Buying and saving for 'good'...why? - Page 8

Jacie · ‎01-09-2011

My dear departed Dad used to do the same thing, he drove me crazy with it. I always wondered why I took the time to pick a perfect gift for him, knowing he'd just "save" it.

The other thing that I never understood is why people buy something and not open it right away, if nothing else to make sure it isn't defective. Then six months later they try to return it and get mad when a store won't refund them!

"Cats are poetry in motion. Dogs are gibberish in neutral." -Garfield

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

@mstyrion 1 wrote:
@Sooner wrote:
I must have more "stuff" than a lot of you who use everything all the time. I probably use my "better" stuff more often than many of you, even though I am only using it occasionally.

I would think also maybe what some of us use every day, some would think of as "good." I don't have dishes I don't like, even though I have better ones I only use for company. I don't keep stuff that isn't "good." So I have good and better.

I don't believe in living with things you don't love. I don't believe in using the "better" stuff for every day either. If I used my "good" china every day, then it wouldn't be "special" to me any more.

Maybe I'll get out my "ball gown" and "tiara" tomorrow to go grocery shopping and to the post office! LOL!!!! I'll report back at the reactions then! (YES, it's a joke)
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You make a lot of assumptions. A lot of patting your own back here as well.
Suffice it to say, I would suspect most of us have all "nice' things that we use every day.
Of course there are items that are used when guests come too. The point is, they ARE used. Not put away never to be touched.

What you seem to be missing is that was the point of the entire thread. Putting things away and never using them.

I think you have a burr under your saddle about anything I post. I am sorry I have not adhered to YOUR rules for this thread. Please post them up front at the beginning next time, so maybe I can fill out the form and be ok with you.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

I have yet to read all the replies, but wanted to respond before I loose my thoughts (yep, that stage of life).

First, I think many people who save things for 'good' do so because the have known want. They have lived through not having anything or anything nice, and appreciate having something for good, be in clothing for going somewhere nice, to linens for company or special occasions.

Second, I'm grateful (and so are a lot of others) that some people put things back for good, and don't use them much. That has provided a bounty of things from the past that one can't get now, but I love better than new (think vintage or antique linens, clothing, dishes, silver etc.). I love estate sales, thrift shops etc. where I can get things from the past that are new or nearly new, because someone was 'saving' them for me!

Third, if people used up all they have, there would be no family heirlooms to pass down to future generations. I'm thinking of things like the needle point linens that ladies make, then save. Their granddaughters and beyond get a little piece of family history because they 'saved' some things back for nice.

I will admit that it doesn't seem right to me to have nice things and never use them or get joy from them, but I do understand why people want to have some nice things for certain times and events.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

I will offer up, the idea as well, that many people are getting much pleasure out of having the gift, and keeping it nice and 'for good', as much or more pleasure than if they used it till it was used up.

I know it sounds silly, but I know that my mom likes a drawer full of nice dish towels. It was a small thing she never had back in the day, only a few and used till they were rags, replaced with just a few more functional ones, that repeated the cycle.

I buy her nice and expensive dish towels, and she does use them. But she likes to keep the newest and nicest pretty and folded in the drawer, and enjoys having them to hang on the stove 'for looks only'. It is a little luxury in her old age that she never had in the past. When some 'newer and prettier' ones are gifted, some of the saved ones will get pulled into use, but she always has a stash of nice ones she isn't using.

I don't find this to be a waste at all. She gets joy out of knowing she has a drawer full of beautiful things that she can pull out and use lightly or for decoration, and is careful to protect and save some of them.

scotnovel · ‎12-31-2013

My MIL would do that but she grew up during the depression so I think that had something to do with it. I felt sad that when she died we found a lot of the gifts that we had given her still in the original boxes. And unfortunately for us, our efforts to get her something we hoped she would like and use were basically a waste of money and time. It is hard to understand but it wouldn't have stopped us from buying her some nice things.

Noel7 · ‎03-09-2010

@Mominohio wrote:
I will offer up, the idea as well, that many people are getting much pleasure out of having the gift, and keeping it nice and 'for good', as much or more pleasure than if they used it till it was used up.

I know it sounds silly, but I know that my mom likes a drawer full of nice dish towels. It was a small thing she never had back in the day, only a few and used till they were rags, replaced with just a few more functional ones, that repeated the cycle.

I buy her nice and expensive dish towels, and she does use them. But she likes to keep the newest and nicest pretty and folded in the drawer, and enjoys having them to hang on the stove 'for looks only'. It is a little luxury in her old age that she never had in the past. When some 'newer and prettier' ones are gifted, some of the saved ones will get pulled into use, but she always has a stash of nice ones she isn't using.

I don't find this to be a waste at all. She gets joy out of knowing she has a drawer full of beautiful things that she can pull out and use lightly or for decoration, and is careful to protect and save some of them.

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@Mominohio

That's a lovely story Your mom is a sweetheart.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

@mstyrion 1 wrote:
@Sooner wrote:
@shaggygirl wrote:
I'm guilty of that in a different way. I have a few beautiful tea cups and saucers that belonged to my grandmother. I save them "for good", like if company is here and someone wants a cup of tea. Why I deny myself the pleasure of using them when I'm drinking tea by myself I have no clue. I keep using the same three old ones that have chips on the saucer edges and one of the tea cups has a chip on the lip.
Keep them and don't use them! You'd feel terrible if one got broken!!!! It's your stuff! Do what makes you feel good with them.
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Yes, keep them and don't use them.
Your relatives can pack them up and give them away when you are dead. (eyeroll)

To deny yourself the pleasure of using these cups because they might break is the ultimate in pessimism. I would use them every day and think fond thoughts of my grandmother while I enjoyed my tea.

judge much?

mstyrion 1 · ‎09-18-2014

@Mominohio wrote:
@mstyrion 1 wrote:
@Sooner wrote:
@shaggygirl wrote:
I'm guilty of that in a different way. I have a few beautiful tea cups and saucers that belonged to my grandmother. I save them "for good", like if company is here and someone wants a cup of tea. Why I deny myself the pleasure of using them when I'm drinking tea by myself I have no clue. I keep using the same three old ones that have chips on the saucer edges and one of the tea cups has a chip on the lip.
Keep them and don't use them! You'd feel terrible if one got broken!!!! It's your stuff! Do what makes you feel good with them.
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Yes, keep them and don't use them.
Your relatives can pack them up and give them away when you are dead. (eyeroll)

To deny yourself the pleasure of using these cups because they might break is the ultimate in pessimism. I would use them every day and think fond thoughts of my grandmother while I enjoyed my tea.
judge much?

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Now that is truly hysterical coming from you.

Thanks for giving me a satisfying eyeroll and a deep, cleansing belly laugh this evening.

~Enough is enough~

Lila Belle · ‎01-24-2013

It's sad to me that people don't think that they're special enough to use something "good." jmo

qualitygal · ‎10-04-2010

@Lila Belle wrote:
It's sad to me that people don't think that they're special enough to use something "good." jmo

@Lila Belle, To me, that thought doesn't enter into that at all. I agree with others here whose outlook was generated from the depression. I think that was a lot of it, it wasn't a derrogatory self-thought. It was more for their survival. A way to get through tough times better. To me that's all it was. My mother had 2 dresses growing up; a good dress, and another one. My grandmother, her mother, saved a ball of string in a drawer. They found ways to reuse aluminum foil. You have to have lived it to get the full scope I think. But that's just what I learned as I grew up. It does go down to the next generations, somewhat, for some. They really did the "waste not, want not".