The Most Important Items People Have In Their Homes That Cost Less Than $1

Practical Value

"A matchstick."

"I had a door that was sagging in my house due to the screw over time wearing a larger hole in the wall, and after some research, I found a tip that shoving a matchstick with the tip broken off inside (and a dab of glue) could make the hole smaller."

"That matchstick was worth its weight in gold, so about a dollar, after it helped me fix a huge annoyance."

- TheMCM80

"I got this complimentary little webcam cover that slides back and forth over the camera lens on my laptop. It's saved me from making a fool of myself on Zoom many times now."

- SquilliamFancySon95

"I have an old kitchen knife that’s probably worth like 25 cents. But through some mysterious power of the universe, it cuts better than any knife I’ve ever used."

"Meats. Veggies. Bread. Cheese. It doesn’t matter. This thing glides through it all with ease and has never been sharpened. Easily my most important kitchen item."

"The branding on the blade says, 'Sears Flame Freeze - Vanadium Stainless,' which I never bothered to check until someone asked. If you can find one, get it! I swear by this bad larry."

- zetablunt

Emotionally Irreplaceable

"My collection of old dog tags (literally dogs, I have all my four-legged dog tags since I was nine and I’m 54 now). I have it in my will to be buried with these."

- PamtasticOne

"The book that my Grandma used to read to me. It's worthless, wasn't even listed on Goodreads until I added it, but she died in 2005, the day after my 8th birthday, and remembering her voice reading it is one of the clearest memories I have."

"I would definitely save it in a fire."

"It's 'C.A.T Crusoe' by Mark Burgess about a sophisticated cat that is shipwrecked and meets a band of giant pirate mice."

- absquat

"My son found a rock on the way home from school in kindergarten. We were walking home through this park we always cut through, and he grabbed the rock and fell in love with it."

"It just looked like mud to me, but who cares, he loved it. When we got home, I helped him wash it off in the sink, and it was black and kinda blueish."

"He said it was awesome and then gave it to me. It's one of the most precious things in the world to me."

- Ayan94123

"I have kept the loop bands that my youngest brother gave to me six years ago. He was just 10 when he made it, just a mediocre rubber band bracelet that I brought with me to study and live abroad."

"I kept it together with his favorite shirt that he also sneakily tucked in my luggage."

- TurbulentFly

"I have one of the bullet casings from my Grandfather's military funeral from the 21-gun salute. I don't really know its value, but I got it for free. My mother, cousins, aunts/uncles, and I on that side of the family each received one."

- GrimmTrixX

A Relationship Time Capsule

"There's a picture of my wife and me with our adopted daughter. The picture was taken when she was around 13 or so but we didn't adopt her until she was 16."

"When we took it, it was just us and a kid we kind of knew from church. It's so cool to look back on and see how far we've come."

- steeple_fun

"One time, about five years into our relationship, my girlfriend (now wife) and I were in separate rooms in our one-bedroom apartment in early December."

"From the other room, she hollered to me, 'What do you want for Christmas?'"

"I had been working full-time, taking part-time university classes to finish my degree, and had been volunteering as part of a youth mentor program... so I said, 'All I really want is a break.'"

"Three weeks later, I’m unwrapping a very heavy shoebox. After getting through the mountain of duct tape and several layers of wrapping paper, I had my very own... brick."

"'I really didn’t understand what you wanted it for,' she said, 'but you sounded so sure of it. So here you go!'"

"Cue about ten minutes of laughs, and now that brick sits proudly on my desk. Every time I am overwhelmed or feel like I’ve taken on too much, I look at it, pick it up, have a little laugh, and put it back so I can carry on. Best gift ever."

- nonamebatman

"A rock shaped like a heart. My fiance and I took a trip to Poland and Greece. I bought her a heart-shaped rock from a salt mine in Poland (didn't cost $1)."

"But at a red sand beach in Greece 4 days later, she found a rock that was shaped perfectly like a heart (this one was free)."

"Both rocks now sit next to each other in the house we just bought."

"Also, one rock is dark and the other red. I so happen to have red hair and she has dark hair. She found the red heart rock for free and I bought the salt rock."

- laxc17

"A single post-it note folded into a paper airplane with the words, 'Will you be my boyfriend?' on it and two checkboxes labeled 'yes' and 'yes.'"

"He’s my husband now."

- zuko-dwayne-bear

Symbolism is Key

"I have a $1 bill saved and put away in a drawer. The significance behind it is it was my last dollar before I decided to stop gambling and doing hard drugs."

"I had to stop cold turkey. I was so f**king done being a half-human or an empty shell. At first, it was just a dollar that sat in the center console of my car. I would look at it and be reminded of what I was doing."

"I've been sober for well over a year now. I feel like that $1 is special. I know in narcotics anonymous, they get something saying how long they've been sober or whatever. That $1 is my token. My token for fighting a silent battle that I cannot share with people, otherwise I could lose my job."

- annamolly93

"My dad used to make these wire puzzle toys."

"I have the wire, and I can make more of them. But the ones he made are priceless."

- MeatforMoolah

"It’s a red envelope that used to contain $20."

"I kept the envelope because I got it from my boyfriend’s grandmother. She’s from China and these red envelopes are given to children/families during holidays and important events."

"When my boyfriend’s parents and grandparents moved out of his childhood home she gave out three envelopes: one for my boyfriend, one for my boyfriend’s sister, and one for me."

"This symbolized her accepting me as part of the family. I cried a bit after she gave it to me and I got a hug from her. I don’t have grandparents and have a really rough relationship with my mom, so this meant a lot. I feel like a part of his family and am so happy about that."

- ritz99

It's amazing to see the memories that are attached to such a wide variety of items, and how love is captured inside of these items for each of these Redditors.

Because at the end of the day, sentimental items are about love, and love is deeply irreplaceable.