You’ll find a lot of the same things in baby boomers’ garages, between the paint cans and the folding chairs, as well as the items that nobody’s touched since 1998.
The heavy red box
Let’s start with the usual garage stuff. Everyone’s got a toolbox in theirs, sure, but only boomers are the ones with a red Craftsman toolbox that’s been there since goodness-knows-when. No, it’s not the plastic kind.
Boomers bought the metal one when it was popular, and even now, it’s full of sockets, wrenches, drill bits, and screws from random projects over the years. They don’t care that it’s a little busted. Boomers aren’t throwing it out because it’s lasted all those years. Just like them.
The loud gray machine
You’ll find the next one tucked under a bench or behind a bag of mulch. It’s the Shop-Vac. They first started appearing in the early ‘50s, around the same time that boomers started getting familiar with home projects.
They’re not exactly quiet cleaners. That wasn’t the point. They were built for the long haul, and even to this day, they’ll manage to get the job done.
The strange bedroom parts
Only someone who’s actually owned a waterbed before will be able to recognize the pieces in the garage. It’s usually a heater pad and a thick side rail. They were all the rage during the ‘70s and ‘80s before they disappeared, basically out of nowhere.
You won’t find the mattress in a boomer’s garage, however, because that was the first to go. It was way too bulky. But the wood? That’s hung around since boomers thought it would be useful for something, although it really wasn’t.
The leftover kitchen pieces
Boomers know it. They completely understand that a box of Formica scraps isn’t exactly glamorous, but really, they don’t want their garages to be glamorous, anyway. They held onto the laminate after it first became popular. That was during the postwar housing boom.
Sure, scraps might be beige, and sure, some might be fake. They don’t care. They’ve kept hold of them because they genuinely believe that there might be a time when they come in handy. There probably won’t be.
The chunky music box
Vinyls made a comeback a long time ago, so they’re nothing special in a boomer’s garage. But there is one music thing that is. A box of 8-track tapes. They’re way too clunky to ever make a serious return, and they’re also way too big to be anything actually portable.
But they’re good memories for boomers, and that’s why they still have them now. It doesn’t matter what genre they have. The truth is, you can be guaranteed that a boomer’s got at least one tape hanging around somewhere back there.
The bike with history
Boomers understand that the old Schwinn bike isn’t always rideable and that there are way more useful bikes around today. But they don’t compare. Boomers still claim that the Schwinn is a good bike, and the Varsity model is the best of all.
It’s not like they’re going to ride it today, though. They’ll just leave it hanging from hooks with flat tires, and they’ll claim they’ll get around to fixing it one day.Â
The little plastic trophies
Most boomers think they don’t have that many bowling trophies. Then they open the box. There’s a whole collection of tiny gold bowlers and fake marble bases in there. Boomers can’t even remember getting most of them, but still, they’ll keep hold of them.
They’re reminders of a better time. You know, a time when awards actually meant something, and you didn’t get one for simply turning up to the competition. It was a time when you actually had to work for them.
The plates on the wall
One thing you might notice in a boomer’s garage is that the license plates are never in one place. They’re all over it. Yes, there’s one screwed above the workbench and another near the toolbox.Â
Don’t forget the one broken in half. Boomers aren’t bothered that their cars changed because they’ll keep their plates as memories. Some of them even take it more seriously by making it into a hobby. Because of course they do.
The round car-care cans
That’s not all for cars. Take a big whiff in a boomer’s garage, and you might notice a special kind of smell coming from one of the tins. It’s probably a Turtle Wax tin. Either that, or it’s a rubbing compound can, or maybe some old polish that they’re never getting rid of.
Boomers grew up in a time before people paid other people to detail their cars, and they did it all themselves instead. It’s not like they’re going to use the Turtle Wax tins or anything. The wax is all dried out inside, yes, but boomers are still holding onto them.
The knotted thing in a bag
You can’t really get more ‘70s than a macrame plant hanger, because it’s not exactly subtle, after all. They were so popular in the past. Unfortunately, as tastes and trends moved on, most of these hangers ended up in the garage.
They never left. They’re probably tangled up in a grocery bag or storage bin somewhere, but rest assured, boomers aren’t throwing them away anytime soon.
