Well if one has collector traits, and one keeps losing against them one could also just surrender to them a bit, and say "ok I have more fancy bowls or whatever than is practical for what I really need", and just display them nicely so one can look at them and admire. But one should draw the line at having more than 2-3 things maximum they collect probably (and then yea go ahead and display them). And if stuff is in basements and in the way back of closets and stuff it's clearly not even being admired, so bring it out to look at more at least even if nothing else at least get visual USE out of it ... or get rid of it.
Truthfully I also recommend avoiding thrift shops if one has collector traits, those places are really dangerous they stimulate collector traits really badly IMO with their hit and miss hidden treasures aspect.
Trees don't grow on money
In my kitchen and pantry I admit to owning
Finger bowls
Fish knives
A large Victorian silver fish slice
Egg coddlers x 6
Georgian silver meat skewers. These are BLUNT and flat... They would be fine if I was roasting HENRY VIII sized lumps of meAT, otherwise useless!
Silver carving knife, for and sharpening steel
6 silver toast racks, small for breakfast trays, for when the servants serve guests their breakfast in their rooms (yeah, right!)
3 larger racks for the dining table.
Silver cruets x 3
Silver sugar casters x 6. I onlu ever use 1 for strawberries!
12 silver sugar nips
3 silver grape scissors
2 x 12 settings of silver cutlery in their own boxes, one of which is a piece of dining room furniture!
Most of this is family pieces handed down by earlier generations, which noone else seems to want, but protest when I threaten to sell it. The egg coddlers were wedding presents. Really pretty, but I can't remember the last time I coddled an egg!
Egg coddlers! I've always wanted to try coddled eggs; I imagine they're something like poached?
I've been helping my father-in-law get settled into hospice care at home this last week. He handed me a single sheet of paper detailing which family me,beers got which pieces of furniture and which artwork. And a specific instruction "everything else, hire a dumpster. Here's the number of the dumpster folks!"
He's totally my decluttering hero.
No finger bowls here!
But I waver on my wedding china: do I sell to Replacements.com or keep until we've had 3 Thanksgivings in a row at one of my kids' houses? I literally use this china once a year. And I'm not even crazy about it. It's a floral pattern (Lenox's Morning Blossom), and as my DH has told me, chefs will never plate their food on floral china because it takes away from the presentation. I don't have a hutch, so it's not even serving a decorative purpose.
Then there's my MILs china, which BIL has been boxing up in anticipation of the Big Move. I like my grandmother-in-law's china better than mine, so maybe I sell mine to Replacements and keep Grandma's for 3 years.
My MIL bought us Waterford Lismore crystal for our wedding and I used it literally ONCE, and then was so afraid it was going to be smashed when DHs rowdy friends came over I boxed it up, never to see it again for almost 40 years.
I did buy a couple of odd sized plates at yard sales over the years--a great Dansk salad plate set for instance, and I really love it. But I'm done with fancy china.
"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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We have not acquired finger bowls during this time. However, I was not aware of the existence of finger bowl until about 5 minutes ago. I suspect that the little mini dessert bowls that we use for ice cream, pre-dinner dinner party nuts for people to munch on, and for the little fillings on taco night (salsa, sour cream, etc) are in fact finger bowls that we are misusing. I'm now imaging our friends, going home from dinner at our house saying "can you even believe what JP and SO use finger bowls for???"
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