Few things take longer than deep cleaning your home. Not only because cleaning is something that feels neverending, but also because you usually find all sorts of stuff along the way, which tugs on your heartstrings or calls for further inspection.
That’s how you end up spending hours playing with things you had forgotten about. But it gets even more interesting—and likely, even more time consuming—when you find things you didn’t even know existed.
After stumbling upon such unexpected finds, many people show them off online, and that’s what today’s list is all about. We have combed through the internet to bring you some of the most unexpected and interesting old house finds that people have showcased. So, if you’re curious about the kind of treasures they have found from way back when, wait not a second longer and scroll down to browse them below.
#1 I Found These In A Crawlspace In My Basement Mildly Curious
#2 My Septuagenarian Mom Still Has Her ’97 Softsoap Container To Match Her ’97 Fish Bathroom
Just keep refilling, just keep refilling, just keep refilling, refilling, refilling.
#3 How Funny! My House Was Built In 1925 And I Am Tearing The Fireplace Out. In The Walls I Found Something Wrapped In Newspaper
Its a sandwich wrapped in newspaper dated 1924.
It’s safe to assume that many of these finds were unearthed when cleaning. And while that might not be a fun activity in and of itself, it does get more exciting when you find something dating years, if not decades, back.
Be that as it may, finding something really old or exciting when cleaning is less likely than finding clutter. Few homes can remain clutter-free for a long time, and chances are, you, too, have at least that everything drawer, where small, unnecessary items go to end their days.
#4 First Prize String Beans From September 1945 Found In My 102 Year Old Patient’s Basement
#5 We’re Having A Clear Out At My Nan’s House And We Just Found This Perfectly Preserved Early 1950s Bar Of Yardley’s Soap. Smells Great And It’s Not Cracked At All
Whether it’s one drawer or an entire room, the clutter in our homes isn’t doing us much good. In an episode of Speaking of Psychology, Deacon Joseph Ferrari, PhD, professor of psychology and Saint Vincent DePaul Distinguished Professor at DePaul University in Chicago, noted that there’s a negative correlation between life satisfaction and clutter. The more clutter people have, the lower they report life satisfaction and the greater the stress they experience.
#6 Mrs. Winslows Soothing Syrup. Friend Found It Under An Old House While Doing Pest Treatment
discontinued in the 1930s for becoming known as “Baby K**ler.” It was used for putting kids to sleep and teething infants, apparently contains 65 milligrams of morphine.
#7 I Will Never Throw These Away
We found these in my father’s house when he passed away. We found LOTS of items that fit in this sub, but these were my favorite!
#8 Helping Friend’s Mum Clear Out Her House, Found Her Sexy Vatican Calendar (She’s 94)
Talking about why it is quite difficult to declutter your home, Dn. Joseph Ferrari, PhD, noted that it can be emotionally stressful or triggering; though, not necessarily in a negative way.
“When I pick the item up, it might bring me joy or happiness,” the psychologist pointed out. “I may look at it, I say, ‘Oh, I remember that good time we had. I got to keep that.’ Or I pick it up and I say, ‘Oh, yes, that was a really tough time in my life. That was some relationship, and I want to avoid it.’ So it could be a trigger to something in the past. And that’s one of the reasons it’s harder to declutter because it brings back either positive or negative emotions.”
#9 Cleaning Out Mil Old House
Found this old bottle of booze. It’s remy cognac… looks old.
#10 Found Cleaning Out My Grandparents House That They’ve Lived In Since 1965
#11 I Was At My Grandparents House And I Found This In Their Things. I Love It
It’s a radio that looks like those old computers, I’m glad I got to take this with me my grandma had past away so we were looking through some stuff so we could clean some of it out.
Another reason why it’s so hard to declutter is people. Yes, people, especially those you share your space and belongings with.
“Most of the time, the decision to keep or get rid of something is not just my own,” Dn. Ferrari said. “Perhaps you have a partner. Perhaps you’re living with someone. Perhaps there’s someone else, others in your life. So you want to throw it away, but the other people say, ‘No, we need to keep it.’ So it may not be your own decision. And getting rid of it would cause a conflict.”
#12 For All Of Your Chocolate Covered Poison Needs
There are still some left in the bottle – they look just like brown M&M minis. Does anyone know why this existed?
OneBlueberry2480: During the turn of the century, small amounts were taken to encourage saliva production, and build a good appetite.
