Stopping saving things for best

I gave all of my jewellery to my daughter on her 21st birthday as I haven't worn it for years. Just kept my wedding ring.

I have my mum's full dinner set including 2 casserole dishes with lids, soup dishes, coffee pot, tea pot etc which must be about 50 years old - it takes up my entire wall unit centre display. The last time I had any of it out would have been Christmas 3 years ago although I did wash it all earlier this year when I painted the cabinet. I would use it but it's such a pain getting it out or putting it back. Similarly the full dinner service of my own which my parents bought me for our 25th (nearly 25 years ago). There is a cupboard full of crystal glasses which were also my mum's. There are only two of us - we don't entertain and don't drink (I have everyday glasses in the kitchen if we need one). I guess at some point we will need to get rid of all of this as I know my family won't want it (can't export it all to NZ ). Seems such a shame - it's a pity a small guest house couldn't use all these sets of unused crockery but then you can't put most of them in a dishwasher.

If you haven't a spare room to store the worn washed clothes. Put them back in the wardrobe with the hanger hook turned a different way.Hope that makes sense.

I work in a local charity shop and we get amazing donations especially glass and china. Royal Doulton, Wedgewood etc and we can only ask peanuts for it. Clothes still with tags, unworn shoes. We can tell much of it is from houses cleared after a bereavement . Just get your stuff worn and enjoyed .

I always wear old clothes in doors. I put on better things for going out and change when I get home, so I can wear it again another day. I'm gradually taking the posher stuff to charity shops, I shall never wear them again.

Charity shops local to me do not accept earrings.

I run a small independent charity shop in Spain. We are very fortunate to receive many splendid donations. Sadly many of these are when someone has died and their family come over to clear their home. Beautiful clothes that have hardly been worn. Shoes still in boxes/handbags waiting for 'that special occasion '. The same with china and crystal glasses. These are items that the family have no use for or are too expensive to ship back to the U.K.
I know my family will have no use for the vast majority of my belongings my jewellery has already been promised to individuals. I now dress to impress as much as the heat will allow with statement necklaces, earrings and perfume.
I have seen too many kept for best items bundled into bin bags.

One of my mother’s sisters was quite well off with lots of lovely jewellery which she wore regularly. She had nice hands and wore rings on every finger always. The family thought that was “very common”!

I have some love 1950s glasses I remember drinking snowballs from as a young teenager, they are shut away in glass cupboard to look but don’t touch , how ridiculous I’m going to get them out now to enjoy, thanks.

b1zzle
Go for it and enjoy.
The only downside (I found) is that people ask where I'm going to or coming from if I am wearing a smart skirt or dress.

I remember, decades ago, meeting my children from school wearing a plain scarlet dress under an open navy blue cashmere coat and navy leather court shoes.

They didn't recognise me and walked right past me in the corridor.
The youngest started crying when I picked her up and said she wanted her mummy back.
That made me incredibly sad ?

In those days I almost always wore trousers/jeans and almost never coats...only jackets.

I don't think charity shops take earrings (health & safety) and I also saved 50% of my clothes 'for best' even though 'best' hardly ever came along, My wake-up call was when the shower in the flat above me leaked through my ceiling down on to my wardrobe and all my clothes were damp at best or soaked. I had been jealously guarding some things still with labels on that needed to be washed before I could even think about putting them back so I've now resolved to wear my 'best' every day and enjoy it!

I have quite a lot of expensive jewellery which I make a point of wearing whenever I go out. Not necessarily anywhere special - lunch with friends, bus rides and lunch out with OH or even when taking Mum for coffee & cake at the garden centre!
On the days when i'm not going anywhere, I always wear my diamond stud earrings, necklace & good perfume - even if I'm just doing the gardening. LOL
I absolutely love jewellery, what's the point in having it locked away in a box?

I am guilty of saving clothes for best though. Can't do the gardening in fine silk blouses and white trousers!

I'm trying to train myself to buy better quality 'classic' items and mix & match to wear them more often but i'm finding it difficult to change the habits of a lifetime.

Thankfully I am not a hoarder and clear out unused items regularly. I hate clutter.

I like the idea of putting clothes to one side after washing, I'm going to try that.

Interesting post. We don't have anything for best, I always use a bone china mug as I like drinking from it. I wear Channel 5 almost daily as I just love the smell. But as for clothes I just have what I wear.

As for buying stuff that is on trend, it will go out off trend at some point so what happens then Just give it away or what. I can't see the point.

I have some stuff in the loft which my son has asked me to keep so I will, it is full of memories and they are the most important.

harrigran
What a shame. All that money down the drain if the jewellery, china and silk clothes in zipped clothes carriers are not going to get an airing.

Maybe going to Waitrose or, better still, Harrods or F&M for your weekly shop would enable you to wear a special outfit that would not be out of place.

I can see the point of not wearing the real deal jewellery as there is always the chance of scooter robbers ripping it from you (if you live in a salubrious enclave) however, faux pearls and diamonds are so near to the real thing looks-wise (and cheaper) that only a very close inspection would detect the difference.

