Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Do you save stuff ‘for best’?

82 replies

Merryoldgoat · 11/05/2023 18:23

I used to but after some realising that best hardly ever comes I’ve stopped.

However I fancy a glass of wine and all I have in is a gift which is a £50 bottle of champagne. I’m thinking I could have two glasses tonight, the rest tomorrow and it’s all good.

But also seems wasteful.

WWYD?

YABU - wasteful bint - are you an alcoholic? Save for sharing

YANBU - crack it open and add a penguin for good measure (the only chocolate in the house)

Obviously a lighthearted thread!

OP posts:
Champersandchocolate · 11/05/2023 19:36

No way! Sure I’ve broken a few nice glasses, but we use the “Christmas cutlery” every day! I love it.

KohlaParasaurus · 11/05/2023 19:40

I'm glad you're drinking the champagne. There's plenty of champagne on the supermarket shelf if you need to have a bottle to hand.

I used to be a devil for "keeping for best". Then I married a man who, when he gets something nice or something new, just dives straight into it. New clothes are on as soon as he gets home from the shop, nice chocolate is open as soon as it's in his hands. I've become more like him.

Florissante · 11/05/2023 19:47

TwilightSkies · 11/05/2023 18:26

I used to save things. Now I use and enjoy it all! Life is too short. Light the fancy candles, spray the perfume, drink the posh wine 🍷 😀

I like your attitude!

twoshedsjackson · 11/05/2023 19:51

I visited a good friend of mine for posh afternoon tea, not long after she had completed the sad task of winding up her DM's estate - a truly lovely lady, who was always friendly and hospitable to me.
Tea was served in the most beautiful china set, laid out on an equally beautiful tablecloth, and I admired both.
My friend told me, ruefully, that she had found it all when clearing cupboards; there was more of the same, and it had all been carefully saved "for best", and she was unaware of most of it. Her DM always used mugs etc. which had come free from the petrol station, or with a purchase of tea or coffee.
I have made a point, since then, of using the "best" china and silverware regularly!
We're here for a good time, not a long time.

StrictlyAFemaleFemale · 11/05/2023 19:53

I used my Emma Bridgewater teapot jug and sugar bowl at the weekend (coronation tea) and thought why don't I do this more often?

woodhill · 11/05/2023 19:54

Yes, it comes from the front room/parlour mentality and my dm is like that

I try to use my stuff and enjoy it

whatatool · 11/05/2023 19:55

Best never comes.
Crack on!!

Beaverbridge · 11/05/2023 19:56

Enjoy. 🍾

FunkyMonks · 11/05/2023 19:56

I'm terrible for doing this have bought lovely shoes clothes perfume etc and always said I'll keep them for best and then think what a waste they've been bought to enjoy and be used not to be stored away.
I now am getting into the habit of making sure I wear and enjoy my nice stuff.

cherrypopsicle · 11/05/2023 20:12

Drink the champagne. We went to a lodge with our kids and my parents last October. They brought all the champagne gifted for their 60th's which were both during lockdown. We had the best week together, drinking fizz, eating lovely food and laughing. We lost my Dad very suddenly and unexpectedly at Xmas. Dont "save for best", tomorrow isn't promised. Drink the champagne

Daffodilwoman · 11/05/2023 20:15

I’ve voted YANBU BUT Penguins are surely the worst chocolate bar around. I appreciate if it’s all you have then it can’t be helped. Next time buy Kitkats 😂

Original poster
Merryoldgoat · 12/05/2023 17:12

I hate penguins but my son likes them so we have them for lunchbox treats.

I’m now properly supplied with snacks more booze and a friend.

OP posts:
Original poster
Merryoldgoat · 12/05/2023 17:16

Daffodilwoman · 11/05/2023 20:15

I’ve voted YANBU BUT Penguins are surely the worst chocolate bar around. I appreciate if it’s all you have then it can’t be helped. Next time buy Kitkats 😂

If I buy Kit Kats then they’re will be no Kit Kats 🤣😂

OP posts:
Floralnomad · 12/05/2023 17:20

We don’t save anything for best , what is the point of having stuff that you never use .