#13 1940’s Unused Roll Of Toilet Paper
#14 Nanny Kept Everything
While it might not be easy to convince yourself—or your partner, roommate, or family member—to declutter the home and maybe throw some things out, doing that has several benefits. Not only does decluttering minimize stress levels, it also reportedly eliminates as much as 40% of housework in an average home.
#15 This Old Seven-Up Bottlers Flavor I Found At Grandma’s House
#16 The Original Key To My House Built In 1937. It Still Unlocks All Of The Doors In The House. The Creepy Thing Is, The Bedrooms Only Lock/Unlock From The Outside
#17 My Grandfather Worked In A Pringles Factory. Yes There Are Chips In There
If this list made you curious about what you can find in your own home, consider this a reminder that it’s time to declutter! Who knows, maybe you’ll find something interesting in that drawer of yours.
#18 Still Wrapped 50 Year Old Condoms From Around 1971
#19 Found At Nan’s House – Glass Vase With Metal Grill Inside
It’s for arranging cut flowers (a rose bowl).
#20 Fixing Up An Old (100+ Years) House, Found This In The Back Room
#21 Found This Cleaning An Old Mans Basement
#22 Didn’t Pick Up Almond Extract From The Grocery Store Because I Was Told We Already Had Some
#23 Unopened Welches Jelly Jar From 1994. Found This At An Estate Sale This Summer
#24 Cleaning Out My Grandma’s Basement And I Found A Bottle Of Arsenic
On another note does anyone know how to safely dispose of arsenic? The bottle is really cool and I want to keep it. I have no use for the actual arsenic in it. I feel like it’s not one of those things I can just pour out on the ground with it being poison and all.
#25 Thirsty Anyone?
And no I will not drink it. I was um… A bit obsessed with BSB… I was determined to marry Kevin.
#26 Found Under The Floor Boards In A 1800’s House
#27 Remodeling My 1918 Home And Found This Battery In The Wall
#28 Canned Peaches From The Carter Administration. Found In Mom’s Cellar. Peaches Canned In 1976
#29 80’s Gatorade
Helping someone clean out their house today and these were in the basement.
#30 My Grandma Still Has An Unopened New Coke Can In Her Fridge From 1985
#31 Found When Cleaning Out My Mothers Closet
#32 Granny’s Freezer Had An 84 Year Old Biscuit With A Note
#33 Found In My Boyfriend’s Pantry
#34 Poptarts 1991 With Free Vhs Rental
When I was in highschool in 2010-2014, I found this empty poptarts box behind the lockers. Still one of my favorite things.
#35 Found In The Back Of My Family’s Vacation Beach House… Any Guesses As To Production Date?
Found a few things online from the 70s-80s but can’t find the actual date on the box!
#36 Found This In My 80 Year Old Mother’s House
#37 Other People Inherit Money Or A House; I Inherit The Heinz Ketchup Limited Black Edition
#38 Found Two Bottles Buried In My Cellar
My new house is from 1703, so they can be 1 year old or 321 years old or anything in between. The cellar is directly soil, so I found it while cleaning it out. Contrarily to the bottles in the picture (from the 1990s I think), these two were buried in the soil.
#39 This Soap I Found At My Grandmas House
#40 Chips From ’94. Cleaning Out A Hoard, And Found These
#41 Breakfast With Barbie Cereal Expired In 1990
#42 Forgotten Emergency Snacks Found In Our Earthquake Kit From The 90’s
The Chewy bars were absolute mush. Nature Valley bars were still dry (because of course they were). And I wish I could say those were breadsticks and peanut butter but… They were cheese.
#43 Cleaning Out My Grandma’s Pantry And I Found These Jarred Preserves From 1964
#44 Bought These Off A Walgreens Shelf 3 Days Ago
It took all my strength to get it lodged into me. And now I can’t get it out. Might tie it to the door and slam it shut.
#45 Found Back In 2013
It’s not a recent find but I moved in with my grandfather when my grandmother passed back in 2013. Slowly started working on cleaning things out and found this gem at the back of the pantry.
#46 We Just Bought A House And The Owner Left Behind Some Ancient Feminine Products. I Haven’t Thought Of New Freedom (Beltless!!!!) In Decades. They Are Like Twin Mattresses For Action Figures!
