Anyone else not use their ‘nice’ stuff?

[Fairylightstwinkle]

I have things that are nice but I never use. For example, I have some pretty cleaning cloths and sponges, nice shower gel etc.

Always feels like they’re too good to use, which is so silly.

Is anyone else like this? I want to start using my nice stuff! How do you get over it and use your nice things?

Every day that you're alive and well enough to drink the wine, or wear the perfume, is a special day. Embrace the "good". We drink (cheap) wine from $80 crystal glasses that were a wedding gift 20 years ago. It's a Wednesday and a friend's over - use the good glasses. Summer evenings on the patio - use the good glasses. Life is short.

Like others with similar stories I changed my attitude to this when clearing out my late nan’s flat with my dad and found a beautiful box of crockery, perfectly pristine still in its original packaging. My dad explained she’d bought it ‘for special occasions only’ years ago and never found a good enough reason to use it - even Christmases, her wedding anniversaries etc. I decided I didn’t want any boxes like that when my kids pack up my house!

I agree with this. I grew up in poverty and treasured any little treat. I’m 45, a teacher (so not wealthy but comfortable) and I still have this mindset. DH is very much “you’re here for a good time, not a long time”, as he often says, and does what he wants today as there may not be a tomorrow. I think it’s a hard mindset to shake but this thread it making me think about wearing some perfume today!

Today I'll be wearing jeans and a t shirt.
Along with the 1 carat diamond solitaire ring I inherited from one of my aunts.
It's been sitting in my jewellery box for about 7 years.

I always use the nice stuff! I had a friend who spend loads on some lovely crockery but then only used any of it at Christmas. It seemed such a waste! I use my nice crockery every day otherwise what was the point in having it? I don't have space to store things I'll not be using most of the time.
I also use expensive gifted perfume and toiletries on a daily basis as I'd rather run out than never use it at all.

Sorry I did laugh lol pretty cleaning cloths haha thats a new one to me 😂

My partner's mother crochets square cloths made of a durable sturdy yarn. They are pretty but I have no use for them beyond using them as cleaning cloths. Which they do wonderfully and remind me of her every time I use them. My partner - who is the worst person for "don't use, keep for best" - I know thinks this is vaguely horrifying. But the alternative would be they sat in the cupboard and never be used so here we use them, celebrate them and think fondly of the person who made them on a daily basis.

Inspired by this thread I have done to the cupboard and dug out my grandmother's engagement china tea set. Because while I would never use it for tea (the cups are too small) they are perfect for coffee and we will enjoy them for that.

Hell, yes. When DM died in 2012 I finally got the Wedgwood ... gold, white and yellow, so pretty ... she had been hoarding in its box since 1960. I do understand why the WW2 generation kept these goodies for good. But why some chose to deprive their children of necessary things, I cannot understand. My DB and I went unwashed, unkempt, filthy and without proper school uniforms because of our DM's obsessive hoarding of cash for fripperies. We were socially ostracised by our peers.
I am in my 50s now, and have recently lost two school friends to cancer.
I say live your life to the utmost and use all those lovely goodies, as you have no idea how long you will have.

I'm going to get a bit dressed up for Morrisons today 😁

Also might dig out the box of crockery that belonged to my Gran and use for Christmas. There's no point being the 3rd generation keeping it nice and not using it

Absolutely @Iamthatgenius, use that good stuff now and revel in it! The world will be a better place for your embracing of the abundance, especially your gran's nice crockery. She would thank you, however casually you use it.

ILs had a bone China tea set given to them when they married. It was always "kept for best" and in the 40+ years I knew them it only came out for Christmas Day tea and since 1988 they were at one of their adult DCs for Christmas, so not at all. When FIL died and MIL went into a care home no one wanted the tea service and it went to a charity shop.

I was brought up like this. When mum had a clear out she had piles of bedding and towels still wrapped in their original packaging. She asked me if I wanted any and I didn’t. It’s not to my taste at all. I told her I have towels in the colour I want which isn’t the colour she has. I spent my childhood using the same old towels and sleeping on mismatched bedding.
The only thing I do is have separate work clothes. Then again I do have a lot of clothes so I can wear things just for going out. I don’t save them as such, I just won’t wear my very best clothes for work.

No I don't do this.

I definitely used to but I realised there is no point.

That perfect moment to use something never comes.

I'm making a deliberate effort now to cut back on the amount of stuff I've got but also to make sure I actually use everything I've got.

It's a lovely feeling once you do it and start enjoying your nice things.

DH kept a very expensive bottle of red wine for a mythical Special Occasion when we were young.

Obviously we had no proper place to store it, just out tiny kitchen with its constantly fluctuating temperature.

After 3 years he finally agreed to open it and it was like vinegar.

Lesson learnt.

I have this lovely vision of people all over the place pulling out the nice things and enjoying themselves just because they can.
We’re all worth it and always have been.

We are 🖤

I buy stuff because I like it, not because I want to put it in a cupboard. The amount of expensive stuff that I found in original boxes, hidden away that I'd never seen, when cleaning out my late aunts houses. Most were sold and given away as they weren't special to us. I wanted to keep the stuff I remembered her touching and using, I didn't care if it was cheap tat or ££££, that's where the memories were.

Well done op. I unboxed the glasses I mentioned inspired by this thread . And my daughter and I are sitting having a Xmas baileys out of rather gorgeous heavy Waterford crystal glasses. They give off a prism when the light hits them. Why I’ve kept them in a box for over two and a half decades I’ve no idea.

I honestly think just being alive is the special occasion. We are mere specks of dust in the grand scheme of things. Use the good stuff.

I know heels are unpopular now but supermarkets are the best place for new ones
Trolley to hold on and smooth floors

I was just talking to my daughter (visiting for Christmas ❤️) about this thread and she said “if it’s worth buying, it’s worth using”. So very true!

After I posted on this thread yesterday I was thinking and remembered a beautiful doll that my grandmother bought for me have I was around 4 or 5. She was a beautiful and had a variety of outfits in a trunk. Not a “Barrie” type doll - bigger and more beautiful. My mother said it was too lovely to be played with and out it in top of the wardrobe. I regularly asked if I was old enough to play with it and she always said “no you’ll spoil it”. Eventually I forgot all about the beautiful doll. Dad found it when he was selling the house - I had my own daughter by then so thought I’d let her play with it. Unfortunately when I opened it all up the clothes were all crumbly and the doll itself had got very brittle. My grandmother probably spent a fair bit of money on it and it never got played with 😢

I wear the perfume and the clothes and use the towels and the bedding and eat and drink the good stuff first. However, I do have a special set of Wedgewood crockery and crystal glasses and gold cutlery that only come.out on special occasions. To me that's what makes it special. I am really excited to get it out tomorrow ready for Christmas. I wouldn't enjoy it as much if I used it every day.

We had a dinner set that sat in the cupboard under the stairs for 20 years then during a mass clear out I had a huge WTF moment and we use the plates every day now. We got it very early on in our relationship and it was 'special' - what a tit I was

I used to, but then I realised my Mum never used her posh plates from her wedding 20 years ago. They just fill up a cabinet and she uses another cheap set every day. How pointless!

So I use my posh Denby for every meal. No point saving perfume or notebooks or anything either, they go off or can be replaced. I get pleasure from using them.

@caringcarer
my sis and I doing same for my mum who has just died. Lord it’s sad. I tested up reading your post. It’s so hard to get rid of things (I’m a natural tendency to keeping everything). Any tips???