Mum isn't in the habit of throwing stuff out. My sister & her husband were visiting from a few 1000 km away and my sister found some battery-powered salt & pepper grinders. She asked me where the batteries were kept as she couldn't find the right sized ones. I asked why they were needed in such quantity: 12 AAA cells. She pointed at the grinders. I replied that they should have been tossed out 11 months ago when they stopped working, their motors had siezed up, first the salt one then the pepper a few weeks later.