#Microblog Monday 339: Use It AND Lose It
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No Complaints (she makes the amazingly wonderful Shedunnit podcast) posted a story of using (and breaking) a special cup. She points to a sentiment that has been guiding a lot of behaviour this year: “Use the fancy stuff … Enjoy it all now, because who knows what trouble is just around the corner.” Everything feels so precarious: why save a bar of chocolate if you could end up with no sense of smell (or taste) tomorrow?
But she also points out the flip side: “If you use it, you have to be prepared to lose it.” Using the nice cup is wonderful, but in using it, you need to be prepared that you may drop it and lose it.
I am definitely in the latter group. I think more about the fact that I could lose it if I use it. Which group are you in? The “use it because there will never be a perfect time” or the “save it because if you use it, you could lose it” group?
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7 comments
I’m Team “use it because there will never be a perfect time.” My grandmother died about 20 years ago and left behind so many “nice” things that she’d never used. My mom also tends to save things and not use them.
IMO, there’s no reason to defer enjoyment of the things I own.
I’ll admit to being guilty of saving things for special occasions (which often never arrive). But I’m trying to be better about it, and I think I’ve improved somewhat…
I generally have been on team save it but I have been working for years to be on team use it. I still sometimes come across ”good” things that I have been saving that end up being somehow spoiled or out of date or something.
I waffle on this one. Some things are saved for special occasions, and some, like our wedding china, we’ve been using for years. It’s now chipped, and the design faded because I’m not going to hand wash, ugh. But we started using it when we needed new dishes and I thought…why do we have a cabinet full of dishes that get used 1x/year? But there’s definitely a “saving” thing I have around other objects.
I’m with Tara. I waffle. I lean toward “SAVE IT!” But that is also why I have some really good chocolate that’s gone all wonky, because I saved it too long. I do like using the fancy dishes though. and I’m getting better at eating the chocolates Bryce occasionally gets me before they get all stale and weird. Because it is so sad when you save your chocolate only to have it go wonky.
I think I’m fairly balanced between the two, but lately I definitely veer towards the “use it” if there is occasion to do so. I inherited two beautiful tablecloths bought by my mother and mother-in-law respectively before they married. They are almost identical, and also share the fact that they have NEVER been used. That’s just sad. And I’ve used my MIL’s crystal bowls and glasses, and a set of china plates (that are 100 years old) when entertaining, and my friends now all recognise it as her crystal and china, which is lovely. But I don’t think she ever used any of it. And she lived until she was 95! That’s really sad. Don’t be like my mother or MIL. Use whatever it might be. And if you lose it, then at least you have the happy memories of using it. Not having those memories is even sadder than losing something, IMHO.
I struggle with this ALL THE TIME. For some reason, I’m more comfortable pulling out the Baccarat crystal wineglasses for Christmas dinner than I am using the Smiley Face glasses that I used at my grandma’s when I was little. (It is possibly because there are 5 wineglasses and 6 smiley face glasses – a complete set is not to be underestimated). I have 2 sets of china and use none of it. I have crackle glass beer steins that my sister gave me as a housewarming gift – I’ve never used them (because I don’t drink beer. But I don’t want to ruin them).