I'm in a weird position with this. If it's a pair of scissors and I even have one problem with them, my fiance takes off with them to sharpen them. When I first started quilting, I had a pair of ergonomic scissors that were torqued somehow and wouldn't even cut paper, those he could never get them tuned correctly and they just don't cut anymore, but he's taken them into the garage and uses them. We're all about re-purposing until it can no longer serve, then we give what we can to a friend that scraps and he'll recycle them.

I know I've got people ready to take my cutting mats when it's time, the problem with that though is that I'm taking such good care of them, it's going to be a very, very long wait for them. I also have a couple of women that want my wool mats when it comes time to get rid of them because they make great hot pads, but they've been told I'm not giving up my wool mats until I'm ready to stop sewing, which isn't in the plan for a very, very long time.

I haven't gotten into my quilting corner to start purging, so I'm really not sure what I have that could either be repurposed or tossed. I'm not much on tossing anything until I know for an absolute fact I won't use it again, then it gets put in a separate location so I can think about it. My fiance sometimes doesn't help in this situation, he brought home another stack of old quilt, crochet, and knitting books and I can never say no to those. The older patterns, I believe, are better than some of the newer ones, so books being donated/given away are absolutely not going to happen.

Quilting and sewing is my hobby and brings me joy. If something is worn out, and I can't use them and they aren't good enough to donate I toss them in the trash. I do not send them to the garage for the slight chance they may be used. Why move junk into my husbands space, he doesn't need or want it either. We're both very organized neat freaks. I figure even though I paid good money for things that's ok because I got a lot of use out of them.

Why do we say "we paid 'good money' for something"

and

(I've never heard anyone say ) never say "we paid 'bad money'" for something" ?

I have struggled with this as well. I'm getting better at it - because if the item no longer fulfills its purpose, it can go. Released to the universe. Which releases me of the aggravation of using it, the space it takes, and the mental anguish of owning something that doesn't work. It's quite freeing to throw things away. My husband and I had to clean out his sister's house when she died, and it took 2 dumpsters and a GIANT yard sale and loads of giving away. My stash alone will keep my kids working when I go..

I have a very difficult time tossing things out. Many of my worn out quilting items make it to the craft barrels and are used there. Mostly for scrapbooking. A worn out ruler is still great for getting a good cut of paper and worn scissors are great with paper most of the time. I do my best to repurpose all my tools. Even worn out seam rippers are great for fine placed items that need a gently pointed movement.

I just found a company that sharpens knives and scissors by mail. They were a Shark Tank winner, https://knifeaid.com/products/knife-sharpening
I have sent out 5 of my worst kitchen knives and will report on the results. They have awesome reviews.
Best part??? $15/knife including shipping both ways!

How can something not good enough to use anymore still be good enough to keep? That makes no sense to me. The
usefulness is the reason it was bought in the first place.