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
Image credits: Barsidious_White
#2 First Prize String Beans From September 1945 Found In My 102 Year Old Patient's Basement
Image credits: YorkTheNork
#3 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.
Image credits: flatgreysky
#4 Found This Cleaning An Old Mans Basement
Image credits: RJA9786
#5 Nanny Kept Everything
Image credits: ummmmmmmmidunno
#6 Cleaning Out Mil Old House
Found this old bottle of booze. It’s remy cognac… looks old.
Image credits: Available_Forever_32
#7 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.
#8 Still Wrapped 50 Year Old Condoms From Around 1971
Image credits: BrickReek
#9 Helping Friend's Mum Clear Out Her House, Found Her Sexy Vatican Calendar (She's 94)
Image credits: BellaKaterina84
#10 Found Under The Floor Boards In A 1800's House
Image credits: imgur.com
#11 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.
Image credits: nanidu
#12 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.
Image credits: eucher317
#13 1940’s Unused Roll Of Toilet Paper
Image credits: UnknownAristocracy
#14 Breakfast With Barbie Cereal Expired In 1990
Image credits: SqueakySnapdragon
#15 Granny's Freezer Had An 84 Year Old Biscuit With A Note
Image credits: hoop-d-lishus
#16 This Old Seven-Up Bottlers Flavor I Found At Grandma's House
Image credits: logicblocks
#17 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
Image credits: timetripper11
#18 Remodeling My 1918 Home And Found This Battery In The Wall
Image credits: Snaefellsjokul
#19 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!
Image credits: tattedhippo
#20 Found In My Boyfriend’s Pantry
Image credits: reddit.com
#21 Found When Cleaning Out My Mothers Closet
Image credits: getoffmylawnyahear
#22 Canned Peaches From The Carter Administration. Found In Mom's Cellar. Peaches Canned In 1976
Image credits: ramair351c
#23 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!
Image credits: Tcarroll70
#24 My Grandfather Worked In A Pringles Factory. Yes There Are Chips In There
Image credits: pleasedtomeetyou194
#25 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.
Image credits: SisteroftheMoon16
#26 Fixing Up An Old (100+ Years) House, Found This In The Back Room
Image credits: Master-Wordsmith
#27 This Soap I Found At My Grandmas House
Image credits: WillieStroker69420
#28 Other People Inherit Money Or A House; I Inherit The Heinz Ketchup Limited Black Edition
Image credits: liverwursti
#29 Chips From '94. Cleaning Out A Hoard, And Found These
Image credits: Basic_Guarantee_4552
#30 Unopened Welches Jelly Jar From 1994. Found This At An Estate Sale This Summer
Image credits: crazylegolady
#31 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.
Image credits: mabeltheknife
#32 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
Image credits: reddit.com
#33 Found This In My 80 Year Old Mother’s House
Image credits: peat_s
#34 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.
Image credits: AppointmentAny6045
#35 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.
Image credits: Jcbowden10
#36 Thirsty Anyone?
And no I will not drink it. I was um… A bit obsessed with BSB… I was determined to marry Kevin.
Image credits: Such_Promise4790
#37 Didn't Pick Up Almond Extract From The Grocery Store Because I Was Told We Already Had Some
Image credits: slizzwhiz
#38 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.
Image credits: sawtoothpath
#39 My Grandma Still Has An Unopened New Coke Can In Her Fridge From 1985
Image credits: Random-Non-Sequitur
#40 Found Cleaning Out My Grandparents House That They’ve Lived In Since 1965
Image credits: Clementine7162
#41 Cleaning Out My Grandma's Pantry And I Found These Jarred Preserves From 1964
Image credits: yourmomprobably
#42 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.
Image credits: ZollieJones
#43 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.
Image credits: spankrat29
#44 80's Gatorade
Helping someone clean out their house today and these were in the basement.
Image credits: Professional_Eye_480
#45 Found These Year 2000 Twinkies In My Parents Closet Today
Image credits: aquietinspiration
#46 Found At Nan’s House - Glass Vase With Metal Grill Inside
It's for arranging cut flowers (a rose bowl).
Image credits: BitingBuzzer
#47 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.
Image credits: Apprehensive-Unit268
#48 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.
Image credits: YellowOnline
#49 Husband Found While Working On A Job
Image credits: Collins71514
#50 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?
Image credits: thedemp
#51 Now That I'm Old Enough To Be A Grandma, My Sealed Pokemon Jelly Jars
Image credits: fatredditnerds
#52 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!
Image credits: Shmousie
#53 Vaporub From The 70’s Found In My 97 & 95 Year Old Patients’ House
Image credits: MentaLeeConstipated
#54 Unopened Egg Nog From 1975? At My Grandma's House
Image credits: LoveSniff
#55 Cleaning Out My Parents House And Found A Jar Of 23 Year Old Mayonnaise
Image credits: reddit.com
#56 Found This Unopened Bottle Of Orbitz While Helping Clean My Neighbors Garage
Image credits: DonkeyFarm42069
#57 McDonald's Jam From 1990
Image credits: reddit.com
#58 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.
Image credits: ZaytherLegit
#59 My Dad Poured This In His Mouth Then Asked If I Could Read The Date On It
Image credits: ilovegyroid
#60 How Old Is This?
Image credits: dinger815
#61 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!
Image credits: cswimc
#62 Slim Fast
Image credits: jj33ca
#63 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.
Image credits: WorkingEmployee8767
#64 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.
Image credits: AliveWeird4230
#65 I Ate Approx. 20 Year Old Gushers. Ama
Image credits: XxTURDxTACOxX
#66 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.
Image credits: ZolTheTroll413
#67 A Fork I Found In A House I Inherited... My Dad Was A Thieving Sod
Image credits: IKissedHerInnerThigh
#68 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)
Image credits: SoggyWotsits
#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.
Image credits: confusedbird101
#70 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.
Image credits: Floydada79235
