I've got a tin of buttons with smaller pots inside so they're sorted by type as I got fed up of going through the whole lot to find what I was after. I've used them on craft projects such as cushion covers as well as reusing shirt and blouse buttons from time to time.
My mother had a biggish box that she'd accumulated until one day my dad, *without asking*, took them to school (he was a teacher) for the CDT department. She hit the roof! His response was bafflement, "but you never use them". And this from somebody who had a double garage you could only get one car in for all the stuff *he* kept 'just in case'. Men!