When I was growing up, my dad had a workbench in our basement. 
He used to build things there like frames for pictures I painted in art class, doll furniture for my sister's dollhouse, and even a set of Star Trek "phaser" guns when my brother was deep into his sci-fi phase. (If I remember correctly, these were loosely topped with a curtain-rod bracket that we could spin to set the phaser on Kill or Stun.)
There were always bits and pieces of scrap wood around that we could take for school projects or just for fun. Dad kept a bin of these scraps on the floor under the workbench, where we could reach it without getting into the tools.
And on the shelves above the workbench, there was that trademark of handy Dads everywhere: a row of old peanut-butter jars filled with screws, washers, nails, tacks and other fasteners.
I've got a bunch of jars like that in my basement as well. Some of them are full of the "extra" parts that came with thing that had some assembly required. Others contain curtain hardware; still others the basic nails, screws, nuts and bolts. Like my dad, I won't throw out stray fasteners. You never know when you're going to need one of those someday.
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