Things you buy once and then make do with for the rest of your life

[Ubiquery]

Cutlery sets. Has anyone ever changed their cutlery set? If so, why and what did you do with the old set. I reckon I will have mine for the rest of my life and never change them.

DP has just chipped another bowl this morning. Most of our crockery set is chipped so I'm toying with breaking them all up for crocking and buying a new one. It'd cost about £25 but feels incredibly wasteful and decadent.

My mum has had the same towels all of my life. None of them match. They are threadbare and patchy. I find it so sad. I wonder why she doesn't just use them all for rags and buy a brand new bale so that they all match and are clean and fluffy.

What things have you bought once and reckon you'll never replace even if you should (my mum's towels) or could (my cutlery set)?

Dinner set cost £6 from Wilko. Never broken a single bit of it. It's plain white and I really like it. Dead simple and looks great on our plain pine handmade table accented with brightly coloured dishes and bowls from various places including charity shops.

Just this morning we used some of our Kliban cat mugs. They're about 40 years old. I bought the first ones in 1979, I think, as a present for my then boyfriend, now DH.

I still love the designs. We've broken a few over the years & I'd love to buy some more; but they're rare these days & people want silly money for them.

How do people manage with just one plastic measuring jug? I have at least three: one for cooking, one for watering plants & vases, & one for garden use. And why do they make them without painting in the numbers? I end up squinting & turning the cooking one this way & that, trying not to inadvertently upend the damn thing over myself.

Maybe there should be another thread of things you buy far too many of. There may be people in the world who can survive with one pair of scissors in the house, but I have hair scissors, fabric sc, embroidery sc, paper sc, big sc, small sc, kitchen sc, etc - & multiple cheap Wilko sets of 3 scissors. It's the only way we can be sure of having at least one pair to hand whenever we need them.

@Lalallama

I have been asking the same question lately. Where do the teaspoons go?!

They all come to our house. The one on the very left is part of our proper set, which we have 12 of. All the others - absolutely no clue.

The one on the left is actually mine, but I don't know where your original went...

I'm in my 60s.

Cutlery was a wedding gift (early 1980s) so still using it. I have bought extra teaspoons.
My china was also a wedding gift and still going strong. I replace the occassional broken item.
Furniture - I recently bought a new bed but still have lots of pieces that I inherited.
Clothes and shoes - some pre-date the birth of my now adult children but sadly I am now growing out of a lot of them (bizzarely even my feet have grown)!
I still have my grandmother's kitchen scizzors and her food mixer (both are bright orange in colour dating from the 1970s!)
My kitchen pans I have also had since the 1980s with the occassional shiny new addition.
Most of my glassware got broken over the years so they have been replaced with cheap charity shop glasses.
My bedding is now over 20 years old so thinking of replacing it. Towels are equally old so again hoping to get some new fluffy ones in the January sales.
I like old things, even every day items, because they bring back memories.

Also Billy bookcases last forever as long as you don't throw them around.

Three moves. 33 years. Still going. (Though they no longer sell that size).

They were a pretty good purchase.

@RedToothBrush

Also Billy bookcases last forever as long as you don't throw them around.

Three moves. 33 years. Still going. (Though they no longer sell that size).

They were a pretty good purchase.

All our billys are collapsing after 10 years. We have moved 7 times though, including internationally...

I've moved so many times over the years that I've shed some things and needed to replace them, but otherwise I have held on to many things and also inherited bits and bobs from mum and grandma. I was gutted when I broke one of my grandma's beautiful plates; might actually post it up here in case anyone else has the same set (Scottish pottery, possibly Ullapool), they're still extant but don't make this set any more).

Haven't rtft but I replace chipped crockery with bits and pieces from charity shops. Far, far cheaper and it's really not necessary to buy plates and somesuch brand new.

Yes to plastic measuring jug! I still have mine from when I was 16 which is 35 years ago, and into developing my photography, and bought it to measure out developing solutions. So not only is it ancient, it's been exposed to various chemicals but it's as good as new. Because the measurements are embossed they haven't faded. I have actually had other, posher measuring jugs but their measurements have worn off so they are used as vases.

I have bought new cutlery, but still have some teaspoons and a metal cup from my childhood home.

We bought a 'nice' cutlery set 11 years ago, and will likely keep it until we die. It's a fairly plain set, and you can still buy replacements for lost pieces.

Crockery similar - we have 1 set of Denby which we'll keep for decades. When a piece gets chipped (rare), we find a replacement on ebay etc.

I don't see this as 'making do' though. We chose things that we like and that are useful, and we still like them and they are still useful. I don't feel the need to buy a new casserole dish, set of teaspoons or saucepan, as it wouldn't add to my life in any way.

Towels, bedding etc. are different - those genuinely wear out, and we replace when they get threadbare (although we recycle the old ones as dishcloths).

I am on my third cutlery set. We left the first one in the house which we rented furnished when we went to the USA. Bought another one out there, real cheapo because we had left one in England, got home to find half of it had vanished and the american one was going to be in transit for a month so we went to tescos and bought a third cheap one which is still in use. Cannot bear to part with the bits and pieces of the first one though. I cannot bear old towels. They get downgraded to cleaning rags or tortoise floor coverings for when they are indoors. Even the dog has newish towels as the old ones just don't dry well enough.
I have no idea how people keep plastic jugs, mine break after a year or so. I have upgraded my sharp knives as I could afford it and the old ones are now in use for DIY and gardening. Some of my bedding is old though...30+ years old cotton cellular blankets bought in America that weigh a ton but are fabulous, sheets the same age. I have got my Dad's barbecue tongs that are around 50 years old and my Mum's carving fork and pyrex meat dish ditto. Saucepans are 30 years old and still going strong

Im 40. Quite a lot of stuff I bought as a teen is still going strong:
Bookends
Bottle opener
Hole puncher
Stapler
Scissors
Ruler

The cutlery discussion is making me laugh. We got a robert welch set as a wedding gift from my parents which we use often, but not daily. The daily stuff is a mismatch of a set I bought from Robert Dyas when I moved into my first flat and a ridiculous set that DH picked up somewhere around the same time!

