Skip to main content

My mug shot

Image
By
This is every mug I own.


How many did I buy? Zero. They seem to just appear.

I don't even drink tea or coffee. In winter I have might have a hot chocolate or cocoa. So 9 mugs seems like a lot.

How does this happen?

I reckon most mugs are gifts. There are two reasons for this.

1. It's a safe bet. People need to drink. It's kind of like buying your dad socks for father's day. But the difference is that socks wear out and need replacing. Cups don't. One of these mugs i received as a kid in the 90s. It still works fine. Now it has 8 friends.

2. It's often for what's on the mug. It might be a greeting card-style message, or a sports team logo, or something humorous. It's a good thing that something functional can also provide an inspiring message or pleasant memory as you use it.

But the problem comes when we have too much. If I use the cup my sister gave me at Christmas, then I'm not using the 'awesome brother' one she already gave me. And I'm not using the one mum gave me either.

So what to do?

If it were a different item I'd take photos of the memorable/sentimental ones, scale down to what I need and recycle the rest. But ceramic cups aren't recyclable and throwing them into landfill seems just as wasteful as having a shelf full of cups sitting untouched for 9 months each year.

I've considered selling some, but doesn't everyone else also have too many mugs? Who would want more?

What do you think? How many mugs do you have?
Would you like one with cartoon bees on it?
Read more about:

Comments

  1. Anonymous24 August 2018 at 19:51

    This is funny, we also have more than we need. I used to like having mugs that all match, but now I love the story behind every mug that I have.

    In the spirit of recycling and being green I've seen cafes at universities with a basket of old mugs at the counter that you can use (and return, if you want) instead of the plastic cups. Maybe it can be donated to a cafe like that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. david1 September 2018 at 15:31

    Hi Anonymous.
    Thanks for the tip. That's a good idea. I'll keep an eye out for a cafe like that.
    Also, I did manage to sell the one with the bees on it. A teacher wanted a mug for her classroom desk for pencils and thought the bees would be a design the (small) kids would love.
    Far better than it sitting in the back of my cupboard.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why millionaires don't "feel" rich

By
We're wealthier than ever - so why don't we feel like it? Australia has gone almost three decades without recession. The stock market recently hit a record high. Our wages are record highs. Home loan rates are at record lows. We live in one of the richest countries in the world at the richest point in history. So what's wrong? Comparison Wealth is relative. So what do we compare to? Where we expect to be? "When your wages growth is only 2 or 3 per cent, you don't feel as well-off as when it's going up 10 per cent. That's that nominal distortion that people often suffer from" , says economist Shane Oliver, and that "expectations have grown a lot faster than reality." We're earning more than last year, but we want even more. So compared to our imaginary situation, we see ourselves as worse off. What we see around us? Shane Oliver again. "If you think about it - Australians today are a lot wealthier. They're living far ric...
4 comments
Read more

Where is the best place to live?

By
Where we live determines a lot about our life.  So today I'm going to share a resource that can help you decide where might be a good place to live.  It started with an article ranking Brisbane suburbs from 1 to 260 . That ranking was based on a set of 17 factors. Here are some of them. But all 17 may not be relevant for you. And some might matter more than others. So they developed a tool where you can rank the 5 factors most important to you and it will give you a personalised list of Brisbane suburbs that would be the best for you - based on those factors. There are also  Sydney and Melbourne  versions. On the results page, there's also a map that colour-codes each suburb by star rating, for each factor. For instance here's the map for public transport. Five-star suburbs are in blue. When you click on a suburb, you get the name and the star rating of that suburb - for whichever factor you select. I find this to be so enlightening. I choose not to own a car. Some...
Post a Comment
Read more

The real cost of owning a car

By
It's been about 10 years since I've owned a car. My wife doesn't own one either. "You must save a lot in petrol" That's one of the frequent reactions when someone discovers we don't own a car. "Of course, but it's just the tip of the iceberg" is the usual theme of my reply. Many people I've talked to just aren't fully aware of the real cost of owning a car. Or even that there are six different costs of owning a car. Six? Really? Yes. Occasionally a work colleague or friend will boast their car only costs $X per week. Of course it turns out only some factors have been counted. Sometimes it's just petrol alone. To some people, that feels like the only cost they pay each week. Why does this matter? You might be questioning the need for a second car in the household (or even having one at all). Or you might just be choosing which car to get next. Either way, to make an informed decision we need proper information. So let's look at...
2 comments
Read more