Better late than never
May 15, 2008
Posted by CindyW in : Opinions & Thoughts , trackback
Ding Dong! My door bell rang. I opened the door.
“Hi, I am Scott,” the young father-to-be extended his hand
“Hi, I am Cindy. Come on in.” I swung open the door all the way.
Scott walked into the guest room and examined the pieces carefully. “Awesome. My wife will be so happy.” He handed me a stack of $20 bills.
A deal has been closed. Scott was taking away the crib, the dresser, the mattress, beddings, and blankets that my kids went through. I got $500 in return.
For a few seconds, I was very excited about having cash in hand; for some reason, plain cash still had its unique appeal, as compared with a check or a credit card.
But wait, we paid $2,000 for the crib/dresser set five years ago. So basically it has depreciated 75% of its value, not considering the inflation rate. Then I looked around our garage – a baby jogger, used fewer than a dozen of times, a baby backpack, never used, a twin bed, slept on for less than two years, a pack-n-play, used 5 times at best. Then there were a couple of walkers, a tricycle, a small bike, a run bike, a three-wheel scooter, a Razor scooter, and on and on.
All of them have a depreciation rate greater than the crib (I checked Craigslist), i.e., they are worth a few bucks here and there. My past few of years of frequent Target acquisitions flashed through my mind. Those clearly have a depreciation rate of 100% - junk to junk.
Standing there, I was shocked at how unwise I had been as a parent. Had I been as smart as Scott, my kids’ 527 education funds would have been so much more endowed. Instead I have a garage full of nothing to show for.
Watching Scott load the furniture pieces into his truck, I wish that I had wised up much sooner than a year ago. If Scott and his wife can use the crib and dresser set for 5 years and give it away for free, they will still only lose $500, instead of $1500+ in my case. I have always thought that I was financially responsible – 401K, savings, blah, blah. Guess the first-time-parent excitement got the better of me.
I suppose I can take comfort in my late-but-better-than-never embracing of a non-consumer centric life. At least the unnecessary buying stopped a year ago.
A couple of days ago I was at REI exchanging my Nalgene bottles for BPA-free ones, I fought every urge to buy random gear, shoes or clothes. If you think Target is bad, REI trumps Target as my shopping pitfall any day. But I walked out of REI with no more than two exchanged BPA-free water bottles.
Better late than never, I comforted myself as I waved Scott good bye.
CindyW at Organicpicks
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Comments»
My favorite line: “junk to junk”. You got it! I have wasted so much money in my lifetime, buying little bits of crap. I know I’m not alone. Most of America has done the same thing. Most of it is worth very little. Much of it ends up in landfills and some is able to find a second life at a thrift store or through Craigslist. At least we are waking up now. At least we now realize the waste. Now we can stop spending and get on with living, saving our hard earned money for something truly valuable - our kids and their future.
I’m as guilty as anyone here! I dipped into my savings several times last year because I got a new apartment and I needed to decorate it, or I needed to buy all new kitchen stuff.
Now I look back at the me of just over a year ago, and I’m like … that was stupid.
GB and arduous: looks like we all had stupid purchases
BTW, if you want to swap your Nalgene bottles for BPA-free kind in REI, prepare for a looooong wait. After 15 minutes, I told the nice man at the check out counter to abandon the effort. He insisted on finishing the exchanging process which in totally took 25 minutes. Probably not worth your time.
Don’t be so hard on yourself. Yes..you bought new…now it is getting a second life because you took the time to list and sell it…and chances are it will get a third life when those people donate it or even sell it.
I agree with organicneedle — don’t be too hard on yourself. There is something about parenthood that removes all common sense, makes us buy cute stuff and who cares about the price - it’s for the baby! I’ve observed it even worse in grandparents. One set went out and bought a fancy 5th-wheeler, the other set bought a second house. Just to be with the grandkid.
I did the exact same thing with the baby stuff - but by the time the third kid had used it - i had trouble giving it away! Now I know better - i still enjoy shopping though - i go to the mall and look at all the stuff I wouldnt buy in a fit. I cant recall what my catylst for stopping spending was, but I know I felt the same as you when i couldnt recoup a cent on a $500 cot.
Organicneedle: thanks for the pat on the back. I am usually not very critical of myself (personal flaw :)), but the collection of all the stuff right there in front of my eyes is a bit shocking when I start to calculate how much valuable resource I have wasted. It’s all Chile’s fault. The whole decluttering event got my junk together. Otherwise it would not be as noticeable…
donna: wow, one set of grandparents bought a second house for Andrew? They must really want to be close to him. I am jealous. My parents and my in-laws certainly won’t do that for us.
I think you did good! I think it is wiser to buy use it for whatever then “put it forward”. Buy selling it, you did not put it in the trash, probably halped the couple out who bought the baby stuff out by selling them affordable baby items! And it is better to get $500 than to spend $40-100 at the dump! I think you did the smart thing!
I’ve begun putting furniture up for sale as well. I’m deliberately putting things up at very low cost because I want it out of my house. If no one responds, I’m giving it away for free.
My husband is very good at reigning me in when I have the impulses strike me. He will stand there and remind me: if you buy this this is less money we will have in savings for our land. If you buy that we will have less money to spend at the farmers’ market. Its very effective.
Robj: thanks for the encouragement. Sometimes it is just so much easier to put stuff at the curb and label it “free”. It miraculously disappears
Beany: That’s awesome that your husband is a gate keeper. I used to rationalize myself into buying anything.
Cindy, What’s really funny is that set of grandparents looked for 10 years for a house in our area, but nothing could satisfy their exacting requirements. Shortly after Andrew was born, they came for a weekend visit and bought the first house a realtor showed them!
I massively over spent on baby stuff with my first too. We have four children now and as I am still at home full time, this has really helped curb my over consuming!