Saving stuff for best.

Valli

Some of these posts are making me feel quite sad - beautiful gifts given with love, treasured (presumably, since they'd been kept), but never enjoyed.

WTG Kolakube!

carefullycautious

Never had anything given me to keep for best, and cant see the point.

I have no sentimental value for keeping clutter and cant wait until I can get hubby to part with the last of the dark wood furniture we have had for some years and nick nacks I now cant stand the sight of. We are trying to move into a smaller property so wont have the room.

I have even parted with my books which I never thought I would be able to do.

Quite liberating not having to keep it all clean and taking up storage space

VfM4meplse

This thread has really made me think!!

lostinrates wrote: »

Ther is no point having stuff and not using it

dandy-candy wrote: »

Now I use everything as much as possible

MrsAtobe wrote: »

the house isn't big enough fo me to store stuff for best.

You are so right, I store a load of stuff that I like, think I will use etc but like to wear things out before I start using the new.

As a result of this I have an airing cupboard full of towels, linen and bedding....but the worst examples are handbags and shoes (many of which now reside in the loft) and undies....! I have so much glamorous lingerie that goes unworn, I wonder if there is any correlation between sensible undies and my failure of a love-life? :think:

LameWolf

We use our best stuff. Not all the time, but enough to get enjoyment out of it. F'r instance, our "best" china is a Royal Albert set that belonged to Mr LW's mother; it gets brought out several times over the year - for each of the eight Pagan Sabbats, for our birthdays and wedding anniversary if we're not going out to dinner, and for "silly" celebrations like the anniversary of me moving in with Mr LW!;)

Sometimes we use the decent stuff just because (f'r instance) "it's Tuesday and the sun's shining".:D

Yes, you do risk things getting broken/worn out, but it's better than having them languish in a cupboard, unused and unloved, we feel. And we've no-one to pass them on to when we pop our clogs, in any case.:D

Hardup_Hester

I keep nothing for best, when my mother died she had an unused Denby dinner service & a set of crystal glasses all saved for best, unfortunately best never arried so it's all in regular use here.
Hester

lostinrates

VfM4meplse wrote: »

This thread has really made me think!!

You are so right, I store a load of stuff that I like, think I will use etc but like to wear things out before I start using the new.

As a result of this I have an airing cupboard full of towels, linen and bedding....but the worst examples are handbags and shoes (many of which now reside in the loft) and undies....! I have so much glamorous lingerie that goes unworn, I wonder if there is any correlation between sensible undies and my failure of a love-life? :think:

when dh and I were paking up stuf in his family home e found a boxes full of stuff people had giftedhis sister nd his mother that had been put aside ''for best''....not linens but bath stuff, perfume etc. Some had lost scent, others gone off, and all were unused. It was heartbreaking ...dh's mother had died and his sister moved to US and all this stuff was just ...unused and not worth shpping to her. I now don't give her anything that is ''consumble'' in bathroom sense...because its not used..even though she appreciates it. I suggest to dh things lik tickets for things, or books because even when we buy things we KNOW she buys herself they ar put in hoarding box. at least with ''stuff'' like linens someone can enoy it eventually!

charlies-aunt

I don't save things for best either - I have been very lucky and have inherited lot of lovely unused crockery, towels and bedding that had been saved by relatives "for best" for donkeys years and although I'm using quite a lot of the stuff now - a lot of the fabrics had to be thrown away when we emptied cupboards and drawers as they had rotted on the fold line or were moth eaten. The sad thing is that the relatives that I inherited these from slept in threadbare sheets that had been turned, darned and patched - I wish that they had used the good stuff themselves!

MandM90

We save our silver cutlery for Christmas; just because I couldn't be bothered to dip/polish them more than once a year (while life is too short not to enjoy our things, it's also too short to be polishing silver every day). Also we have some crystal champagne/wine glasses which are nice on display but we drink wine fairly often and just use really cheap ones day to day, I do tend to use the nice ones every time we have someone round - which is fairly often. Also we only use 'proper' napkins for dinner parties, christmas, anniversaries etc. The rest of the time we tend to use whatever (right now we are using leftover halloween paper napkins!)

If I had a really posh pan set I'd use it as normal...I'm not particularly precious with my Le Creuset bits; I bought them to cook with!

ETA: Also some Mui Mui shoes, Jimmy Choos and a Louis Vuitton bag (from my deep, dark non-MSE days...)

maman

I have a canteen of cutlery and 8 setting dinner sevice which only come out at Christmas:o

The problem is laziness in that it all has to be hand washed whereas my everyday white stuff goes through the dishwasher.

I have sorted out my airing cupboard though (forced on me when we had a new boiler). Amazed to find a couple of duvet sets that I've enjoyed using.

As for clothes, I also have 'house' , everyday and evening stuff. They all get worn but some more than others. I've lost weight this year and had a good clear-out of 'too big' things but I was delighted I'd hung on to some lovely silk dresses which I could wear again.

Buffythedebtslayer

we have lots of stuff Mum will never use cos it isn't a special occasion. I try really hard to use stuff and wear things that are nice and esepcialy use toiletries. I was sent this in an e mail about million years and it struck a chord with me to the point that I still have a copy stuck to my noticeboard. It is a bit hokey but I made me think. And also made me quite sad.

"My brother-in-law opened the bottom drawer of my sister's bureau and lifted out a tissue-wrapped package. "This," he said, "is not a slip. This is lingerie." He discarded the tissue and handed me the slip. It was exquisite; silk, handmade and trimmed with a cobweb of lace. The price tag with an astronomical figure on it was still attached. "Jan bought this the first time we went to New York, at least 8 or 9 years ago. She never wore it. She was saving it for a special occasion. Well, I guess this is the occasion." He took the slip from me and put it on the bed with the other clothes we were taking to the mortician. His hands lingered on the soft material for a moment, then he slammed the drawer shut and turned to me. "Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Every day you're alive is a special occasion."

I remembered those words through the funeral and the days that followed when I helped him and my niece attend to all the sad chores that follow an unexpected death. I thought about them on the plane returning to California from the Midwestern town where my sister's family lives.

I thought about all the things that she hadn't seen or heard or done. I thought about the things that she had done without realizing that they were special. I'm still thinking about his words, and they've changed my life. I'm reading more and dusting less. I'm sitting on the deck and admiring the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden. I'm spending more time with my family and friends and less time in committee meetings. Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experience to savor, not endure. I'm trying to recognize these moments now and cherish them.

I'm not "saving" anything; we use our good china and crystal for every special event-such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, the first camellia blossom. I wear my good blazer to the market if I feel like it. My theory is if I look prosperous, I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of groceries without wincing. I'm not saving my good perfume for special parties; clerks in hardware stores and tellers in banks have noses that function as well as my party-going friends'.

"Someday" and "one of these days" are losing their grip on my vocabulary. If it's worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and hear and do it now. I'm not sure what my sister would have done had she known that she wouldn't be here for the tomorrow we all take for granted. I think she would have called family members and a few close friends. She might have called a few former friends to apologize and mend fences for past squabbles. I like to think she would have gone out for a Chinese dinner, her favorite food. I'm guessing-I'll never know.

It's those little things left undone that would make me angry if I knew that my hours were limited. Angry because I put off seeing good friends whom I was going to get in touch with --- someday. Angry because I hadn't written certain letters that I intended to write --- one of these days. Angry and sorry that I didn't tell my husband and daughter often enough how much I truly love them. I'm trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter and luster to our lives. And every morning when I open my eyes, I tell myself that it is special. Every day, every minute, every breath truly is...a gift from God."