Cheap or Thrifty?
After my weekend of vulturing around picking up furniture from my parents and friends and now seeing it in my living room, I wonder now, am I cheap or frugal? When I was a student my entire apartment was made up of my parents’ old furniture (and it gave me a certain amount of security seeing familiar things around me, but I digress).
As I have grown older I have bought some new furniture but continue to use older furniture from various sources.
I think it is partially a frugal thing, because what is the point of blowing $2000 on a new couch, if you have or can get a good one and pocket the money? If I am happy with the “gently used” furniture, why do I feel cheap having it? Why do I equate financial success with New things?
My guess is it is a cultural thing, but again, not entirely sure either.
Patience Update
Following up on my “patience pays” posting on Monday, I ended up saving about $70 at the end of it all, by being patient, but also being firm with my Car Rental agent. I think that is not bad for 1/2 an hour of my time (and not getting all twisted about things). Will this happen every time? Maybe not, but again, being patient should usually give you a sense of well-being mentally if not financially.
Another Toy Recall
My son’s love of Thomas the Tank Engine is causing me to learn much more about toy recalls than I wanted to. Yet another set of toys is being recalled by RC2, and AGAIN we are owners of these toys. This is starting to get a little ridiculous.
We have a lot of furniture or “things” in the house that have been acquired from family. Sometimes it is because of sentimental value, other times it is because, “Why buy something new that is probably crap, when we can use this older piece of furniture that is still in good shape and looks fine in our house”. I look at it as, “Why spend $2000 on a sofa I don’t need if I could invest that money in the market”. All of us have different priorities.