by Beks
Through careful Craigslist shopping, my husband and I have been able to purchase almost all the items we need to furnish the baby’s room. I went out to the garage, saw the neat stack of used furniture, and broke into tears. Rather than see brand new furniture boxes with happy baby photos on the front as I had always imagined, I saw “someone else’s stuff.”
I felt like I had failed all my picket fence dreams.
Several of my friends are having babies and they share their stories of shopping for furniture at pricey stores and picking out themes. Meanwhile, my ‘theme’ is – buy study wood furniture that matches… sort of. Don’t get me wrong, it will look great and I’ll spend 90% less than my friends, but I couldn’t help but feel a little ashamed that I spend my weekends at garage sales and traipsing through people’s homes asking for deals.
Yesterday morning, the head of HR stopped to chat. He and his wife are expecting their third… and ‘very, very, unexpectedly, accidental’ child. They have to start over on purchasing baby goods and he mentioned the ‘killer deal’ he got on a crib from Craigslist.
I choked on my caffeine-free tea. ‘What?!?’ I gasped, trying to take a breath.
Keep in mind, this guy makes well over 100K a year.
“Yeah, it’s great. Why should I take the hit on retail? Let some other sucker pay it” he said with a huge grin. He saw the shock register on my face, grabbed my arm, and said, “Oh my gosh Rebekah. Please don’t tell me you bought something new right? It’s such a rip off!” he said.
“No. The room is furnished thanks to Craigslist and garage sales” I said.
“Thank goodness! I knew you were smarter than that” and he continued to chat away.
Do you even know what a relief it was to hear that – especially from someone who can afford nice things? I was flying high finally thinking I hadn’t failed, I’d simply been smart about my finances… for once.
All the furniture is paid for with cash. I guess I do have a theme…
Financial Responsibility.
