Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for October 04, 2015

Save them for next time

Answers to questions:

Frank, stores don’t just sell one of something because they can’t make much money that way.

And here’s an answer to Frank’s unasked question about how the ‘junk’ drawer ended up full of ‘junk’. It’s because you had to buy 20 of something when you only wanted one.

Now here’s my question: what IS that thing in the second frame? Anyone have any ideas?

Once upon a time, way, way back when I was young, there were wonderful neighborhood shops called hardware stores, where all sorts of useful things were stocked in bins or drawers or counter-sections, and, yes, you could buy just one! They were great places. I used to buy a plastic toy soldier for a nickel or ten cents, choosing from among many different ones (this was little after WW II, so army toys were quite popular).

The Delorean was really invented for just this reason…. – And 9 times out of 10, you’re thinking, at some point later in the day: “If only I can find the part that keeps the toaster rack down!”

“The Widget Of Odd”“Go, Go Gadget….Somethin’- Or -Other!…”“Howdy, Doohickey!”“The Thingamabob To Spare Rant”“Contraption, Contraption….What’s Your Interaction?” (♪)“My Hammy Device”“It’s Your Thing…I Can’t Tell Ya What That Socket Do” (♪)“A Gidget? A Gadget?” (♫)“A U-tensil Situation”“Whooza-Whatzit To Ya?”or“Prisonner Of Your Own Device”

I come in value packs of ten(In five varieties)

My kitchen is too small to have a junk drawer. I have a junk basket.

I’ve encountered this situation sooo many times, it’s not even funny…

Well Frank, “Junk Drawers FULL of Stuff You DON’T Need,” Is the Price YOU Pay for “Doing it Yourself,” Cheapskate.

But the REAL Question IS: Why in the Name of Juan Valdez is THAT COFFEE Pot EMPTY???

Use your local hardware store. They have onesies

For those of us who live in smaller towns, we still have hardware stores with bins of all sorts of neat things. Also, local, family owned other stores that let you charge and don’t need a credit or debit card.

How about asking a neighbor or friend if they have some washers from THEIR pack of plenty?

Maybe storage space was what Frank originally had in mind when he first thought of buying the warehouse, ha ha!

I went to Michael’s (first mistake) a few weeks ago looking to buy a pen nib (dip pen) and found that you can only buy a whole package of them. When I was a teenager in the 1970s, they sold them loose at the drugstore, but I think they’d had them in stock for quite a while.

You know, even at Lowe’s and HD you can buy just one. And Ace Hardware has a wonderful hardware section.

An unwritten law of Nature: Within days from the time you throw something away, you will need that exact item. Even if it has set in the drawer for years.

Instead of driving to the big box at the mall, walk down the street to the local hardware store. They’ll sell you one washer.

I’ve used about 20 percent of the items in my junk drawers in 20 years. You never know what item you may need. We don’t need the drawer for anything else so why clean it out.

That “thing” appears to be a cheese straightener. Deluxe model too.

As for junk drawers – ours got too full, so I put our junk drawer in another junk drawer.

A junky strip. Dagwood Bumstead style.Why must Evans waste Sundays on such stuff?

Our local Ace Hardware has a lot of bins for washers, screws, nuts and bolts. You can buy just one piece if that’s all you need. The old hardware stores were one of my favorites places to prowl around in.

You are aware that the definition of junk is something you throw in the garbage or recycling bin the day before you need it?

This is …Wrong Tool….Zathras Sorry, but must cover all contingencies.

on the wall.-——————I looked all over for hose washers as I knew I had bought some & didn’t use them all. I even asked my son if I gave them to him. I bought another pack & they are hanging on the garage peg board!

an extra plumbing part . . .-————————————————I’ve done the same but I also have a collection in clear containers in the garage.

Because you didn’t go to Ace Hardware, where they still sell nuts/bolts/washers by the piece.

It’s a bottle opener. The hole is for a screw to mount it to the side of a cabinet or on the wall over your trash basket(which in the distant past and a place far, far away was kept by the kitchen door and not under a sink). They were sometimes used for advertising giveaways and came in a number of useful designs.

You should always have them on hand.

I went “Haw, haw, haw” in my mind because of the way Frank was acting. I know a special someone who’s always going into a tirade about things like junk drawers, how the people around him have made it so that “we can never have anything nice around here,” etc., etc. Then when Nancy finds the washer for Frank, he goes into another tirade about “why can’t I get something without having to buy a package of it, instead of one?” He’s got a mad on, and nothing’s going to stop it!

But he’s right, you know.

I had a nut that I had no idea what it came off of. finally threw it away 2 days later I discovored it came from mom’s wheelchair.

I haven’t read through all the comments but here’s what I think the 2 items are, the one he’s holding up in his right hand looks like it might me a broken padalock hasp (someone lost the key or forgot the combination so they had to break the hasp to open the box or the door and then stuck the broken hasp in the drawer in case they needed it later), and the item in his left hand looks like an old cell phone with the antenna broken off.

My local big box hardware store (HD) sells tools the same way now. I only needed on 5/17 inch wrench, but could only buy a full set of wrenches. Now THAT doesn’t fit in my toolbox, much less my junk drawer.

I don’t count Ace (at which I do shop) as an old-fashioned, neighborhood hardware store; it is a big, corporate entity selling many plastic-wrapped or shrink-wrapped items in “big box” stores with minimal sails staff and fewer items that one can buy “one only” of, especially so in the case of smaller/cheaper items….

SPOILER ALERT

Frank’s bad mood continues

And on another note, someone is posting with the name of Donny Wallace on the ArcaMax site…

“The Delorean was really invented for just this reason….”^“I don’t understand, Jay. Please explain.”^Certainly! If Frank (or perhaps anybody, for that matter) could only go back in time to “warn” himself about what that “doo-dad” is, and also to remind himself to pick up a couple of other things… he’d find something to do with the other ones in the pack- or even find he had a better deal at another store…

You know, just because you had to pay for 20… a person could use the one and throw the rest away. It all depends on whether the cost justifies the keeping. The money is already out the door, so decide: will you be able to find the surplus when you finally need them, or is it too much hassle to keep that junk around?

Really? Because it looks more like a Traveling Wave tube or maybe a Klystron tube ….

Is Zathras burden to bear …Lucky Zathras does not mind …