Help with this riddle please

Off the top of my head I don't know. How do you know it has something to do with finishing?

Also, where you wrote "if you don't keep it", what are you referring to - not wanting "it" or not throwing "it" away?

If she knew what "it" was, she'd have the answer to the riddle.

I think it is the punctuation and sentence structure that is confusing. Maybe....

If you don't want it, throw it away, but if you don't want it, keep it.

I don't get the "finishing" bit either.

I never asked her/him what "it" was only what "it" was referring to.

The way the question is worded, the correct answer is garbage.

I believe it is intended to be worded:

"If you want it, throw it away; but if you don't it, keep it. What is it?"

The next question is, is the solution to the riddle a word or phrase that should be substituted into all occurrences of "it" ? Or could it be substituted into only certain instances, and the others left to be "it"?

For example,

"If you want it, throw it away; but if you don't want [to get up], keep it."
--Substituted 1 it, now it works for anything.

Or,
"If you want [to lose your wallet], throw it away; but if you don't want it, keep it."
--Does not make sense, but demonstrates how the latter "it"s refer to something different now (the wallet)

Logically we expect to find a word that can be substituted into all occurrences of "it"...but I can't find such a thing.

Similar things are:

a) Money, because you have to spend it to make it. But spending is not quite the same as throwing away.

b) Friendship or love, because you have to give it away to receive it back...but once again, giving is not the same as throwing away.

Uh stu
"If you want it, throw it away; but if you don't it, keep it. What is it?"
Who are you quoting?

".....don't it....."