To ask what you save for best?

[hahatate]

You know some people keep fancy glasses or cutlery sets or expensive bags and perfume for best, do you keep something for best? If so, what and why?

I use absolutely everything I have and don't save things for best. I'm not sure if that means I don't have any decent stuff worth saving, or if I don't want to only use the things for a short while.

A dinner service ...not sure why ...wedding gift ...can't get replacement if any breaks..
Canteen of cutlery...wedding gift ..

No idea ...maybe I should use it ..

Nothing. Because life is short

I have an expensive dinner service which I don’t use (because it can not go into the dishwasher).

A lemonade set (which was my grandmother’s) - which I would hate to break.

I had a full canteen of cutlery that only came out high days and holidays. I then thought 'Why am I saving this? no one will want it when I am gone'. So I now use it everyday.

Particularly nice bottles of wine, but sometimes I get caught out by this and miss the peak time to drink it.

A particular pair of shoes. They're probably going to last my lifetime at the rate I'm wearing them.

I have a few crystal glass sets which I don't use, I suspect they'd be broken by now as glasses don't last too long in my house!

Our wedding crockery and cutlery are saved for when we have guests for dinner.

Oh, I love these threads. There was a brilliant one after Xmas a few years ago.
Why do we do it?
Fear of not having it any more and being unable to replace it. We are denying ourselves the chance of actually using and enjoying our beautiful things!
I have really tried to actually use my lovely things- I rarely buy new to be fair (hides beautiful collection of notebooks) , for instance, I love blue and white China and buy lovely pieces from charity shops. I have a great display of pieces and suddenly realised that the very reason they were so lovely was that no-one had used them.
Now, I actually use them daily and if they chip or break, I have had the pleasure of them.
I am actually using up my lovely notebooks after years of not wanting to write in them in case they were spoiled or wasted.
My sister died in January at the age of 54, she had been bedbound for the last months and ill with Parkinsons for many years before. I cannot tell you how much stuff I had to get rid of and how many tears I wept for the holiday clothes that were never worn , the earrings that didn't get used , the presents that had been opened and saved.
We never know what might happen so wear the dress, write in the notebook, use the china, enjoy your things!

@Hippywannabe so sorry for your loss. So true about living life fully x

Nothing.
I use everything and if I didn't I'd get rid.
I also don't have going out clothes as I like to wear clothes I feel good in every day.

We have a traditional dinner service that gets used at Easter and Xmas. It was a wedding gift and I love it. Don't use it every day as it's fine none china and would break more easily that our daily Denby. It feels luxurious and special when we do use it.

Also a canteen of silver cutlery gifted to us my my grandparents for our wedding. Every year when I'm polishing it in December I kind of wish I'd listened o my Auntie telling me to avoid the silver because of the work it creates.

Nothing. I have stuff from nana (crockery) that I would hate to break but the fact is, it won’t be cherished by my kids like it is by me. So it’s used nightly. It gives me pleasure. If it breaks tomorrow I’ve had 20 years use of it since her death, so it will have been worth it. Stuff from mum, the same. She died 10 years ago.

I went to an eye wateringly expensive restaurant a few months before mum died. I bought her an eye wateringly expensive heavy duty apron from said restaurant. I found it as I was clearing up her stuff, unused. She’d kept it for best. We are both heavy apron users. That pristine white apron is heavily stained. I think of her whenever I use it. That, her jewellery, and crockery is what I have of her. And her reading glasses. The only think I don’t use are her glasses!

Silver cutlery and crystal glasses - both because I hand wash them rather than put them in the dishwasher. I do use them though, just not daily.

It used to be candles but I'm much better about using even the 'nice' ones now as it means I can buy more!

I'm terrible with notebooks - I have some lovely ones I just can't bring myself to write in 'in case I can never find another as good' 😂

I have some old wooden handled cutlery that gets saved for best, but that's because it has to be washed by hand. I have one outfit that gets saved for best, but it's just too fancy for anything less than a very special occasion. Otherwise, I've gone in the opposite direction, I've got rid of my clothes that i used to keep for mucky jobs - nothing i do is so mucky that I need special clothing, that i don't even like, for the event.

I've got a dress hanging in my wardrobe which I've never worn because I've never had the occasion - I bought it for a party I wasn't able to go to. The longer it hangs there the more I think I should just wear it with tights and boots to Tesco . But then it will feel like I've ruined it for any future party I might get invited to 😂

I use it all, but now I can afford replacement if I want them, when I had less money I would save them as I knew I couldn’t replace them.

Is the wedding plate set a generational thing? I couldn’t imagine anything worse than getting plates for a wedding present and then only using them once or twice a year!

I'm the same. Nothing is too good for me 😄

My mum is terrible for keeping things 'for best'. Tea towels, soaps, coats... All languishing in cupboards because they're special somehow. She's like it with food as well, for example she'll treat herself to a box of fancy biscuits but never dare open them, so brings them to us when they're approaching their best before date. Such a shame. I think it's because she had a very poor upbringing and really values 'things'. She despairs at me for being so free and easy with my belongings.

If it counts, some fancy hot chocolate that was a gift. Not really saving it for best, just using it sparingly as a treat. I also have regular hot chocolate that gets used more often. But we rarely have hot chocolate anyway.

I have some fancy wine glasses that don't get used, but that's because I prefer the less fancy ones. I don't really "save" anything, but also, I don't choose things because they're luxury things, as a treat, I choose things because I prefer them, then stick to them, and resist change!

“Never save anything for best. Life is too short for that”. Said to me when I was a young student nurse by a lady in her 50s who was dying from breast cancer. I try and remind myself of this every now and again, and definitely try to live by it!

We have a fancy cutlery set for best, but only as we have a regular daily set too. We did however get our wedding dinner service specifically for every day use and we love it. We did buy a reasonable stock of spares for the inevitable! I got sick a few years ago, the sort where you are told you may not make it, and it changed my perspective massively. Partly in having nice things for every day (decent bed linen) but mostly things like doing the bucket list stuff and not sweating the big things so much any more.

Oh, but I do save the best bits on my plate for last :-)

Nothing. I can't see the point in having expensive/posh things and keeping them in a cupboard - having said that, I haven't got any expensive or posh stuff, because I've never wanted it

Same here with both of those. I keep thinking we should use them.

But the dinner service isn't exactly ideal for everyday. It's nothing very fancy but as was common at the time it's heavy-ish and doesn't exactly stack well