Friday, April 23, 2010

Pickups and Pride

From time to time I share little things my husband says about our shopping experiment.  He has been incredible about the entire process.  Although we decided to do this together, I really thought he would bail on me when he saw hunting supplies on clearance at Wal-Mart, but he has stuck to the whole program without a fuss.  As a matter of fact, he commented the other day that he hasn't missed out on anything.  He said, "We have enough stuff around here that we shouldn't have to buy anything next year either."  I am impressed with his commitment to this.  Not all husbands would be so supportive or readily inform people that he and his family aren't purchasing things.  Ego and pride might get in the way for a few of us - be it man or woman, but we have unabashedly told folks that we are simply not buying things.  He has made it known to his friends, family and even strangers.  I really think it takes some pressure off.  An example is when the guys get together and start talking vehicles.  Let me say that if any man deserves a new(er) vehicle, it would be my husband.  He has been driving the same truck for 20 years and has over 275,000 miles on that Chevy.  It has lots of cosmetic deficiencies but it gets him from place to place.  He would love a new truck and he is the one in our family earning the paycheck.  But, our deal is not to purchase anything that isn't depletable or edible. The extra money we are applying to our credit card would certainly cover a truck payment so needless to say I am grateful he has made the choice he has made - we have a goal and we are trying like mad to reach it.  This shopping experiment is certainly helping with that and gives him an excuse when the other guys start asking when he's going to make an upgrade - he has an 'out' in other words by saying that it isn't on our list of depletables this year. 

That doesn't mean he doesn't get a raised eyebrow from time to time, but we often get that same look when we let folks know we homeschool or that we don't give our children certain vaccines, so we have gotten used to 'the look' by now.  As with anything else, just because someone does something different doesn't make them wrong, it just makes them different.  Life would be so boring if everyone did everything the same way, wouldn't it?

1 comment:

  1. You are absolutely right and I am very proud of you and Quade. I am very proud of Kelby too, he was a little upset at first about this but he has learned so much from it. You can't slip up because Kelby keeps up with what is depletable and what is not and he will keep you on track. Keep going, I think you are doing a great job with this!

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