When to replace stuff?

[Bestwifeever]

We started using our "good" stuff this spring (Dansk dishes and some stainless flatware made in Norway--it is equivalent to some people's "everyday" stuff but we never had good china or real sterling silver flatware, so we had kept it for special occasions only) when we finished redoing our kitchen, because we know our kids will not want it. I just looked it up and it is selling on eBay for about 10 times what it cost back in 1972 and 1973 when we received it as wedding gifts--crazy. We are really really enjoying using it instead of the remnants of some Spiegel Catalog (now who remembers that!) thin melamime plates, lowgrade stainless, and fastfood give away drinking glasses (scooby doo, star wars, batman, flintstones).

FIREd, I would just replace individual pieces that are chipped, etc., as replacements are awfully easy to track down these days and save the chipped pieces to use as necessary. We replaced some of our old Duralex glasses that were scratched really bad rather than get different ones.

 

[donheff]

I would probably last forever with the everyday dishes and glasses. DW doesn't much care until she gets a bug up her bumm about them and then just buys a new set and gives the old ones to kids or charity. We have a good set of china but, like Midpack, we almost never use it. Who does these days?

 

[MichaelB]

What about you? Do you replace things as soon as they start looking worn or do you just live with items until they are not functional anymore, even if they have a less than desirable appearance?

Depends on the replacement cost. We use inexpensive tableware that is not supposed to crack or chip, but it does anyway, so we buy sets of 8 and put the broken dishes on the bottom of the pile. When we can no longer have family or friends over for dinner without using broken dishes I start looking at replacement cost. If a new set is less expensive we do that. This has been the case so far because even an inexpensive dish becomes costly due to pattern scarcity. We've moved often and broken dishes are a fact of life.

 

[brett]

My car is 17 years old. My watch is 38 years old. I have several pairs of high end dress shoes that are 20 years old (get them re-soled).

Does that paint a picture? I dislike shopping. I tend to buy good quality items that I won't get tired of and items that will last a while.

 

[Meadbh]

My car is 17 years old. My watch is 38 years old. I have several pairs of high end dress shoes that are 20 years old (get them re-soled).

Does that paint a picture? I dislike shopping. I tend to buy good quality items that I won't get tired of and items that will last a while.

I find that interesting, coming from someone in IT, where product life cycle is measured in months! (Presumably Moore's Law still applies).

 

[tmm99]

My car is 17 years old. My watch is 38 years old. I have several pairs of high end dress shoes that are 20 years old (get them re-soled).

Does that paint a picture? I dislike shopping. I tend to buy good quality items that I won't get tired of and items that will last a while.

I still have long boots from my college years (that's like 35 years ago) They have held up nicely... That probably is my oldest possession.

 

[gozer]

Only the finest Chinet plates will do at my house, the other paper stuff is just so flimsy. So we just get more when we run out.

Actually, I think this is my wife's weak area. We have two complete 8 person settings of Pfaltzgraff dishes with all the extra pieces, glasses and such, and a large set of very nice china we got from my grandmother but have never used. Now my wife is making noise about wanting to buy some colorful square plates because she is tired of the 2nd set of Pfaltzgraff. Which is how we got the second set in the first place.

Stoneware seems to weather the dishwasher quite well. We have only chipped a couple of pieces. But my wife seems to be on a 10-15 year replacement cycle. Left up to me, I would still have the Snoopy glasses I got from a gas station while I was in college and maybe a couple of the Arby's holiday glasses I got in the early 80's. My wife said they were tacky and sent them out with the recycling. How can anything with a gold rim be called tacky?

 

[Walt34]

Actually, I think this is my wife's weak area.

There are lots worse things she could do. DW's is Bounty paper towels. We buy the megaroll size by the 12-pack. But if that's the worst thing she does I can live with that.

 

[ohyes]

We do not replace dishes and such--such a menagerie from last 30+ years...including a very strong set of everyday dishes my SIL gifted us from LL Bean several years ago.

The carpet we had installed in several rooms six years ago does need replacing (hate it!!), but we are waiting until we put the house on the market. The three rooms we did not replace are in much better shape than the replacement rooms. Guess that says a lot for the quality we chose. (30 year old carpet from when we moved in use vs. 6 years we replaced.) DH voted for hardwood and I overruled him. I. was. wrong. again.

...guessing paint does not count. A few built in bookshelves and walls need
painting.

