Banana Box that wouldn't die

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Once upon a time, in 1992, we lived in a 3 room apartment with two closets, both so tiny that a clothes hanger had to be turned at an angle to fit in there. We had little furniture either, so we had to be creative about storage. To put away spare sheets and blankets, I got one of those nice banana boxes from the grocery store. You know, the ones apartment dwellers like to use for packing to move. They have handles, are sturdy, and hold a convenient volume. I carefully covered the box with contact paper of a discreet pleasant pattern.

In 1993 we bought our house and that banana box came with us, sheet contents intact. Around 1995, I bought a trunk in which to store our sheets and blankets. We needed something bigger by now anyway as great grandma, in her elder dementia, set about crocheting afghans to supply everyone she ever thought of.

So the banana box became storage for paper, scissors, crayon, paint, etc for our child. After maybe another year, we bought an old LP record cabinet from a thrift store to fill that purpose. Finally, I was finished with the banana box. I was headed out to the trash with it when my next door neighbor declared it to be such a nice box and asked for it. I gave it to her. She was one of the thriftiest people I've ever known, so I knew she had a use for it.

Some months after that, the neighbor packed up her belongings to move and a moving crew came and got everything from her house. A month later, there was a change in plans and the moving crew brought everything back. The banana box had to have made that temporary change of location.

A another year later, my neighbor died. Her family came to clean out her house. They carried so much stuff to the trash and directly to the dump. They held yard sales. They carried back to their own home some stuff they could use. I think that brings us up to 1998.

Well yesterday, that banana box, covered in that recognizable, but relatively inoffensively patterned contact paper was back in my living room! The sister who had inherited the house and uses it as a vacation home (They live 1000's of miles away.) had put a Cannon copier in it and carried it over to see if my husband could figure out if it could be made to work. If so, she wanted to carry it to Mexico with her, in that box.

This box is 19 years old, has now had three owners and 4 addresses and might get a new address, with an international move. All due to thrifty people making do with what's available.

[disneysteve]

Great story.

I can't tell you how many items in my house are still in active use that were bought in college or soon after. Some were even hand-me-downs from home when I first moved out. I graduated high school in 1982 so I'm talking about things that are 25+ years old. I have several dress shirts in my closet that I inherited when my FIL died in 1993 so they were used when I got them, but still they get worn regularly. I have bath towels purchased when I went off to college in 1982.

The rate at which most people replace and upgrade their belongings is disturbing. We keep things until they are of no more use, usually because they are worn out beyond any practical purpose. Not great for the economy, I suppose, but terrific for the environment and for our wallets.

[MonkeyMama]

That is a great story! Particularly because it's the kind of thing that would generally be tossed or seen of little value.

We don't replace stuff very much at all in our household. I have several things from childhood still - many that were handed down from older relatives. Furniture, etc.