buildings after DH and I are gone.

Mary

I just checked and there are 1,160,000 sites for cork crafts.
So we aren't the only ones - just the ones who admit it!!

Okay, all Corkers get together and come up with a plan, so that when global warming raises the earth's waters we can quickly fashion large cork rafts and float around the world together until we find a nice high and dry place to start new gardens.

Since I have given up collecting corks I will bring the empty bottles as added floats.

W-e-l-l, I don't save corks but i save everything else buttons, yarn,embroidery thread,candles,candleholders,material,thread,twist ties,ribbons,lace,beads,Christmas decos,rubber bands, and more. i even make things every now and than.
vickie

What is the real-life difference between 'saving' and 'hoarding'? And maybe: what is the difference between 'hoarding' and 'compulsive keeping'?

Even at the height of my sewing days, I never used more than a third of the notions I had on hand, but also, no single notion ever reached the age of five while in the drawer - not even those yards and yards of exquisite Battenburg lace I bought without having the slightest idea where they would used. Same for almost all the craft items... except maybe the yarn. If I live for another fifty years, it still won't be long enough to use all that yarn; but it comforts me to have it, look at it, feel the textures, glory in the colors... reminiscent of a dragon cuddling his collection of jewels. And like the dragon, I have no thoughts of sharing.

This thread gave me my first belly laugh of the day......I have moved so many times, overseas and in-city, and there are things I simply won't part with and can't explain why......books, of course, first and foremost. Swatches of various material from old clothes, for jeans patches - I won't do it for years, then simply MUST have a patch on something. I used to have a drawer full of twist ties and corks, but my current home is too small for wanton hoarding, although we do of course have a dammit drawer. But my real secret is T-shirts. From festivals, demonstrations, coffeeshouses, you name it, places that don't exist anymore but mean "I was there". I lovingly pack them away in the bottom of drawers or closets, never really look at them until it's moving day or Spring cleaning, but I know they're there and I irrationally insist on keeping them, for the pleasure of my own personal history and the memories I can immediately recall upon seeing them. I have over the years gotten rid of households full of my things, sold everything I own and moved on, but somehow those T-shirts survive the cut. Batya

I know what you mean about the T-shirts, Batya. I don't have a lot but they're not just clothes that don't fit any more (which I have trouble parting with anyway), they're history.

I'm almost cured of hoarding magazines. Working on the books but it seems like every time we take a load to the fundraising bookfair we buy a whole lot more.

Pots for seedlings.

I don't save corks but now I'm wondering if I should.

Batya, you can always make pillows or pillow cases out of your t shirts. I've known them to be made into quilts or throws too.
I think everyone should collect corks. Perhaps someday a decree will be sent out that every home will be searched and the corks will be counted.
If corks weren't enough I find that my Dollar Tree now has lovely cork squares in packages for mounting on walls. I've bought several packs to use as coasters. Maybe it is the cork material we are drawn to. . . . . . . .

Cigar boxes...lovely wooden ones I collected from a local tobacconist shop. I liked some of the colorful illustrated ones of heavy cardboard too but the wooden ones with no labels are my favorites. Years ago they were free for asking. Perfect for holding some of the other things hoarded. LOL josh

If you make pillows or quilts out of your T-shirts....that will ruin them...
I have a black garbage bag of very VERY valuable collector's T-shirts....I keep them in the attic where the burgelers won't find them!!
I also have the extra buttons and little bag of beads and small strand of yarn that came with every sweater, jacket, coat, blouse and dress I have ever bought....and a few inherited from my mothr, as well as the strip of fabric that gets cut off when a garment is shortened. Very valuable....VERY! You just never know when something may need to be patched.
Linda C

I think this has been the best thread so far. What fun!!!!
Linda I applaud your safety measures for your T's!!!!!

Well,I found a stash of something I had forgotten I even had. I was down in the basement yesterday rummaging through a box looking for a glass jar and found a bag of picks....,flat,finger and thumb... for guitar and banjo. Some of them are made from tortoise shell which is now illegal,or at least it was for awhile. Wonder what else is in some of those boxes? If I go up into the attic,I know there are a bunch of clothes from when I was a size 4. I'm not even going to look there.

Linda, I understand. In my shop I have an inventory of small pieces of wood as cut offs from every project I've ever worked on. Leone thinks I should use some of those for kindling in my stove in the shop but she doesn't understand how valuable those pieces of wood are. They only take up about 10 cubic feet of space so let them sit I say.

ROTFL!! Gandle, were you & DH separated at birth? He's got teh same stash of wood! He also has a couple of jars of teh extra screws & little lug-nut thingys that have come with every piece of non-assembled shelves we've ever bought. Very, very valuable.