 

[LitGal]

Two Sets in 34 Years

Thanks for the nudge to count: that's all we've ever bought. Ironstone on clearance at Mervyns', when we adopted our son in '88 (when I paid more attention to our kitchen during a one-year leave). Then, in '03-- after DS, his soccer teams, cub scout troop, neighborhood buddies and our relatives had seen the best days of the increasingly chipped and broken Mervyns' special-- we bought a 72-piece set of Corelle at a Corningware outlet.

Yup, Corelle lovers, I agree. This stuff will probably follow me to my grave.

Not to worry, though. DH and I have never lacked dishes. Since we both got through college and grad school on LBYM (before even meeting each other), we just carried that habit into our wedding and then 34 years of marriage.

So, when ladies couldn't understand why I didn't register for china and crystal for our wedding, I showed them the nice set of white ironstone my parents had bought me at Pic N Save when I got my first teaching job in '76. (Remember Pic N Save, anybody who lives in San Diego county?)

I also had inherited my maternal grandmother's Bolero ironstone (pretty flowers, gold-rimmed, but not expensive) that she bought piece by piece at a furniture store in Buffalo during the Great Depression. Service for 12, plenty of serving pieces------lots of sentimental value, because she bought it with money she earned selling vegetables from her garden.
Plus, I'd been given her silver-plated flatware, for 8.

So, the Pic N Save dishes lasted until DS arrived in '88; and Grandma's ironstone have always been our "good dishes."

UNTIL, my husband's dear mother passed away in '97. She'd decided I needed her Noritake china, service for 12, all of her silver-plate flatware, and her crystal. Plus, other fancy crystal and silver serving dishes.

Then, DH's aunt passed away; so we have a big tea cup collection hanging on our wall.

Now we're trying to down size. In August, we gave the Bolero ironstone to DS and his bride (since we'd poured ample cash into their wedding already). Plus, they'll be offered the Noritake and all the flatware if they want it. Otherwise, we plan to sell some of it when we have a moving sale.

Will just take the Corelle and some sentimental pieces to a condo, when that day comes.

So (long answer to your short question), no, we rarely replace. Instead, relatives have delivered boxes of their favorites to us!

But I only part with them with hesitation, due to all the sentimental value.

 

[WhoDaresWins]

I mostly use my old plain white Corelle, too. I am picky about my a.m. coffee mugs, though, which must be real china and also made in England. When my son visits, he has a favorite drinking glass, "Pac-Man", that he always looks for in the cupboard. My "good" china is my white Denby, which I like to pair with antique pieces inherited from various family members for some variety. I have several sets of stainless flatware and my mother's ornate Gorham Chantilly pattern sterling silver (the latter never taken out of the chest these days).
I have some boxes out in the garage of vintage kitchenware from my mother and my aunt which I must root through one of these days (when I retire!) to reacquaint myself with exactly what I have. I do have some flights of fancy about entertaining more at home "someday, when I retire".

 

[cj]

Someone mentioned china - when we cleaned out my grandparents' house, I ended up with the china. It stayed in boxes and went through one move, and for some reason I asked my brother and his wife if they wanted it. They were delighted, and they actually use it a lot, which makes me happy. We have some Pfaltzgraff that I really like, but I totally get the Correlle fans. That's good stuff, light and easy to clean. The small bowls make great cat food dishes!

 

[Rambler]

We will never have to replace dishes for reason of wear. My DW loves to buy plates and dishes as a hobby. If we had a party with 25 guests, we would normally use paper plates anyway and eat outside, to save time on the cleanup later. That said, she has so may sets of dishes that we could easily seat 80 people. She has complete sets of fine china for 8, another set of fine china for 8 with only the dinner and salad plates, then the non-fine china sets...a Hawaiian motif set for 8, three 8 place sets of Japanese motif, two everyday sets of 16, and for the kids, we have two 8 piece sets of children's motif melamine plates.

Anyway, she loves having dinnerware for every occasion, and I love to cook...the problem is that we have used so much cupboard space in the kitchen for tableware that we don't have much room left for food or cooking tools. And, as I said, the only time we EVER have that many people over, it is for a poolside BBQ. So, there they sit in the kitchen, unused. It is a hobby she enjoys, so I've not complained about it. But she did say to me the other day that she wanted to get some Christmas motif tableware...and I did tell her that she had to find a new home for as many existing pieces of tableware as she wanted to buy, first, because we have no more room to keep them.

Hijack and tableware rant over.

