An old clock can keep a household’s sound after its accuracy becomes unreliable.

An object can go on doing one of its jobs long after it has stopped doing the other. The clock no longer tells you the time and still tells you that you are home, because its sound has been part of the house for decades. Function and meaning come apart as things age. Keeping it is a different use rather than a mistake.

If something in your house no longer works but still matters, you are allowed to keep it for the second reason. Say out loud what it does for you so nobody tidies it away. And ask older relatives which sounds their childhood houses made.