If thread has a life of 3 yrs then what is holding together those 100 yr old quilts; many have been washed mulitple times and some were done so on an old wash board. I almost got rid of my thread a few years ago that was old until I thought about all of those quilts still out there. I'm sure if thread had that short of life on a spool tucked away then it wouldn't even make it around for 3yrs once put into a quilt and used and abused. I have 2 thread holders and use them. I don't see a problem with it as long as it's not in the sun and gets used enough not to get to dusty