R

 

[W2R]

But she did say to me the other day that she wanted to get some Christmas motif tableware...and I did tell her that she had to find a new home for as many existing pieces of tableware as she wanted to buy, first, because we have no more room to keep them.

Good for you! I think this is a great habit to get into, before buying anything at all. If there isn't an available empty place to put the new purchase, I prefer to figure out where it will go as a first step before buying whatever-it-is. Sometimes this even involves shuffling things around to create space for the new purchase.

That way it has a "home" right from the start. If there is no possible room for it anywhere, then it is way past time to de-clutter. A couple of times I have purchased storage furniture and that helps with storage issues.

 

[Bestwifeever]

... So, when ladies couldn't understand why I didn't register for china and crystal for our wedding,....

Even though we had a total of 8 people at our wedding including the bride, groom, and priest, MIL was insistent that we register for something; she probably had a list of all the wedding gifts she had given her friends' children over the years and wanted a little payback. So we appeased her with signing up for 8 place settings of stoneware, stainless, and glassware. Wish she had given us her awesome stoneware instead or that my parents had bought me anything .

 

[NW-Bound]

We will never have to replace dishes for reason of wear. My DW loves to buy plates and dishes as a hobby. If we had a party with 25 guests, we would normally use paper plates anyway and eat outside, to save time on the cleanup later. That said, she has so may sets of dishes that we could easily seat 80 people. She has complete sets of fine china for 8, another set of fine china for 8 with only the dinner and salad plates, then the non-fine china sets...a Hawaiian motif set for 8, three 8 place sets of Japanese motif, two everyday sets of 16, and for the kids, we have two 8 piece sets of children's motif melamine plates.

Anyway, she loves having dinnerware for every occasion, and I love to cook...the problem is that we have used so much cupboard space in the kitchen for tableware that we don't have much room left for food or cooking tools. And, as I said, the only time we EVER have that many people over, it is for a poolside BBQ. So, there they sit in the kitchen, unused. It is a hobby she enjoys, so I've not complained about it. But she did say to me the other day that she wanted to get some Christmas motif tableware...and I did tell her that she had to find a new home for as many existing pieces of tableware as she wanted to buy, first, because we have no more room to keep them.

Hijack and tableware rant over.

R

Our wives must be related! Does your DW buy glasses too? Have you seen this?

 

[martyb]

Just moved into our retirement home, & opened the boxes of new white Corelle that we received for Christmas 2 year ago from our oldest daughter. I expect it to outlast us.

 

[brett]

Meadbh...Yup, I was in the IT industry for many years. I started in sales, and moved through sales management, services management, regional management, etc.

I saw HUGE differences between the personal habits, etc. of various vocations...sales, break fix folk, software professionals, management, outsourcing managers. It was quite pronounced between sales and software professionals.

My best advice, very early on in my career came from a VP sales-at a time when sales commissions in the industry were more substantial that they were later on. He told me that it is not what you make, it is what you keep that is important...and buy a small house in a very good neighbourhood. That advice paid off in spades for me during my career and enabled us to have a very comfortable FIRE at 59.

 

[MooreBonds]

We have "fine" china (Fitz & Floyd Renaissance Black on Buff) that we got as a wedding gift. [-]12[/-] 16 place settings and every serving bowl, platter and whatnot that was available to match. We've been married for 33 years now, and we have NEVER used most of it even once. We've used a few dinner plates maybe a half dozen times, that's it. Tradition...

I want to sell it all, DW says NO!

No it is...

If she ever throws in the towel and agrees to sell, just let me know and be happy to make you an offer on those.

 

[jollystomper]

Having raised a house of rambunctious kids, our dishes never got a chance to wear out - they were broken well before that . Rather that get upset about the breakage DW and just learned to use good looking but cheap, and instituted the rule "you break it, you clean it up, and pay a $1 fine to Mom and Dad". That did finance a few rounds of miniature golf.

But our real good china we've had probably since we got married 30 years ago (wedding presents plus DW added to it before we had kids), and was only used once or twice a year. Now with a temporary empty nest we have started ti use it it a little more often to entertain, but it it still in great shape.

Personally I find it tough to replace something as long as it is still functioning. We have a 20+ year old blender that I use to make various smoothie/shake/drink concoctions. Visually it doesn't look so hot but it works fine. Dw has talked about splurging for a KitchenAid blender, but I'm not in a rush, and then I start thinking "I don't want clutter, but I don't want to throw away a perfectly good blender".

