Can't have too many of .....

I take your point about the teaspoons - they suffer from this in John Lewis - the woman on the till in the café told me people take their spoons all the time so they are constantly replenishing their stock.

I cant think of anything I cant have too many of as I'm very much a minimalist - unless of course its flowers in the garden.

I have often been puzzled by the way teaspoons disappear. Years ago, when I first bought a dishwasher, I also bought an extra set of cutlery so that I had 12 of everything. 30 years later I still have 11 or 12 of every part of this set left - except the teaspoons, where there is only one solitary survivor. The same thing has happened at our holiday home in France, which is obviously often unoccupied.

I have enquired around among friends, at home and at work, this is a universal problem in peoples, homes, workplaces etc etc. I asked my DS, who is an archaeologist, whether he finds lots of teaspoons in excavations, but he said 'no', small spoons were quite rare finds.

This poses a deep existential question. Where are all these teaspoons? somewhere there is an enormous stash, may be millions of lost teaspoons. Are they a threat to life as we know it? What effect could they have on global warming? If they are all together could they destabilise the world?

It's table knives at our house! I've just bought 4 in Sainsburys but no one uses them because the balance is wrong!! The bonus is that we always have knife in the drawer now!!

Is anyone else a slob with tea-spoons like me? I have a small bowl I use for putting my used t-bags in during the day and tend to use the same tea-spoon all day.. just can't see the point when its just me using it to washing a spoon up everytime I make a cuppa it goes in the dish-washer in the evening after my last cup. I do agree though tea-spoons do have a habit of disappearing.

I use the same teaspoon for tea all day as well, tanith!

Dearie me - you'll be telling me you use the same mug/cup twice without washing it up. shocked of Melton Mowbray!!!

Ana I sometimes wonder what colour the lining of my stomach is when I see how brown the spoon gets after just one days use in tea.

Oh, yes, I use the same mug all day as well!

Sometimes I give it a quick rinse...

DD2 only washes her mug properly about once a week. She started this when she lived in a large shared house as a way of preventing other people from using her favourite mug! Since she remained perfectly healthy under this regime, she has carried on with it.

Bowls, when DBH&Son are both at home. They are like kids, I tell them, choosing to dish up their lunches in a bowl rather than on a plate. It drives me mad, as they take up more room in the dishwasher. They say it makes for less spillages as they carry on 'working' in front of the computer. As they both have cereal every morning and also put snacks in them throughout the day, we run out very quickly even with owning ten of them. Then instead of going on to sideplates, they start on other bowls.

Bowls and plastic boxes. If I cook something for my DD or make cakes with my DGD, they transport them home in my bowls or storage boxes, never for me to see them again.

Make them wash them in the sink after every use!

Does a bowl that's just had cereal and milk in it really need to go in the dishwasher?

(that was to janerowena of course)

If I could catch them, I would. The problem is, they both work in converted outhouses so I would have to haul them back in which seems petty. I do mention it, they start off full of good intentions but it never lasts. My revenge is to make them empty the dishwasher. If I can catch them, I do get them to do a pile of washing-up. I think DBH is allergic to washing-up liquid though, it was only when we were between houses and he rented a flat for us without a dishwasher and I hit the roof and refused to move to it, and he agreed to wash up every evening, that I saw him do some! He does do everything else, but rarely that.

Oh well, at least they aren't getting off scot free!

I'm with you on the spoons NanKate. I have always supposed I must throw them away but have never actually seen one in the bin or caught myself doing it and you would think you would, wouldn't you

The one thing I really can't have too much of is crafty stash. I my case mainly sewing - but not only ... oh dear. I am sure it will outlive me

Ana - everything has to go in the dishwasher or you'd be finding excuses for everything not to! I have a friend who doesn't put pans in the dishwasher because they take up too much room.

KatyK, I've found a sure way to get plastic boxes back is to buy replacements!

Teaspoons and forks in this house. Over the years, I have bought several cutlery sets and have about 3 from each set in the cutlery drawer! Strangely enough, I have all the forks, soup spoons and dessert spoons

kitty I don't put pans in the dishwasher as it ruins the colour on the outside they go dull and matt instead of bright and shiny, they are non-stick anyway so a quick sluice round with sponge, hot water and Fairy does the job . They cost quite a bit and I have them on an open shelf displayed so I prefer to do it this way.

I have them all! Yes, all of your missing teaspoons are in my cutlery drawer.
Actually I have a 24 setting cutlery set, which, as you would imagine, has 24 teaspoons and 24 coffee spoons. In addition I already had 4 or 5 teaspoons from other cutlery sets. After 15 years of regular use I still have all 24 original coffee spoons, but only 20 of the teaspoons from my set and yet I have about 15 teaspoons that simply appeared in my cutlery drawer. I also have several plates and dishes whose provenance is equally unclear. Because so many people are at home in my kitchen I don't fret too much as eventually things tend to find their way back to their rightful owners.

plastic storage boxes - why do I end up with lids (all shapes and size) and storage boxes which do not match the lids
so I keep buying more storage boxes and find I keep giving complete ones (lids and matching bottoms) to my family containing cake or biscuits - then they lose the matching lids and boxes when I venture to ask about them.
have to agree about teaspoons - am down to 2 plus a child's spoon (with colourful handle that never seems to get lost). do we throw them in the bin with the tea bag?

Another slob here, I use the same teaspoon and mug all day.

Hmm, so grannyactivist is the culprit ....

Tea towels.....it's strange how a lot of them find their way into DH garage.