Do you have a quirky stuff saving habit?

Hello all,

I am going to share a story I find amusing, and I would like to hear your story about this.

The other day I was in my garage, cleaning things up and moving things around when I had a flashback to my childhood that got me laughing at myself.  I realized I have some of the same habits that I observed in others around me.

When I was quite young I hung around my uncles and other old timers who were a part of the Great Depression.  Many of these people were mechanically inclined and worked on cars and just about everything else in their life.  I remember it as if it were yesterday, sweeping the floor of my grandfather's auto repair place, some old timer yelling to me, "Come here boy!  I want to learn you something!"

These old-timer guys were my true heroes.  Sure, there was Robin Yount, Cecil Cooper, Don Money, Gorman Thoms, Jim Gantner, Paul Molitor and all kinds of other sports athletes that wow'd me.  They were fun to watch from a distance, but these old guys knew everything. 

I would sit and listen to their stories about just about everything under the sun.  They would talk about the hard times when they were growing up, things that they did to entertain themselves (like actually play OUTSIDE!) and the mischief they would get into.  I really miss those stories.

"Come here boy!" usually meant I was in trouble or they were going to show me something.  I learned all kinds of stuff about cars and fixing stuff.  They just did things creatively right.  But more than only listening to their stories, I observed and learn from what they did without telling me.  And this is what got me laughing.

When these guys would change the oil in a car, they would turn the cans upside down and put them in funnel, and let them sit there for a few hours.  Remember the old oil cans that you would open with a can opener?  Or, if you were 'high tech' you would have one of those gouge pour funnels that you could just pour the oil into the valve cover opening.  So they would let these cans sit in a funnel for a few hours to squeeze every last drop of oil out of the can.  After about 20 quarts of oil, they would save about 1 quart of oil in a jar to use for themselves.  You could imagine that if you change enough oil you could save enough to change your own oil when that time arrived.

So, I have 5 empty quarts of oil standing upside down with the cap on, with about 1-2 tablespoons of oil resting in them, waiting to be poured out into the master oil bottle collector.  My old-timer mentors would be happy and proud to know that their legacy live on.  I might even get an "Attaboy!"

So what is your story?

Tom