Things you always bring.... but never use...

[Drake2009]

Heres my list!
mirror (never know when it might be handy)
Grapling hook and rope! ( ive used it once to pull a dead body which was undead out of a lake. other than that i always seem to have fly by the time i could use it.)
what are your weird things that your characters have to have but almost never use?

[MinMax Hardcore]

a bedroll unless everybody assume I use it when I am asleep
and automatically pick it up when I am in danger.

[limejuicepowder]

yeah i have the same experience with grappling hooks.

and soap, signal whistles, and thnderstones. i always buy them but a use for them never comes up. i think part of it comes from the group i play with; we don't do a lot of sneaky stuff.

[Lightlawbliss]

flint and steel

We never seem to want a fire.

rope: 1001 possible uses, 1 actual times used (to fix a backpack).

[Saph]

The nonmagical contents of my 10th-level wizard's handy haversack at the point the game ended:

Spellbooks in slipcases, Oracle of Beginnings book, Power of Dreams: Dream Magic book, Moving Heaven & Earth book (contains gust of wind and move earth spells) notebooks, writing materials, appraising kit (scales & magnifying glass), 2 spare spell component pouches, 20 business cards, several weeks worth of trail rations, tent, warm clothing, spare clothes, masterwork jeweller's tools, masterwork sewing kit, masterwork other tools, adamantine dagger, healer's kit, waterskin, 10 feet of rope, 50 feet of silk rope, mysterious spellbook, Mortekraken's diary, Tajsung's spellbook, Balthar's spellbook, alka-seltzer x2, coffee x4, travelling papers.
Apart from the spellbooks, the main stuff that got used was the trail rations and the tent.

[GilesTheCleric]

I always bring a party along, but they never seem to be needed.

I always grab quills and ink, mostly for flavour since I can replicate them with an orison.

[MinMax Hardcore]

I have bought trail rations, but never use them in my entire D&D life.