#47 Husband Found While Working On A Job
#48 Found These Year 2000 Twinkies In My Parents Closet Today
#49 Found This Unopened Bottle Of Orbitz While Helping Clean My Neighbors Garage
#50 I Was Given 6 Bags Of Food, And Nearly All Of It Expired More Than A Decade Ago
Context: I am poor, ‘homeless’ (in RV)
A family friend made a big deal all weekend about bringing me six bags of food for me and my wife to go through and dump the rest off at the “blessings pantry”…. This is some of it!
The best part: The Ghirardellis mint chips and dumpling mix are so antique they don’t even have an expiry date. Exciting, we love old food youtubes!
The sun-dried tomatoes (2009) are congealed into a whole new product, may patent it…
Thought about eating that 2008 dark chocolate because damn! The caviar has no date, not sure if it’s even that old, but… no.
The rancid smell coming off that Crisco (2007) was intense. The cheese fantastico bottle was creating a vacuum, may implode one day, may keep for science. And wtf is Molly McButter!!
She even suggested I give all the pouch tunas (2011-2014) to my elderly dog, so basically I’m thinking she’s trying to end us all off.
#51 38 Year Old Brownies
There’s a sad story to these nearly 4 decade old brownies. My great aunt, who lives with dementia, had a son who tragically died at 12 in 1986. Not long before, he baked these brownies for her, and ever since then they have sat in the back of her refrigerator. We found it while going through her fridge. I won’t take off the lid until we decide to throw it out (which surely will be soon) but it seems like they’ve aged without growing mold, which is mildly concerning, but pretty cool.
#52 Vaporub From The 70’s Found In My 97 & 95 Year Old Patients’ House
#53 Old School Travel Comb? Found Stuck Behind A Drawer In Our Bathroom
Found this stuck behind the drawer in our bathroom. Our house burned down and was rebuilt in the 1950’s. It’s probably 4″x3″ish. The teeth seem pretty wide to be a comb.
#54 How Old Is This?
#55 Any Guesses As To The Year?
From the father-in-law’s house. Made of tin. We’re keeping it, btw.
Oh, and try to say “wax wrapper stack packs” three times fast.
#56 McDonald’s Jam From 1990
#57 Now That I’m Old Enough To Be A Grandma, My Sealed Pokemon Jelly Jars
#58 A Fork I Found In A House I Inherited… My Dad Was A Thieving Sod
#59 As We’re Finding Old Stuff, I’ll Add This. Just Found It At My Parents’ House, Probably From When Me And My Sister Were Younger As Neither Parent Drinks
(I’m guessing 80s or 90s by the label and sludge at the bottom)
#60 I’ve Found This Car Key At My Home, I Dont Own Such A Car
So I’ve found this key under our bathtub while cleaning after my dog urinated near it which leaked under the bathtub. I’ve never got any complaint about a missing keys at my house. The bathtub plastic under was never removed before and it was made somewhat 20 years ago.
#61 Jars Of Baby Food From 1994. Grandmother Said “It’s Ok. Don’t Throw It Away”. Do We Know Why Grandmothers Are This Way? Mental Illness?
#62 Just Keep Refilling, Just Keep Refilling, Just Keep Refilling, Refilling, Refilling
It turns out the only container of salt she has is dated from 1965!!! It worked, and salt doesn’t really expire!
#63 My Dad Poured This In His Mouth Then Asked If I Could Read The Date On It
#64 These Pickles I Just Found Are In Their 30’s
Taking care of my grandma after a fall and was cleaning her fridge a bit (I don’t dare try to clean the back of the fridge and she wont let me either) these were in fact placed back in the fridge because “they are in vinegar its fine”. And I thought the strawberries from 2013 were bad.
#65 Unopened Egg Nog From 1975? At My Grandma’s House
#66 Cleaning Out My Parents House And Found A Jar Of 23 Year Old Mayonnaise
#67 Slim Fast
#68 Grandma’s Freezer
This is so niche. Photo was actually taken in 2022 but still. I had no idea I would ever get the opportunity to share it but by the grace of God I stumbled onto this.
#69 1997 Miracle Whip Found In My Great Uncles House
Cousins came out to make the outside group of family guess how old this mayo was and didn’t believe it until I went inside for myself. If it didn’t have the factory seal I’d think my great aunt had repurposed the jar for applesauce.
#70 I Ate Approx. 20 Year Old Gushers. Ama
