All of the stuff in our house right now is brand new or very new, we got married 2 yrs ago and spent lots of you wedding money buying everything we could not afford on our own, A table and chairs that is Iron and Stone so it will last almost forever, and new bedding set, that we use everyday and a coffee pot that makes the most wonderful coffee ever!!!. Ionly bought things that are good enough for everyday, but also good enough for company too so they are multi-use!!

Dear All, I use my Mother's wedding silverware daily.  It has such a nice heft to it, & the ornate filigree is so charming!  If I had time in an evacuation to pick up one "non-necessary" item, it would be the silverware.  Yours in Him, Deb

The way I feel about it is if something is too good for me to use for myself or family it's too good for us to keep.  I use my so called "good" things as often as possible.  They bring me happiness.  My mother is bad for saying "you can't use that, it's for good".  Well, if it's too good for me to use it then I don't want it in my home.  WHen my DH's father died 4 years ago he had drawers full of new, unworn shirts, socks and handkerchiefs.  His closet was full of new or almost new clothers he wouldn't wear.  It was sad especially when we realized that most of these things had been gifts that he felt he needed to save for good.  All of it was donated to charity. 

Shellia

I used to wait to have things until we had company, etc. Then in 2002 I came very close to dying 4 different times from allergic reactions to new prescriptions I was put on by my doctor. Frankly, the last allergic reaction really scared me. It happened on what would've been my deceased half-brother's birthday.

Ever since then I have taken the time to smell the roses so to speak. Then after Mom was admitted to the hospital in 2007 with a silent heart attack and a frontal lobe stroke I have really taken the time to enjoy things. Mom's been in a nursing home since February 2007.

Every now and then I enjoy eating totally unfrugal foods because like the Loreal ad says "It's expensive, but I'm worth it."

I'm going to start using my tea pot that matches my everyday china. My china is Evesham Vale by Royal Worcester. I'm taking a class in tea cosies and I'm going to make one for my expensive tea pot. My tea pot was $90.00 in 1992, but I paid $60.00 for it because I knew where to save money.

rolo:

It is a comfort to see the pretty pastel hand towel hanging on the towel rack, the pretty hand soap that is used daily now at the kitchen sink, the good throw out on the couch all winter long, the good dishes in use on a daily basis.  

We may be frugal, living simple, and pinching every penny that comes to us BUT we can enjoy the fine things

What a great post! Timely, too, as I am still going through the closets at our house. I am guilty of the same things but like, you, I do try and enjoy some of the nice things we received as gifts (from our wedding 8 years ago!). I finally used the nice sheets (whoo-hoo, love soft cotton), put the hand towels out every day, opened up the "nice glasses" we were only using at holidays and put them in the cupboard. I actually use the nice soap I got for Christmas instead of putting it in a drawer. I did sell 4 of the six vases I got as wedding gifts as they just sat in a hutch. Two is plenty. 

I also tend to do this with clothes. I have clothes I only wear to church--too nice to wear anywhere else. So I only wear them 2-3 times a season and then they get put away and soon, are too small or outdated. I now wear more skirts around town running errands, to friends', to Bible study and guess, what, nothing is falling apart, LOL. Same with the boys' clothes. With first baby, I was "saving" some cute outfits for a "nice occasion." Then he outgrew them without even wearing it. With 2nd ds, he is wearing the "nice" stuff everyday!

Sometimes I think I do this because I don't want something nice to get "ruined" but other times, I feel like I am not good enough to have these nice things or why should I have nice things (like a set of china) when some women don't even have dishes.

I never really experienced this until DH and I married.  Momma had decorative towels that we didn't use--but we could if we needed to.  But DH's mother--her back porch, under bed, trunk of her car are all loaded with things that she'll have "a nice house someday" and use.  And it makes me sad.

I really only 2 things I don't use--my china because I am clumsy and I would break it all; a quilt that I hand made for my Grandmother that got passed back to me when she died.  I could display the quilt but it's light colored and I don't really have a good place to put it.  So I leave it wrapped in acid free paper and packed away in my cedar chest.

re-tired

After my grandmother's death we had to clean her closet out of many things that were too good for every day... most unopened. With the military life style honestly I dont' have the time, money, nor room to be a pack rat and thus either our items get used every day or not at all. There is one catch with this, we want to buy a beautiful set of china before we leave Japan. It'll probably be a couple years before we put it to use as I just don't think it wise to trust young children with it :) But once they're a bit older that china will become our every day item.

My mother was like this. My sisters and I grew up in a house with a few books, no idea where she got them, childrens books. We weren't allowed to touch them because they "might be worth something someday". Everywhere we moved, those books went. My sister discovered last year they weren't "worth" anything.

Same with towels.. we used towels that had bare patches that were see through, while new ones laid up in the linen closet. Several years ago for mother's day I bought her a complete set of face care products from a fairly nice company that she liked, but would never buy for herself. I swear she let those jars and bottles sit on her bedroom dresser because, and I quote "they looked too pretty to use up". Last time I visited (she lives in another state next door to my sister), I opened one, to encourage her to use it, and it had gone very rancid, was gray and separated.  I had bought them because I wanted to pamper her on her special day. And, she never got to use them. She kept using bar soap and water. Made me sad, but wiser. After that I started just getting her food gifts, things that weren't so fancy she wouldnt use them, but nice enough to be special. Some people because of their childhood, etc will never change.

re-tired:

I never really experienced this until DH and I married.  Momma had decorative towels that we didn't use--but we could if we needed to.  But DH's mother--her back porch, under bed, trunk of her car are all loaded with things that she'll have "a nice house someday" and use.  And it makes me sad.

Perhaps it shouldn't make you sad. Perhaps she keeps them because they are concrete steps toward a dream of a nice house that, deep down inside, she maybe knows will never happen.

Sometimes people keep things for reasons that have nothing to do with the intrinsic value of the items.

My mother, for example, kept using the same set of pots and pans that she'd used all her life even though later on she could have easily bought any set she wanted. But she knew how that cheap old dented set cooked, she was comfortable with them, and didn't want to change. When she was preparing to move from her home of 40 years to a retirement community I asked her why she wanted to keep that "old set of pans". She looked like she was about to cry and then I "got it" and said "I suppose it's because they're old that you want to keep them" and she said that I finally understood.

I can understand that.  I have pots from a set from 18 yrs ago.  work fine so why change.  have lots of kitchen stuff like that.