At what point do you throw away your pencil?

Lots of people can be packrats. It seems men and boys have it the worst. They probably say us ladies have it the worst. You have to engage in Secret Spy Work with a black garbage bag. When you're about to tie up a bag of trash, you nonchalantly grab ______ (a yellowed T-shirt, a stack of magazines, a pencil) and toss it on top before you cinch it. Feign innocence if confronted.

Ha ha, this has to be one of the funniest things I have ever seen... (Of course I am not trying to make lite of your son OCD) That teny tiny pencil is the hilarious! I remember when I was in school our pencils would get that way, but we would keep on using them. We had a contest to see who could get the smallest pencils. We used to have little hand sharpeners so I think that we could get them a little smaller, because I remember that there would never be any of the yellow showing. Our hands would get some serious cramps trying to write with those things tough. Get a hand sharpener or a razor blade and get that thing smaller for your boy. There is some good lead in there that he can still use.

Yep...my son is the same way. I can't tell you the number of supplies we have bought him and he still had those tiny pencils lying around everywhere...I think that they sharpen them too much..and then they get too small. Also..I think that they somehow build a relationship with certain objects and just don't want to part with them...no matter what...

it depends on person to person, and it shows his mentality, if a person throws his pencil frequently, he is having unstable mind, if a person is keeping a pencil till smaller size, it means he is a cool guy, has a lot of patience.

I remember when I was about 10 years old I didn't throw away anything, even pencils (much like your son). I had a small pencil once, I just wrote it using my fingers very carefully and it was exhausting to write, it's rather funny now that I think about it.

That is so funny. My son, CJ, who is Autistic, doesn't save pencils per se, but he does have an a few odd collections. He loves 'hot pockets' and he saves the boxes. Can you imagine how many boxes we have in the house? There's just no way that we can save them all. I finally managed to talk him into collecting enough to make the alphabet; from A to Z, and then we have to start throwing the others away. So, he agreed as long as I would tape them on his bedroom wall. LOL - I made a nice design for him and he goes into his room and recites the alphabet as he points to each one. He also saves gum balls. He has a plastic bag loaded with watermelon shaped ones and another one with ball shaped ones; he can't chew gum right now because he has several caps on his teeth and he'll tell me, "don't chew the gum or it will take my caps off". LOL - He is so funny!

you're lucky in a way that you have a son who is thrifty enough to keep something in use even if it's that small already. and it's good somehow that he gives importance even to things that for us is useless. some kids today are up to buying something new all the time. so, you are lucky enough to have such a son. well, good to know that somehow, you go with the cleaning up of his closet. it's good. atleast, it's a bonding moment to you two.

oh my gosh how could you write with it that small, i have used some small pencils in my time but i think that would beat any that i have used.

I'm an artist and I get attached to my art supplies, so am tenaious with my favourite pencils and keep them right down to their erasers,lol.

Oh wow, that is a little bitty stub of a pencil left there! I usually lose mine before they get half the original size. If I keep one that long it is good for me.

Wow!! That's getting the most out of an asset. My wife is the "collector" in our house. That's what she calls it "collecting". The little plastic containers that cookies come in from Wal-Mart; she washes them and saves them as she does with plastic bags, the little pull seal on milk containers, empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls and on and on. She is generally very creative and uses some, not all, of what she "collects" to make little craft things. But there are several boxes, shelves, etc of things waiting for an idea to come.

when the pencil is too small that i cant further write,i throw it away..

well i use mechanical pencils now so i throw them away any time they dont work like i want them to if they get jammed or something i throw them away so i guess if you use regualer wood pencils try mechanical the last much longer

When I used pencils, I used them until they could no longet fit in the electric pencil sharpener. After that their is really no pint to the pencil anymore. As for your son's pencil, I think it's time he throw it away. If there is no way to get to lead there is no point in keeping the pencil.

LOL, well, your son and my daughter should get together. I just made her clean out her school backpack. You would not BELIEVE the stuff in there, including THREE stubby pencils about 1 1/2 inches long, no erasers. A half eater pop tart, an old peanut butter sandwich, three old baggies, a pair of socks?? and.......... and.........well, an unidentified rotten thingy. Wanna trade? LOL

I dont also throw pencil as far as I can still sharpen it can hold by my hand writing. I also like to keep pencil until it is being so small as it looks like on the picture. You must be happy to your son for he likes to save thats why he does not want to throw his pencil.

I throw them away when it's unable to keep on writing comprehensive letters with it, when they start getting all covered by my hand while writing I usually get to write with a new one.

Well, in all honesty, I usually lose my pencils long before they get that short! But, if I were, I'd probably wait until the eraser was gone. Once that's over, I'm done with the pencil, no matter how short it is. I make a lot of mistakes.... lol

well i like to use the whole of my pencil but if often gets misplaced so there is left no chance for me but to use a new pencil in order to carry out my work..

I have myself kept pencils til I can't use them anymore. I am not a pack rat and don't have the slightest clue what OCD is, but even though pencils are pretty cheap I go threw them fast enough sine I draw everyday and use them more than I use pens, it has become pretty pricey for me to constantly buy pencils even in bulk. So for me using them til they no longer can be sharpened helps me not go through them as fast and helps me save a little bit of money.