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Original poster

Why would someone keep an empty envelope?

214 replies

Anothernamebite · 18/09/2024 15:59

To ask why a person would keep an open but empty envelope with their name on the front. They haven't mistakenly kept it. I know this because it has been deliberately moved from its original place and hidden in a new place while they were tidying up.

OP posts:
DearDenimEagle · 19/09/2024 20:30

Anothernamebite · 18/09/2024 16:07

It has been hidden inside a packet of printed photos.

So why are you snooping through everything looking for it? Creepy

Lavenderflower · 19/09/2024 19:09

This thread is so random.

AiryFairyLights · 19/09/2024 19:05

I've literally loads of empty envelopes - and also loads of letters I really don't need 🫣
No idea why, it's as easy to put it in the bin as it is to put it in the pile so maybe I'm just broken 😂

Danielle9891 · 19/09/2024 19:05

I keep envelopes all the time. I do reuse them if they aren't damaged. I've used them for sending dinner money into school, paying the window cleaner and my daughters dance lessons. I've also kept my birthday card and the envelope off my last grandad.

StuckInHove · 19/09/2024 18:43

I have an envelope that I found a while ago while moving house with no card inside. Realised it was my grandads hand writing on it so I’ve kept it safe ever since. Don’t have anything else with his writing on. It could be something as innocent as that. Just ask him. You’ll drive yourself mad thinking up every scenario under the sun.

catlover123456789 · 19/09/2024 18:42

The other day I was taking seeds off my plants and needed something to put them in. I was thinking used paper envelopes would be perfect and I should start keeping them for this purpose instead of putting them directly into the recycling. Its quite a niche reason though and it would probably wind my partner up!

Evilartsgrad · 19/09/2024 18:25

Anothernamebite · 18/09/2024 15:59

To ask why a person would keep an open but empty envelope with their name on the front. They haven't mistakenly kept it. I know this because it has been deliberately moved from its original place and hidden in a new place while they were tidying up.

Ask DH. He has dozens, many of them used.

tolerable · 19/09/2024 18:24

did you ask him then?

Delphiniumandlupins · 19/09/2024 18:21

If the envelope was folded over at the top I would assume something was previously stored in it. That something might be elsewhere now but the envelope kept in case it was needed again.

Single50something · 19/09/2024 18:21

This is why I have clutter:)
I have envelopes my son has written to me or that my dad has sent etc

Toptops · 19/09/2024 18:21

My mum would! Every time.
Waste not want not....

AnnieSnap · 19/09/2024 18:10

What a weird thing to wonder about! Most people wouldn’t give this a second thought 🤷‍♀️

jasminocereusbritannicus · 19/09/2024 18:10

I keep envelopes… usually to use as scrap paper. Seems a shame to waste them. Sometimes it’s for sentimental reasons.Sometimes I reuse them.
i don’t really see the problem.

Redlettuce · 19/09/2024 18:07

Because we have a backload of paperwork and are disorganised!

Jorge14 · 19/09/2024 18:05

I keep them sometimes as they are useful

Harmonypus · 19/09/2024 17:56

Honestly, why does it matter to you? It's not your envelope, by the sounds of it, the photos weren't yours to snoop through either.
Surely your dh has a right to keep something if he wants to and shouldn't have to justify himself.
He's not a child, and you're not his parent, leave him and his envelope alone!

theonlygirl · 19/09/2024 17:54

nadine90 · 18/09/2024 20:07

I know exactly what happened.
One day, your OH was lovingly looking through some photographs he stumbled upon, when something big and hairy scuttled across the floor in his peripheral vision. It was a spider! A rather scary looking one with biceps and a mean look on his face.
He let out a tiny squeal and was tempted to run away, but he decided to protect his family and deal with it himself.
After some flailing around to find a glass, and with the spider now imprisoned, he needed a scooper. A single sheet of paper wouldn’t have provided enough protection. He contemplated using cardboard, but worried he’d have to lift the glass too high that the spider may escape. Then it came to him - that random envelope he’d just seen in with the photos! He slid the envelope beneath the glass with ease, and safely released the spider to the garden. He then went to dispose of the useless envelope, but paused before chucking it in the blue bin.
“September is spider season,” he thought, “I shall keep this multi-purpose piece of folded paper, for it is the exact tool we need for removing future unwanted guests”.
And so he placed it in a place where he could easily reach it, for next time.

This is the explanation. It's why we have a random piece of paper on a window sill.

Laura95167 · 19/09/2024 17:50

I keep one because it's the first one my LO "wrote" to me on

JennyBG · 19/09/2024 17:50

Anothernamebite · 18/09/2024 16:10

I wasn't searching for the envelope, I noticed the new packet of photos so looked at them, then noticed the envelope.

It seems to me that you are being tested by the said “envelope saver” as to just how much snooping you do when they aren’t there! Stop being so nosy!

I myself keep used envelopes. When I give cards I write on the front where the stamp would be, so it can be repurposed. We’re living in a recycle-reuse time, so why waste anything??

LaughingCat · 19/09/2024 17:48

He could have printed out some photos, meant to write something on the back of the envelope like a reminder, but was distracted by something else so chucked it in there.

Maybe the photos were printed off for him by someone like his mum and sent to him in that envelope, and he’s planning to put them in a multi-photo frame as a thoughtful gift for your anniversary/Christmas but didn’t want you to know so he didn’t put the envelope in the bin.

Maybe he’s actually a spy, secretly taking down an international crime gang but they’ve found him and sent him the photos in that envelope to try and pressure him to give up state secrets to keep you guys safe…and he’s hidden it so you don’t worry and his double life isn’t uncovered.

You don’t know unless you ask…but, alas, I fear we shall never know.

ForZippyJadeEagle · 19/09/2024 10:18

Having just cleared out a tiny fraction of a housefull of 'stuff' after a bereavement: people keep all kind of shit and there is very likely not a significant reason.

ShoesWithSoul · 19/09/2024 09:06

If it bothers you that much, why not ask him directly? Why ask on here? People are so strange!

ThatMakesSense · 19/09/2024 09:03

He's having an affair with his secret envelope

ThatMakesSense · 19/09/2024 09:00

takealettermsjones · 18/09/2024 16:03

I have a post it note with my name on (amongst other words of course) in a deceased relative's handwriting. Maybe something like that?

Me too!

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 18/09/2024 23:01

Mix56 · 18/09/2024 20:34

I have an old used envelope my dad sent me at some point. he is gone now.
I love seeing his writing

I have the last birthday card my dad wrote me, and envelopes written by other loved ones who have since passed on. DDad died 30 years ago, and Parkinson's took his handwriting 10 years before that. That card is what I'd save from a house fire.

I also keep other structural sound envelopes , which have no sentimental value, even if they have my name on. I use them for cash for the milkman and by who cuts the grass. I just scribble my name out, and put theirs. Bit of tape. Job's a good 'un.

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