Monday, June 30, 2014

The Patio Set We Didn't Buy

I have no idea where last week went!  It was our first week of summer vacation, and G-man was home during the day, so we found ourselves in a slightly different schedule.  Oh well!

Today I am going to share with you the story of how we didn't buy a patio set.

Between G-man's bonus, and a few other things, we had $828 in money available to us for whatever.  While I wanted to split it $700 to debt, and $128 to "fun"....eventually I conceded to a 50/50 split.  So now we had $414 in "fun" money.

We invited some friends over for dinner (which was last weekend, and was so much fun....even without a patio set!), and through a casual comment on my part....started a 3 week "discussion" about a patio set.  All I said was "we have to figure out chairs and tables."  I should have known better.  As soon as G-man hears stuff like that, he gets hung up on it.  Admittedly, I sometimes don't help the situation and come along for the ride. 

All of a sudden, we were looking at patio sets on-line.  G-man would stop at various stores and look.  He would send me pictures of stuff he found.  It became clear very quickly we weren't on the same page on this...not just on the purchase, but what we would even consider purchasing.

Eventually I found a smaller set that I liked.  He liked it.  Then he was on a mission to go find this set in person to try it out.  He called 3 different stores, and no one would pick up the phone in the department.  So he decided to go to all of these stores.  Yes, he spent a good portion of a day driving from store to store.  He found it in the one store that I would have never have guessed would have it on the floor.

I was tired of talking about this, and I was ready to give in and just say get the darn thing.  And then G-man said the smartest thing he had said in the 3 weeks of discussing this:  I want you go see it before we buy it.

He stopped.  He got off of the roller coaster of "new and shiny" and let it all settle.  This allowed me time to think about this, and decide if "I" even wanted this purchase.

Speaking purely for myself....I wanted it in the moment I first mentioned it weeks ago.....and it waned.  I wanted it when I found the set on line......and it waned.  The bottom line was I really didn't want it.  Now the question I had to pose to G-man was if he really wanted this.

When I met him at the store after work, he was all excited.  We sat at the table, and it was a nice enough set.  It was comfy.  It would fit the space.  I could see us hanging out on the deck.  But was this the best use of money??

I asked G-man why he wanted the set, and he described all the attributes of the set.  But when I asked him why he wanted ANY set...he didn't have an answer.  It was really more about getting caught up in the moment and wanting something new and shiny.  And when I said is this one larger purchase a better use of money over, say....3 smaller purchases....he didn't really know.

Ultimately, we decided that the smaller purchases would probably bring us more "enjoyment" over this particular larger purchase.  And we walked away. 

Our friends came over, and we used our folding tables with Dollar Store tablecloths to put all the food out.  The kids sat in the yard on resin chairs (which were in our basement and only needed a good rinsing).  The adults sat on the deck chairs we had and ate on our laps.  It was fine.  It was a casual hanging out evening and I hope we will be able to do it again soon.

So back to the money for a minute....all of our purchases are on hold for the moment.  Life changes...and until it settles again, I am not pulling the trigger on anything.  In theory, we have about $1500 to throw toward the car as a snowball, plus the "fun" money to spend.  We have "extra" money that we didn't use for camp and planned to use to help do some family fun things.  But all of it is on hold.....

Stay tuned.  ;)

16 comments:

  1. You are better than I my friend. We would more than likely have the patio set. Between my husband's "Let's enjoy life now" and my spontaneity, it would be in our back yard. This is very inspirational though - very inspirational.

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    1. Honestly, I was *this* close to just getting it. But there are so many other things that we would like to do with the yard....and I got that feeling that this was a slippery slope and that Pandora's Box would open.

      In the end, we didn't even miss having the set. And now....it might be a really good thing we didn't get....*smile*

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  2. To be honest, I bet your friends were more into you and the conversation than any patio set. Good decision.

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    1. I am 100% sure you are right...they really didn't care about a patio set. We still had a nice time.

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  3. A great decision! I find that if I hold off a few days, like you, the excitement of the new purchase fades. Also, if you decide in a few weeks that you really still need/want it, perhaps you can find it on sale?

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    1. I am watching the set to see if it goes on clearance, and then we will discuss it. However, we have some stuff that may be coming up and it may not even be a discussion at that point.

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  4. Hehe, I call this one Wants VS. Needs but here in our household everything seems to be a need lately.

    Make a plan, maybe save $50 out of every check and purchase this in the fall when these items typically go on clearance? Also, look for coupons and find things to sell around the house. I had a yard sale a couple of years ago and got close to $250 for stuff that was going to be donated.

    I think if you want something badly, you'll make it happen- at least how's how I work :)

    HS

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    1. I don't think it is even a WANT. It was not discussed until a few weeks ago. We have the money to do it....but for us, when we choose to spend that allotted "fun" money, this would not be the best use of the money.

      I think it was just the excitement of getting something new....we do it so infrequently that it tends to take over for a few days. ;)

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    2. Hmmm, yes sounds like something you don't really want!

      Have you looked at used sets? somebody moving etc?

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    3. "I" looked at used sets, and got a thumbs down from G-man on every thing I brought up. Again, I think he got caught up in the "new and shiny" aspect, so used was not new and shiny enough.

      And you know what....since our discussion where we said we weren't going to buy the set.....he hasn't brought it up since.

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  5. So glad you two are on the same page that is the hardest part sometimes.

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  6. Good call! I keep an ongoing shopping list via Google Tasks of things I'd like to buy. It's helped me prioritize what I want vs need and save for them.

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    1. I have everything written in a notebook that we want/ need, I like to see things crossed off (just like a "to do" list LOL)

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  7. That's funny, because we are having about 15 people over on Saturday & I'm wondering if we have enough chairs. We had some resin ones .... but they are in bad shape. We had 4 nice folding chairs, but the mice got at one of the chair's padding so that went in the garbage. We have a glass table on the deck ..... but we could really use another smaller table & chair set. But ... like you .... we will manage & I'm going to go buy new. We also have a folding table & 4 chairs (we used to call it a "card table". Does anyone call it that anymore? LOL) & we have the camping-type chairs that we take to the kids baseball games. I think we'll be good. This is my NEW brother & his family & like your situation, I think everyone cares more about the company than what they are sitting on!

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  8. Heh, it's a tough situation. I am one that doesn't believe you need the biggest TV in the neighborhood to enjoy a game with friends. It reminds me of a commercial, probably of auto insurance that went something like "it's not the size of the TV that matters, but the people watching" and showed a bunch of guys watching football on a 17" tv in the garage. Too true. If it was something you both really wanted, I would've said get it. But if you were so unsure... then maybe putting it in a hold list would do better.

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  9. Mysti! This is amazing progress for G-Man! I am impressed!

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