Josh - Haven't you put any of those cigar boxes to good use yet? Here's a craft project for you - a cigar box handbag!!!

They were quite popular a couple years ago and were also being sold on e-bay. I have one still unfinished in my craft area. It was intended to be a gift for someone and has been personalize with decoupage. The craft stores sell purse handles just for this purpose.

I have a Cigar Box Purse that I got more compliments on.
Just ask the Flamingo girls, they were with me in West Virginia and Asheville.
Even the guys would come up and ask about the purse.

Now my confession, I have searched this house from top
to bottom and guess what! I'm a CORKER, yeppers, I found
some corks. WHOOOHOOO!!!! I was feeling left out but not
any more.

Michelle, I know you're having a party, where is my DRINK?

Suzanne, I did know about the handbags made from cigar boxes but my boxes are filled with stationery and note cards, leather gloves, etc. And strangest of all a lot of feathers from ornamental chickens traded with GW member for gardenbooks (I received lovely peacock feathers, too, which I've used as earrings and also added to small evening bag to jazz up my "little black dress".). No idea what I'm going to use the smaller feathers for but they're lovely stripes, polka-dotted, solid black, white). I'm hoarding them just in case I ever need a downy white feather for something! LOL I've a MardiGras mask decorated with feathers which I bought years ago...might try making a couple for my grandkids to use for Halloween. I just know I'll find a use someday! josh P.S. The chicken feathers is my last confession!

Wasn't it Sally Rand who was famous for her feathered fan dance???? Just a thought!!

Minnie, LOL I've got a fan made of turkey feathers...really... my Mom bought it at the local Farmer's Market. I was just as thrilled as my sisters would have been with a new silk blouse. Let's see now, I've bright green feathers molted by my Amazon parrot and red and blue from a friend's Macaws....I could make up a pretty wild costume ~grin~ but I think I'll Google for other crafts with feathers. LOL josh

I can't think of any one particular thing I've hoarded.My mom keeps everything! To get her to throw something out is like pulling teeth! Reading through all your posts made me feel super boring, I would love to find a box full of who knows what, that would be fun!
Has anyone seen the wreath made of corks? I thought that was pretty cool!
Fun post!

It would be easier to list the things I don't hoard! LOL

Seriously my loves re:
Glass bottle
Wallpaper sample books
anything with letters/alphabet/words
windows (former hoard)
VINTAGE SUITCASE
COSTUME JEWELRY
and now PHOTOGRAPHS that I take

Hey, I just realized that I can join the CORKERS! Shortly after moving into this office building, guys were unpacking boxes of tables for the cafeteria. I just happened to be parked beside the loading dock, and noticed all these lovely 3" flat squares of CORK! The tables were carefully packed with several squares inbetween the paired tops. Guys were going to throw them away as trash, but with grins and smirks saved a boxful for me. A nice box, about 15" cube, probably a thousand or two cork squares...

However, I have to admit that, while it's nice to know I can be a legal member of the corker's club, those squares just don't provide the tactile comfort of a skein of yarn.

What is it about corks? I have a lot of them too.
Meldy, your squares whould make nifty coasters.

Plan to use them - some of them, to make a 'placemat' thingie for DH's TV tray. Someday. Mañana.

Corks! There must be a hidden delight, or reassurance factor to them.
Gee, OK,so it hasn't been for yeears, but I used to hang on to them too. Usually just a few handfuls at a time, finally gave it up.[Never had enough to DO something with, but gosh, it felt like a loss!]
'Ferdinand the [mellow] Bull', used to sit under a cork tree, and smell the flowers.

Been thinking about how pleasurable various tree products are, like say, coffee, tea, and chocolate. Fruit and nuts are nice too. So is mahogany and walnut furniture, oak floors... Driftwood, is delightful texturally, and sculpturally.
Being near Maple trees make me feel secure, maybe it's syrup sap scent, or something. Sassafras is satisfing too, Is it the mitten-y leaf shapes or the scent? I collect locations of special trees, and go out of my way to pass by.

When I was a kid, it was old cigar boxes. They were great for kiddie treasures like the tourist 'jewelry' my aunties would send me, like shell flowers- glued with Duco cement?
Old lovely china, with chips, used to follow me home, The jars of really cool buttons [mostly M.O.P. shell] went with the corks. Now, I can fend off almost anything, but something for a friend, and old books.

Wall paper sample books were so much crafty fun, when I was growing up. The patterns were great for seeing the range of taste that was out there. They were addictive, we always wanted more, sorta like Christmas catalogs.

Seriously, the cork thing is funny.

Just saw this...

Here is a link that might be useful: corky crafts for hoarders