Don’t let them pressure you! My wife often nags me about my cable drawer, but my tendency to hoard old tech has saved the day more than once.

We once drove halfway across Canada to a wedding, which was at a campground outside of Montreal. As they were setting up for the reception someone in the wedding party asked if I knew where they could get a particular video adapter. I was like, “Oh, I’ve got one in my bag.” I hadn’t brought that adapter across two provinces for any real reason, but it sure came in handy.

Another time we were visiting a friend about an hour away. He mentioned needing a power cable for a desktop computer. I was like, “Oh, I’ve got a whole desktop in the trunk of my car. You want the whole thing or just the power cable?”