 

[Meadbh]

And speaking of "stuff", how much of it do we really need? These photographs from China (where a lot of our "stuff" comes from) put it in perspective.

Chinese Families with All Their Stuff In A Single Photo By Huang Qingjun (12 pics) | Bored Panda

 

[NW-Bound]

Just in my 25-ft motorhome, I think I still have a bit more than these people.

 

[Walt34]

That is enlightening. About the only time I had so little "stuff" was my first apartment - bed, dresser, kitchen table w/four chairs, couch, TV, and a donated coffee table. Oh, and someone else gave me a wobbly floor lamp. And of course the Yamaha XS-650 motorcycle in the living room.

 

[aja8888]

We are currently moving out of our two story 2,070 square foot home of 19 years into a 1,959 square foot single level home (downsizing of sorts). DW doesn't need the flight of stairs due to a medical condition.

Well, I could not believe what junk we have accumulated after all these years. Forget about sets of dishes, we have five (5) vacuums in various states of working condition, too much furniture for the newer house, at least 20 boxes of "stuff" in storage for the kids () and enough spare power, network, printer, cell phone, etc, cables for Walmart to sell.

Since I am very handy, my garage is taking the longest time to box up and move stuff, mostly tools and "raw materials". I now see the need for a separate workshop, but have not mentioned that yet.

Boy, this move has enlightened us! We are definitely adding to the local landfill. And the china, it's in some boxes somewhere.....

 

[imoldernu]

Looks like "stuff" means dinnerware.
Doesn't mean much to us... Hey... at our resale store, always several full sets of Mikasa, for $15 to $20... never or hardly ever used. Also, occasionally, sets of Noritake or Lenox for not much more... Go figure... In most cases, probably from estates, where the kids are living in a different time.
We've had our Corelle since 1970 or 1971, and it's still unchipped. My aunt and uncle both worked at Corning, and had an employee discount, so bought sets for all the extended families.
....................................................................
That said, replacing stuff, is not in my genes... Repair, not replace... and rarely buy for getting the "latest", unless the latest is a huge leap forward, and the new item has much more value $$$-wise.

A good example is our cars... buying used @28,000 miles and 35,000 miles. Old... 1996, and 1998... Cadillac SLS and Lincoln Town Car. Love the luxury, power and size. I figured the actual cost per month for the two cars (since we bought them) , excluding oil changes, and license, and insurance fees, but including repairs... at a monthly cost per car of $111... including depreciation ie. the original cost.

Our Golf cart is a 1984 model, that we bought in 1990 for $1000. It looks as good as a 2013, which sells for about $6000. Bikes are top of the line classics, bought for $5 -$10 each... Tried the new ones, but like my 1987 Motobecane road bike and 1991 Offroad 352 (Trek) mountain bike much better.

When we do "replace" or upgrade.
Household goods... Almost never buy new. Just did a quick top of the head inventory of some Kitchen and cleaning "stuff"... Buy only items in top shape... next to new, and no one can tell the difference...
Resale shops. Some examples:

Hamilton Beach side open can opener $45 for $2
Hamilton Beach 10 speed blender $30 for $2
Red Devil Quick cleaner $20 for $1
Bissell Spot Lifter $45 for $2
Bissell Power Steamer $149 for $6.
Zwilling Henckels knife set $200+ for $10
Presto Knife sharpener $45 for $3
... just bought the greatest ice cream scoop for $.25

All in all super frugal... general rule of thumb is:
Nothing that looks "used".. OK if it needs cleaning
Never pay more than 10%, usually less
Know the brand
Check for missing parts
Plug in if necessary to check
Note: not to worry about missing instruction books... every item we've ever bought has manual available on-line.

The above is just the kitchen/cleaning stuff... Since I'm a gadget geek, I buy oddball stuff and fun electronics as a hobby... to see how they work, and to play with and fix... then recycle back to the resale and charity based shops. Oops.. one "new price... $299 for a 40" tv three years ago..

Tools- Chain Saws, Blowers, Mowers, Grinders, Pole saw, Drills, bits, Sawzall, and hundreds of hand tools... Only thing I ever bought new was a 125 pc top of the line socket/wrench set. the most I've ever paid on any tool (except as above) was $15 for an complete Dremel tool set.

DW buys decorative stuff of all kinds... (her max is less than 5%)

Shopping resale is a major hobby.