I'm pretty new to the Cricut community. I had ready several complaints from others about these cutting mats losing their stickiness or having to be replaced very frequently, but I have used my first one probably 15 times now and it's still as sticky and undamaged as when I got it. I would definitely recommend keeping the sheet of plastic to cover it again when you're done using it each time, just so lint and stuff doesn't get stuck to it.