Do you save stuff ‘for best’?

I use everything I enjoy, I'm a minimalist so everything in my home is useful and loved.
I use my best plates and dishes daily, wear my favourite perfume, use expensive body stuff that has been gifted to me etc.

Drink the champagne and polish off the penguins. I try and use things now and not keep for best.

My late MIL was Scottish and it was definitely something she did. After she died, I found linen sheets, fancy tablecloths and a huge and expensive dinner service all stashed away "for best".

I use all of it. Except for one thing- it turns out that one of the fancy linen sheets was actually a shroud, so I put that back!

I really try not to. We have white couches and a toddler, no couch covers! Living life on the edge 😁 I figure I like my couch so may as well appreciate it while it lasts!

I save stuff for an occasion/a concious indulgence, but not for some nebulous future 'best' that might never come. So while I wouldn't necessarily open it just because it's there, a nice afternoon or a minor occasion would be perfectly sufficient circumstances to savour it.

Yes it definitely stems from when people didn't have as much

Dm told me off once as an adult for using the wrong glass (too posh) but what was the big deal

I used to and then I realised that my nice eye cream isn't going to work if I only use it once in a blue moon, that nice bottle of wine isn't going to get enjoyed if I'm always waiting for a nice enough occasion, the lovely shoes are going to spend more time in my wardrobe than being worn and appreciated, and that nice coat might as well be worn now where I get joy out of it rather than saving it for high days and holy days.

Yes, I save stuff for 'best' and then later I find it's past the 'best by' date.

Ah, not for me because Tesco is 10 minutes' walk from my house!

For the house I try to buy beautiful but practical things and not have a two-tier everyday and "best" set up.

There's no point in saving perishables indefinitely. We once did a clear out of the alcohol stores and DH got a lesson that old =/= good, a lot of ancient vinegary wine went down the sink. Saving for a regular event like a birthday is fine, but not some ambiguous life changing event/ mystery guest.

Clothes are more awkward as evening dresses are fairly limited in when they can be worn. I wish there was more culture for dressing up. I don't get much chance to dress up at this stage of life, but I do tend to be in "best" clothes more than the crowd. For everyday, around the house days, I tend to stick to comfort and practicality though.

@InOrderDisorder83146

I was taught from an early age about saving things for best

However, I believe in using things now & why not ?

Life is too short
^^^^
This was me
Born in the sixties and rised by a grandmother (parents worked a lot)
Who'd seen 2 world wars.
I was like 2 people.
The day to day scruff and the polished 'lady' when going 'out'
It took a while but now I where clothes I love all the time. Ware makeup and use perfume during the day.
Like pp said - it's always Best.

I’m glad you enjoyed the bubbles OP!

Im another non saver for best, and the death of a very close relative yesterday at a relatively young age proves me right

I was taught from an early age about saving things for best

However, I believe in using things now & why not ?

Life is too short

The irony is @90stalgia that popping out for some cheap cava costs more than drinking the £50 champagne that's already in the house!

Yes, I was always made to save things for best and never wore or used them.

I used to save things for 'best'. After Mum died we had to clear the house and it made me cry to see the best nightdress she'd never worn, the new thick flannel she'd never used because she was using an old one, a new necklace that she had never worn, the list went on and on. Many of the things were gifts from my sister's and I and we were so sad to see them unused as she was saving them for 'best'. Now I wear my best shoes, my best dress and I have tea made from a lovely bone china teapot and drink from matching cup and saucer. If I break it at least I will have enjoyed it first. I think I put things back for 'best' because that was what Mum did. I've told my children it has to stop. We will all enjoy our best things all of the time. I came home and took my best silver plated cutlery out of the wooden canteen where it had sat for about 10 years and put it into my drawer to be used everyday. I threw the older set out.

I never save anything for 'best'. I used to, but then realised I didn't want to turn into my friend who has been saving a very expensive magnum of champagne for years for 'best'. In this time she has got married, bought a house, had children, husband got a huge promotion. She still hasn't opened it 😂.

I lost my nan this week. 9 of us have spent all day, every day clearing the house. It is full of things she had spent up to 70 years sitting on waiting for best. They are all now in the charity shop for somebody else to do the same.
Use the crockery
Wear the perfume
Write with the pens
Drink the brandy
Wear the fancy frocks
Don't let your grandchildren pack it in cheap bin bags and give it to the charity shop it is a heartbreaking for them as it is to you

I don't save things for 'best' exactly, but some things are not in every day circulation. They're used/worn, but not just casually with the regular stuff. For example, I have some lovely bowls my mum bought for me when we were on holiday and they don't live on the shelf in the cupboard with the other (nice) bone china every day stuff. But anytime I feel like it, I'll stretch up to the next shelf and get a bowl down to use. Any day that ends in y.

same with clothes. I have some nice clothes, I'll wear anytime I want to, but not the knitwear under my coat (as it rubs & ruins it) or to friends houses with dogs (they all climb all over me & want to play, fine by me, but my old knitwear can take that abuse!

I also have drinking glasses that are engraved from when I used to do a lot of theatre, nice champagne flutes mostly. They were all in presentation boxes, but I'm not one for having stuff like that 'on display' so I decided to use them, rather than have them stored away. A friend was horrified & said hers are stored in the loft, but she admits her kids will probably give them to some poor charity shop when she dies, 'Oklahoma 1989' isn't really their thing 🤣🤣 I hand wash them & don't give them to my heavy handed friends who can break plastic beakers! But it feels right to use them.

For me, that's a balance I can live with. I enjoy having things that are a bit special (to me), but used.

Sorry for the loss of your friend. It was my cancer diagnosis that made me think differently about ‘best’. I’m through my treatment 🤞 but I always overdress, use all the posh beauty products I’d usually save and try to enjoy every moment.

From 'Allo' Allo:

"What are we celebrating?"
"What day is it today?"
"Tuesday"
"That will do"

My grandma died in 1986. She had so much stuff "for best" that was rarely used.

I've learned from that. I have a(bloody expensive) pair of boots that have yet to be worn, but soon will. And everything else is fair game. I wear it when I want, I drink it whenever, I eat whatever. You're a long time dead. Cant take the fancy clothes/drink/food with you.

My auntie was another one who saved things for best. After she died we had to sort everything out and the fact that she never got to enjoy using any of the saved things hit me.

Life is too short, so I agree with those saying enjoy the wine, eat the cake, wear the jewellery and clothes and enjoy the special things in your life.

I've a bottle of Pol Roger in my fridge that we got for our wedding 14 years ago and I'm gutted we didn't drink it. It's totally going to fart when we open it and then it will taste like vinegar. Bugger.