For me the weird one is saucepans. I have a fancy, expensive griddle pan and one other large sort of combo frying/gridle pan. I also have a selection of smaller cheap and cheerful frying pans (DH DESTROYS them so refuse to buy good ones) and I have a selection of wonderful le creuseut casserole dishes mostly received as wedding gifts..... But I also have two large, extremely basic saucepans that I bought cheap when I first moved to England that I use every single day and that I simply cannot imagine ever getting rid of!! So odd.

I treated myself to Alessi silverwear and the big serving plates (that my DS and his mates use as dinner plates). Before then it was just cheap stuff that got lost or broke.

I throw out any crockery that is chipped because I always imagine the bacteria in it. I've been through lots of pans and ovenwear even though I am not much of a cook.

I do have my DGM's microwave that is a bit unsightly but still works. I had my old fashioned tin openers for decades and then it fell apart. I've been through so many useless ones since! All my towels are white but in varying degrees of aging. I do have my DGGM's white sheets that are just gorgeous!

Pyjamas.

I wear whats comfortable regardless of how it looks. My mum keeps buying me new pyjamas every Xmas, I ask her not to but she does. I never wear the ones she buys me and always go for my thin, threadbare, holey, saggy favourites every time. Some of them were even second hand to me (from my sister) So they’re really old. But comfort is king.

After my divorce I got a load of things from scratch and left the old stuff for my ex. So he has all the old cutlery, and I have a nice new set, plus a little child's knife and fork set we got for our daughter when she was tiny.
I have a mug I bought in the gift shop at the Millennium Dome in the year 2000. It got quite scratched in the dishwasher but I don't want to throw it away.
Also have a vegetable knife I was given when I went to university in 1987 :)
These are things I've deliberately kept for sentimental reasons, though - moving out after the divorce rid me of all the "can't be bothered to change it" stuff.

Pans. They never wear out. On one, the lid handle came off, but it was soldered back on. Most of ours are 30 years old, but we also have some that were given to DH’s parents for their wedding, which was in the early 1950s.

Duvets. 30 years old. Still going strong.

I bought a new set of cutlery a few years ago. Local department store was closing down and things got cheaper and cheaper. I think I paid about 10% of the original price and I thought it was too much of a bargain to miss. My old set was a bit tatty, few bits lost and I loved the new set but I'd never have paid full price for it.

All our billys are collapsing after 10 years. We have moved 7 times though, including internationally...

I've had another 4 since about 2010 and they are all doing just great but are a new design / size to my original one. Survived one move just fine.

My dad also gave me a pet blanket in 1997 which was used for various pets until this year, when the dog needed emergency treatment and I took her wrapped in the blanket. Afterwards it was gone and the staff at the vet's got pissed off with me asking where it was, as to them it was just an old blanket

I've still got my address book and birthday book that I bought when I was 12. so 56/57 years ago. The address book is well worn, well falling apart really but it has so much stuff in it that I'd hate to lose. The birthday book is in better condition. I can't imagine ever changing them.

@Lemonsyellow

Pans. They never wear out. On one, the lid handle came off, but it was soldered back on. Most of ours are 30 years old, but we also have some that were given to DH’s parents for their wedding, which was in the early 1950s.

Duvets. 30 years old. Still going strong.

What brand are the pans?

My cutlery set is inherited. It was our family set when I was growing up. Its probably been added to over the years by my mum to replace things but probably at least 30 years old. I won't change it now actually. It does the job!

I'll say my kitchen table won't be replaced ever again. I have a lovely solid farmhouse table.

My brabantia vegetable peeler. Its 20 years old and as sharp as when I got it, but doesn't shave my fingers when I'm going too fast.

I have a 22 year old hairbrush that's still going strong too, it was only a cheap one from boots but gets washed in soapy water now and again and it's as good as new.

@ifIwerenotanandroid

Just this morning we used some of our Kliban cat mugs. They're about 40 years old. I bought the first ones in 1979, I think, as a present for my then boyfriend, now DH.

I still love the designs. We've broken a few over the years & I'd love to buy some more; but they're rare these days & people want silly money for them.

How do people manage with just one plastic measuring jug? I have at least three: one for cooking, one for watering plants & vases, & one for garden use. And why do they make them without painting in the numbers? I end up squinting & turning the cooking one this way & that, trying not to inadvertently upend the damn thing over myself.

Maybe there should be another thread of things you buy far too many of. There may be people in the world who can survive with one pair of scissors in the house, but I have hair scissors, fabric sc, embroidery sc, paper sc, big sc, small sc, kitchen sc, etc - & multiple cheap Wilko sets of 3 scissors. It's the only way we can be sure of having at least one pair to hand whenever we need them.

I've just given up trying to read the measurements on my old plastic jugs and bought some pyrex ones with nice clear print on them. I thought my eyes were getting worse but maybe plastic jugs are just like that.