My father had a really old and tatty pair of leather slippers that could walk by themselves!
Mum or I would put them out with the rubbish and they would "walk" back into the house.
Dad was a terrible magpie, but I only found out why when I visited the Shetlands a few years back. Just about every house there has a large shed, lean-to or carport (in one case an overturned boat) full of various items. These ranged from furniture and other household items, to paints and tools, etc of all kinds, sometimes just covered with a tarpaulin.
Apparently, because of the costs of shipping stuff over from the mainland, whenever one household gets something new or has a surplus, the old item/s or surplus goes into the storage heap for future use either by the family or friends and neighbours. (Friends visiting the mainland get given shopping lists for the smaller items that can be fitted into a car.)
Dad, having grown up in the remote Highlands, also had the same habit. When he died and we got round to clearing out the garden shed, it was full of old paint tins with about 1" paint that had dried out, old tobacco tins full of various small items that "might come in handy".
I still have something of a tendency to hoard, but that arises from having been so broke when younger - and I do sort it out and dispose of things every year.
The one thing I do hate though, like Moehat, is when someone else makes that decision for me regarding personal stuff, such as clothes, music or books. It takes no account of what one personally holds dear.
