Year Three, Week Forty-Three - Spend It Like You're Rich......

After publishing last week's post (I went a whole week without a post?  Dang.),  Hubby and I went out looking for a new dryer.  We always check a local shop first.  They have two stores, one with everything they have to sell, and one that holds the leftovers, the floor models, and the "scratch-and-dents."  Our last washer/dryer came from there, deeply discounted:  one because it had been delivered to a previous buyer who sent it back unopened because it was too large, and the other for some minor chip on the BACK.

We got lucky and found a matching pair for $400 under list price, both very energy efficient, both double-loaders.  We negotiated to get the drawers that go underneath for a BOGO.  While the negotiations were underway, we wandered around and found a fabulous price on a memory foam mattress (on the list of aging things we have been planning on replacing).  We ended up spending less for all 5 pieces than we'd budgeted for just the washer and dryer.

On a roll with Hubby in a shopping mood, we headed off to another store to look at recliners.  Our TV area has an aging dirt-colored dirt-covered double recliner that seats two in a space where we commonly would like to seat three.  I had seen a shaker-style recliner that I wanted Hubby to see.  He's a big guy with bad knees.  Any chair we get for him has to be LONG and sturdy and preferably not too close to the ground.

We wandered.  We sat, reclined, criticized, laughed at ugly, admired pretty but impractical and generally made a nuisance of ourselves to the sales clerk, who must have pictured us as the no-commission time-wasters of his day.  Then we found it:  A couch. 

We were seriously NOT looking for a couch, but this one has a recliner on each end, a comfy middle seat, and is only three INCHES wider than the ugly recliner we are now using. It was on sale and we could get an additional discount by using the store credit card (the only credit card I have). We told the longsuffering salesman that we'd go home and talk it over.

Given the financial crises of Babygirl's illness over the past three years, we've been cautious.  We don't throw a lot of money around.  We do-it-yourself when we can, we don't do blowout Christmas and birthdays, and we 'redecorate' with a can of paint and bright pillows.  On top of the necessary replacement of two major appliances, it made us both a bit queasy.  But.....

Our overall care not to overspend has paid off.  We actually have the money to do this without cracking into emergency funds. 

So our new washer/dryer have been delivered and installed, restoring Zen to my life.  We are sleeping beautifully on our new mattress.  And the new couch will be here next Saturday. with time to spare for Super Bowl Sunday.  And that sales clerk?  He was absolutely stunned when we called him back and got him his commission.  All we have to do now is figure out what to do with a dirt-colored double recliner.  Any takers?

So now we need to eat whatever is already in the freezer for the next two months, but for one day we shopped like rich people.

DeeDee