Durability

[livingdeb]

Once you have everything you need, you're still not done buying stuff because some things don't last forever:

Things that get used up
* food
* gas
* batteries
* services (electricity, etc.)

Things that wear out
* clothes
* sheets
* appliances (smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, water heaters, refrigerators)
* electronics
* roof shingles

Things that become impossible to use, even if they're still perfectly good
* 8-track tapes, things on 5 ¼-inch floppy disks, etc.
* things that get lost
* clothes that are no longer the right size or are hopelessly out of date

Things that get destroyed
* moth-eaten wool clothing
* moth-infested juggling balls (they like the rice I filled them with)
* mildew-covered things
* totaled cars
* watches that have gone through the wash

I'm getting old enough to where I'm starting to get it through my thick skull that almost everything wears out or otherwise becomes unusable.

It seems like a good investment would be things that last forever.
* solid furniture
* classic jewelry
* books, board games
* um, tattoos?

And some things could last forever if they were properly maintained:
* houses
* cars?
* knives (need sharpening)

Some things could last forever, but you get tired of them:
* plaster cast of your hand print
* gifts from an ex-.

What are some things you've had a long time and/or think you might have forever (by which I just mean the rest of your life)? Here are some of mine:

Long time
* Dad's polyester bathrobe that shrank and now fits me
* Some wall hangings and other decorations I made or got when I was a kid
* books, board games

Forever
* A quilt I made
* A bunch of jewelry
* hair sticks
* various pieces of wooden furniture
* some framed paintings and prints
* nail files
* metal tools such as a manual can opener, measuring spoons, mixing bowls, cookie sheets
* silicone muffin pans?
* trees I planted

Blog entry of the day - Small Notebook's Good to Own: Useful Tools - my favorite is #10, "Level. Check to see if your pictures are straight. If you don't have [a level], you can do like my friend Angie and put Oreos on top of the picture frame, to see if they roll."

Comments

[pamwheatfree.livejournal.com]

Tattoos last forever but they change. They fade and wrinkle and often aren't even recognizable after 10 or 20 years.
I have a metal sculpture/painting in the Mondrian style that I made in welding class. It has holes in it so it goes with any wall color. I am fairly certain that it will last forever. I also have a metal mixing bowl that was my mother's and it looks like it will last forever too. Also iron skillets will last if you take care of them. We now have good heavy wooden furniture but I don't know if it will last, we have only had it for three years so far.

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

So now I know a little more about tattoos. I would never have guessed they could go bad in only ten years!

[(Anonymous)]

A few items:

Things I have had a long time (from my childhood): Bicentennial blanket with Revolutionary War-era cannons and psychedelic mushrooms (1976); stuffed animals (back to 1974); my body (1973 - but it won't last forever, even if treated like a holy relic like the other items); my dresser (late 1970's)

Things I have that have been around for a long time: Dishes and whatnot that my grandmother had for ages before giving to me

Things I'll have forever: Who knows? I find that a lot of things are more durable than I would actually prefer them to be (including all that junk that ends up in the landfill). I hope that I will keep my wits for the rest of my life.

As for your trees, I wish them well, but I have found trees to be surprisingly vulnerable. Maybe Austin doesn't get the kind of weather (storms, wind, ice) that is so hard on them, though. Of course, if you planted them yourself, that helps (I mean, because they are less likely to succumb to natural death in your lifetime, not that I think you are Magic Planting Person or something weird).

-sally

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

I think I have gotten rid of my bicentennial celebration stuff! But mine did not have the mushrooms. My sister got all my stuffed animals from my childhood, though I have acquired a few more since then. Bowling pig has probably lasted two decades now, for example.

Things I inherited are mostly wooden furniture (stereo cabinet built by parents, shelves built by friends, Deacon's bench built by Mom.

Actually all the shade trees that came with my house are gone now. Or at least they are no longer providing shade, even if their millions of offspring are still providing weeding fodder. But all the trees I've planted that have survived their first summer are still around.

Magic Planting Person! I want one of those!

Yes, things I hope last include wits, sanity, and ability to get up and walk around. Actually all sorts of abilities. Not to mention hearing, sight (too late; I'll settle for correctable sight), and freedom from diabetes.