Are you good at taking care of things?

My dd wants my long case clock circa 1800 bought by my grandfather in 1917
Signed Joseph Gent walsall

I will be selling yet another home fully furnished so my only possessions will be a car and my books and clothes.
I travel lightly through life!

Should we really carry on " taking care of things ? "
Is is fair on our children?
The scenario I see is this:
The practical ones will hire a skip and throw the whole lot in, without question.
The more careful ones will first go through our stuff in case there is something they could take to the antique's road show.
Unless you have something major, like a piece of art or a piece of antique furniture, we should not expect them to live with our past, or indeed their grandparent's past.

Ofcourse, they will tell us not to dispose of something because it has meaning to them. They perhaps do not want to hurt our feelings.
More often than not the said something will end up in a drawer, or in the attic.

My mother gave everything away and especially anything that belonged to me so nothing left to hand down.

I remember when my paternal grandmother passed away my parents found chests of bedding and clothes that had been given to her for birthdays and Christmas. I thought it was such a shame that Gran never used it.

Anything I have that is nice has either come from a carboot sale, charity shop, or a factory seconds sale. I have a good eye for a bargain I used to save things for best but not anymore lets face it as we get older every day is for celebrating. I am careful with my possesions usually but have had a few disasters due to manic cleaning sessions . It's never the cost of the broken piece that bothers me but the sentiment.

We have bits and bobs handed down but nothing of real value. The thing we have that I wish I hadn't kept for 'best' is the really dated (now!!), but not in a good way , that my parents gave us as a wedding present in 1970. It really is hideous!

I have absolutely nothing inherited from my family. My mother never had much anyway and what bits she had got from her own mother were destroyed in the blitz. I am quite envious when I see people on Cash in the Attic with valuables they inherited from great uncles, etc.

I think most of us do the "saving for best thing", it comes from being born in wartime or whilst rationing was still in force.
My mother had a plate to commemorate the coronation of King George, used every single day and still going strong in my sister's home. I would have put it in a china cabinet as I did with my china mug from the Queen's coronation.

I think we of this generation have things handed on to us , or inherited , and rather foolishly in my case anyway , are slightly afraid to use in case gets broken . When I pass there will be loads of things which will be either sold or sent to charity shops . I cannot however , break the habit of a lifetime and just "use" things , I have to keep some things for best . heyho [blush ever so slighty]

I have a very ornate plate which has a label on the back (in my great aunt's writing) saying that it was used at a family wedding in 1895! DS2 fancied using it at his own wedding in 1995 - unfortunately he couldn't find a girl willing to have him that year! And I wasn't sure that it would have been the basis of a lasting relationship, so the plate is still waiting.

I still have the chest of drawers that came in a suite when I was 11....60 years ago, or 61 on Saturday!

And a little black teddy bear I had when I was 4 - but my dad kept him, and we found him after my dad died and we were clearing the house.

One glass of a set we used in the summer before we left Welwyn Garden City in 1951 - with black stripes round it and a round black base

A wooden Norwegian drinking bowl, souvenir I believe of my parents' honeymoon in 1932, I have had it since my mother died in 1996

And my sister has plates from my parents' wedding gifts, but not the full set, which is a shame since they are Clarice Cliff.....

I tend to keep everything long after it it is no use, and everything else because it might be useful in the future!

I don't think I can take credit for the Georgian bow-fronted chest of drawers that originally came from the family rectory in Leicestershire, but I have kept it safe for future generations - GD1 wants to inherit it. I also have a very beautiful silver tray presented to my grandfather when he celebrated 50 years in journalism, I try to remember to keep it polished.

I'm fairly good, I have a couple of bits of furniture that we've had since '70's also clothes, that I hope one day will fit again. but I do admit when I had a new kitchen fitted 3 yrs ago I vowed the oven n hob would stay like the day the were fitted.......ummm not quiet.

greatnan DD is the same we bought DGS a trike with a mummy handle and then this year a 2 wheeler with stabilisers. They are out in all weathers

I am good at looking after things too, and it proved useful when I lost two stones and was able to dig out the perfectly good size 14 clothes that I had not been able to bring myself to throw out!
My other daughter and her family are just the opposite -she bought a new vacuum cleaner because nobody worked out how to empty the bag of a perfectly good one! Expensive bikes are left outside to rust - it drives me mad!

Yes. I respect things. I respect machines and look after them I look after clothes and furnishings. It is second nature to me. I find it easy. Tidiness takes less energy than living in chaos.

I'm very good with household items and keep them intact, clean and good working order for years and my clothes and personal belongings. Trouble is they go on too long and I get fed up with them so they have to have an 'accident' to persuade DH that we need to buy something else.

Bags

None of my crockery matches. I don't care. In fact, I rather like having everything odd.

I think my oldest possession is a leather pencil case my father gave me when I started grammar school in 1967. It wasn't new. He'd had it for quite a long time already. I am still using it. Have replaced the zip a couple of times.

Yes and sometimes I wish I wasn't , I hardly ever break or wear something out.. I am loathe to renew dishes/glasses when I have lots of mismatched ones in the cupboard, but would love to just throw the whole lot out and buy new... just can't bring myself to do it.. coats and outfits bought for special occasions hang in the spare bedroom wardrobe , I did recently manage to take a few bags to the charity shop. Shoes I never wear out apart from my current 'walking shoes' the others I only wear for a few hours and I don't walk far in them so they never get worn. I have a pen that my Dad bought me about 40yrs ago and my daughter was astounded the other day when asked if I had a pen I gave it to her to use.. it still writes and I have never renewed the ink . It lives in my bag but I don't use it often..

I have several bits of furniture that belonged to each of my grandmothers and a table that belong to my great-grandmother. Many of my clothes are over twenty years old but still in good condition and still used.

It's kept traditionally behind the front door for use on husbands returning from the mooning on the square!

jeni that's a lovely heirloom.

I still have my great GMs rolling pin. Slag glass and passed down on wedding days to eldest GD!

I have my grandmother's dinner service fully intact. We hardly ever use it (mainly because it cannot go in the dishwasher), but she used it all the time in her lifetime, even though it is very posh. I can remember having meals on it when we visited her at the seaside when we were children. We knew to treat it with respect.

And I have clothes practically from my university days!! They will be back in fashion soon I expect!

Yes! All my life I've "taken care of things" and I wish I could stop!. I open my wardrobe and see lots of clothes like new, while I wear the same things over and over in order to save things.
Same with everything else in my house. It's almost as if I don't feel that I deserve the best

I do fight it, but in the end the charity shop gets some really good stuff!