One of the things I always loved about my Dad was that he saw possibilities everywhere, and he never gave up on a possibility.  Any scrap of anything that he could fathom a use for, and he would save it... for years.  Like these Altoids tins.  If you've never heard of Altoids they are the "Curiously Strong Peppermints" and they come in small metal tins like these that snap closed and are the perfect size for change or other small objects.

My Dad, having been an electrical engineer, had literally thousands of small circuits, gizmos, parts and gadgets stored around the house, and he began saving these tins many years ago, planning to use them to sort and organize his various circuits and diodes one day.  Eventually my mother got tired of them piling up and threw a big stack of them away.  And we thought, that was that.

Dad recently passed away and the task of cleaning out his study is something we've been working on a little bit at a time each weekend.  A couple weekends ago I pulled a box out from under his desk and found it packed to the brim with these Altoid tins... then another, then another, then another.

All in all about 200 tins plus another 50 or so I had found in the garage.  Dad didn't like to give up on possibilities... even if he had to hide them in boxes under his desk. :-)