DangerNoodles · 12/05/2023 17:25

My Nan used to save things for best. When we sorted out her things after she passed, we found so many things squirreled away 'for best'. Lovely expensive toiletries and perfumes that had gone off, dresses with tags on and nice bottles of booze. It's sad that she didn't feel she was good enough to use them and I now use my 'for best' stuff any time I want, even if it is fancy toiletries before I slob about in my jammies!

Enjoy your champagne OP, whoever got it for you wanted you to enjoy it, not leave it in the cupboard.

BigFatLiar · 12/05/2023 17:35

We used to have things fir best but I was sick and almost died. Made me realise that we deserve best now, every day. I drink wines I like, eat nice chocolate. Somedays we dress up and sit at the table just for our usual meal. We have crystal glasses and use them for our everyday drinks. We have no bests put aside.

JMSA · 12/05/2023 17:47

No. I'm Scottish, and have only ever heard English people use that expression.

90stalgia · 12/05/2023 17:48

Yes - wish I could break the habit but it's ingrained in me, sadly. I'd be nipping to the supermarket to buy some Cava, or at least some cheap champagne, rather than drinking a £50 bottle on a random Friday. But you go for it, OP, if it will make you feel good.

33goingon64 · 12/05/2023 17:55

Agree with PP, except when it comes to clothes that require high levels of maintenance, by which I mean ironing or dry cleaning. I'm all for drinking the champagne, using the best crockery etc but I don't want to be ironing silk blouses or dry cleaning linen jackets every week.

Georgeandzippyzoo · 12/05/2023 18:01

A friend hated the effect her cancer diagnosis had on her body and ability to do things BUT it also made her aware there's no time for 'keeping for best'!
Use and enjoy it. She taught us that life IS too short (it was her funeral last week 💔)

Mojoj · 12/05/2023 18:02

Pop that cork 🤣🤣

Jeannie88 · 12/05/2023 18:07

Go for it and enjoy 😉

Azealeasinbloom · 12/05/2023 18:21

Hi @JMSA , fellow Scot here. Let me tell you, there was a lot ‘saved for best’ in my mum’s house- whole rooms we never used, china etc that only came out when her mother visited.
She had some beautiful clothes , but rarely wore them, saving them for best…
Have to say, and I mean this with great love, she was very well dressed at her own funeral.

Anyway, it was bred into me, but I am trying very hard to let it go 😁

GreatBigBoots · 12/05/2023 18:58

KohlaParasaurus · 11/05/2023 19:40

I'm glad you're drinking the champagne. There's plenty of champagne on the supermarket shelf if you need to have a bottle to hand.

I used to be a devil for "keeping for best". Then I married a man who, when he gets something nice or something new, just dives straight into it. New clothes are on as soon as he gets home from the shop, nice chocolate is open as soon as it's in his hands. I've become more like him.

I've done the same. If my DH buys or is given something nice he will wear/use it at the earliest opportunity. When we first lived together it irritated me- what was he thinking of using/wearing something lovely for no particular occasion! Then we discussed the fact that he never saves anything for best (I expected him to see the error of his ways) and he pointed out the 'special' scented candles, toiletries etc that I had in a cupboard that were now past their best, and all the 'best' clothes in my wardrobe that have barely been worn and now don't fit. I'm now actively trying to be more like him- it's quite liberating!

As an aside, whilst helping my parents clear their loft recently I found a box of 'special' things that I had been given as gifts (nice stationery, toiletries, costume jewellery etc) that teenage me had been saving for the right time to use them. All still in the packaging- quite a sad sight really as now (30+ years after I received them) they were all dated and never likely to be used.

gamerchick · 12/05/2023 19:01

No. Tomorrow isnt promised.

Swipe left for the next trending thread