I doubt whether anyone (except an expert) could guess just by glancing.

I'm thankful that I don't have the expense of buying a safe, having it cemented into the floor, photographing and insuring the contents then thinking I can't be bothered opening said safe to choose 'jewels of the day'.
Liz Taylor did that and her real stuff never had an outing as she had fakes made of every item. ??
I could never understand the reasoning.

Your ice-blue silk suit sounds wonderful.
Perhaps you could strongly hint that a loved one take you somewhere special.
I can recommend Clos Maggiore, the Corinthia Hotel and Mandarin Oriental - all worthy of the effort to dress up.
Even I have been persuaded.

Charity shops are brim full of once treasured china, crystal ware and so on which younger ones generally don't want these days, it doesn't go in microwave or dishwasher. Keeping clothes for best, in this cheap and throw away age also belongs to a bygone era. Perhaps as the world's resources become scarcer, well made quality items will again become desired. I'm not that keen on gold and diamond jewellery because of the history and mining conditions, but that's a personal choice.

I think all of us who own posh clothes/jewellery should get together and go shopping in Aldi!

Maw, my mother dressed for shopping too. Tweedy and buttoned up, never with a bare head.

Watching that TV programme about the Ritz Hotel last week I commented that I could never go there as I don't have the right clothes for it (among other reasons!) DD would be absolutely fine. She looks like a model no matter what she wears. She has some expensive designer stuff but mixes and matches happily with M&S. Some people just have 'it'. I don't.

I have some lovely jewellery but tend to wear the same every day. There's just no call for it somehow and I'd hate to look silly in the supermarket with my diamonds and pearls on haunting the reduced bargains!
Sorry. Wandering post but you all got me thinking!

Like Maw we use our things and think nothing of it. Most of it came from PiL and was used every day - nothing unusual in seeing the family silver on their Formica kitchen table! There was only a little money but some nice things which help us remember happy times.
My gold pinkie ring, rose gold chain and cross are the only remotely expensive jewellery I wear on a day to day basis - the good stuff is just not practical.
No one will want any of our stuff when we die so we make the most of it now.

harrigran could you wear your silk outfit as separates now?
I'm using a 3 piece mother-of-the-bride outfit this way. The lace jacket is great in summer - even with jeans or cropped trousers and the long lacy skirt is lovely for summer evenings - especially if on holiday somewhere nice. I haven't had quite as much use from the "lace vest" which really goes under the jacket, but it's still been good with a plain skirt or trousers so I'm happy.
They aren't over-structured like some MotB wear though so can be dressed down surprisingly well.
I think you should take another look at your ice blue silk, just in case.

I used to keep clothes jewellery etc for best , but not any more I love to wear things that I love everyday . I have few designer bits and loads from high street. Why should you keep for best so to speak. I am a shopaholic too regardless of label. Nice clothes always make me feel happy.i only wear my not so good things when I’m gardening or doing other jobs around the house . But at the end of the day do what you want to do ,but for me it’s loving all the colours styles etc

Magoo and I have never inherited anything except the funeral bills when the family started dying off. There was no nice china, folded linen, or pretty jewellery to pass on. We live as simply as possible, all spare cash goes to our children and their families and we’ve decluttered the house so it’s not a headache for them when we go. A much loved friend died at 96 recently. She had no relatives and had a house stuffed with some beautiful things both inherited and collected over the years. All her furniture was sent to a local auction and a huge proportion of her personal belongings were thrown in a skip when her house was cleared. I could have wept seeing it. I rescued her family photographs including those of her beloved parents out that skip and using the names had perpetual mass remembrances enrolled for them all.

Years ago I met an acquaintance in town looking exceptionally smart. I commented on her outfit and she said
"What is the point of keeping things for best at our age? " I agree.

Re jewellery: When my husband died I went through a phase of buying a lot of jewellery from a TV jewellery site. I must have bought something almost every day. Now I have loads of jewellery and it does not go in a safe. It just sits on he coffee table in 4 jewellery boxes, also bought from the same site. I never buy any now, but can still be tempted. When you think of the lovely stones which God buried deep in the earth , and miners dug up, craftsmen cut them and brought out their beauty, and then made them into jewellery with gold or silver also from the earth--- isn't it wonderful? I am constantly amazed, and I wear a piece or more of these marvellous treasures, even if they are not top quality,

I think it is the way we grew up being told to keep good things for best. It's hard to get out of the habit. I still dress up to go to the doctor's then you see some people turn up in wellies caked in mud. I see people on their way to church in clothes that we would have considered unsuitable in the past. I don't go to church but always had to be in my best for Sunday school and had a new dress each year for Sunday school anniversary. This does make you think about making full use of everything you have and not keeping it wrapped up in a drawer ready for a special occasion.

I can hardly go to Tescos in that nor can I go to a school concert, such a waste

Go for it Harrigran - see you in the baked beans aisle. I’ll be the one in Versace with the matching fox fur! .