How to make things last in your home?

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

How to make things last in your home?

Cups.jpg

 

Hello everyone,

 

If you host guests on a regular basis (or if you have a big family who pop around), the furniture, dishes, sheets, towels etc. have to withstand many uses. It can often be hard to know if it's better to buy cheap things that are easy to replace or pay a little more for things that will last longer. 

 

We recently touched upon this briefly in the All about linen and bedding topic, so I thought it would be good to expand it further to all kind of things in the home. 

 

What are your tips for making things last longer in the home? Maybe you have a cover to protect the sofa, or use particular mugs because they are less fragile.

 

For me, I always try to use plastic or wooden kitchen utensils when using non-stick pans. This way the protective cover will stay on the pans for longer and won't be scratched off through the use of mental utensils. 🙂

 

I look forward to hearing your suggestions.

 

Thank you,

Lizzie 


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35 Replies 35
Bill-and-John0
Level 2
Palm Desert, CA

Even though we are new to AirBnB we have hosted many guests and events in our second home. We are very comfortable at buying very nice inexpensive decor items. When it comes to dishes buy VERY inexpensive one but only when you can buy a considerable amount more than what you need. Store the overage. If a plate or glass breaks in our property we will be just fine because we have many more..,.no worries about needing to get a new set or finding replacement pieces. Only we know how inexpensive our dishes are...,a little bit of time searching and you can buy great looking things on a shoestring budget.

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Lovely to meet you @Bill-and-John0 and welcome to the Community Center.

 

It is great that you bulk buy, it is a handy thing to do, because as you say then you know if anything breaks you can replace it from your stock straightaway. Do you usually look out for dishes of a certain colour/type/style, because you know it is reliable even when you need to restock?


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Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


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Hey, sorry for the delay...though I had responded a long time ago. We have found dishes at discount stores that were sold “per each”. We bought like 50 plates and 25 of the other items. They were very inexpensive. Now our home is a hacienda so that makes it somewhat easier than if our home was more formal. It is nice knowing that if things break, we just pull out more. It just takes so much pressure off. Even our glasses came from a dollar store, seriously, they are worth checking out. 

Marie405
Level 10
Taguig, Philippines

This is a great topic @Lizzie.  Like yourself I only have plastic and wooden utensils for cooking to avoid scratches on Teflon cookware.  Unfortunately, some guests would like to cut meat on the frying pan so I ended up replacing them a few times.  So when at the shop I asked for the most durable cookware and I was offered a Marble Stone Cookware.  I think it was 3 times the price but I must say it can really withstand some torture.  I have them for quite sometime now and If I look closely I see a few cut lines but barely visible and still looks great!

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hello @Lynne-and-George0, I hope you are doing well. 

 

I love to hear you like this topic, I find it all fascinating myself. 🙂

 

The marble stone cookware sounds good. I imagine the product is in the name and the pans are coated with some form of marble, which is quite clever? Has it meant you replace your pans less frequently?

 


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Robert5
Level 2
Missouri, United States

We have offered up a full house for 4 years now, and I have learned that quality pays. We buy Fiestaware dishes as they are durable and if one breaks, they can be easily replaced. 

 

For glasses we have found that the Martha Stewart line at Macy's is very durable. We provide both regular drinking glasses and wine glasses. 

 

 

Finally, for cookware and such we stick with the house brand from Macy's as well. It is not top of the line, but semi durable and again easily replaced.

 

 

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Thanks for your comments @Robert5, it is really interesting.

 

Do you supply kitchen equipment like chopping boards and cutlery? If so, do you find you buy cheaper versions of these or as these are less likely to break but just might need a freshen up more often?


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Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


Looking to contact our Support Team, for details...take a look at the Community Help Guides.

I have been at this since May 2017 and the best shopping experience for dishes including pans of any type of material would be the Goodwill.While I would shop at retail stores and pay retail prices I realize there is an expense to sharing your home. Shining them up washing them very well and making sure they’re not chipped or broken before leaving the store is always a benefit to still having nice things just a little used.

Alexandra316
Level 10
Lincoln, Canada

I am always wary of cheap dishware and glasses, due to the possibility of lead in the glaze or glass. We buy our dish sets, cutlery, knives, chopping boards, etc. from Costco, and I think they look nice and the pricing is good. We have duplicate sets in case of breakage.

 

For glasses, we do actually supply quality wine glasses, due to being in wine country. You can get some decently priced crystal ones from Winners/Homesense that aren't too expensive. Our everyday water glasses are from Ikea, and again, I keep spares in case of breakage.

 

For small appliances, I go with whatever is reasonably inexpensive but well-rated on Amazon.

 

For furniture and decor, I have gotten a lot of items from Kijiji, which is a Canadian buy and sell page. Our gorgeous kitchen table was originally about $1200 from Urban Barn, and I bought it for $250 including 4 chairs. I love that set so much. We have also bought other non-soft-furnished items on there. We purchase our mattresses from Costco: again, the pricing is excellent, you still get brand names, and we have a points account that means we don't pay for our membership.

 

Costco is generally my go-to for most stuff.

 

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

This is great @Alexandra316

 

I like that you supply quality wine glasses, in order to give the wine the honour it deserves. 🙂

 

I'm intrigued, when you buy the different things in your house, even when they are cheap do you think more about function or style, or a bit of both?


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Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


Looking to contact our Support Team, for details...take a look at the Community Help Guides.

@Lizzie I'd say that I generally choose housewares for quality primarily, but it still has to fit my taste. I spend lots of time finding things that I think are great: it took me months to find the kitchen table, for example. I do like simple and basic design: all my linens and towels are from a hotel supply place, so they're all white, but I personally really like that.

 

In the kitchen, I did play a bit with the dishware design, but cutlery is plain and again, solid quality. I really dislike cutlery and kitchen tools that feel cheap. I also dislike using a kitchen where it feels like everything is purchased from the dollar store. Dull knives, cheap corkscrews, light plastic spatulas, dish towels that don't absorb water, etc. are a pain in the butt and they don't last. I also kind of think it makes the place seem unloved, but maybe that's just me!

 

As far as the glasses go, that's a good way to put it :-). People come to our area and spend a lot of money to buy nice wine: they should have something decent to put it in.

 

I do put lots of thought into purchasing items. I'm a quality over quantity person generally.

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Aw I bet your guests love staying in your home @Alexandra316. 🙂

 

It sounds like you put quite a search in to find your kitchen table. I think a table is a quite a big decision though, it is something you hope will last quite some time in your home and it is usually something you are going to notice when you look around the room, so you want to be pleased with it. (If you have any pics, please do share, it would be lovely to see how it turned out.) 

 

I bought my kitchen table a few years ago now and I went for something pretty solid. I figured, it will last me a long time and if it gets to the point where it has a few scuffs or marks on the top, perhaps I could sand it down and make it into a bit of a project! hehe

 

 


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Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


Looking to contact our Support Team, for details...take a look at the Community Help Guides.

Kitchen table 2.jpg

@Lizzie No complaints so far! 🙂 Knock firmly on wood.

 

Here's the table. Like I said, it's amazing what you can find used if you're patient. It was originally $1200, and I paid $250 with the chairs, which are also great: really sturdy.  I also just really like the way it fits into the space.

 

Kitchen table.jpg

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

This looks great @Alexandra316, the table looks like it was made for the space. I love the contrast in colour between the red and white, including the salt and pepper pots that fit in with the theme too. 🙂

 

 


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Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


Looking to contact our Support Team, for details...take a look at the Community Help Guides.