Let Him Do the Shopping

It’s a pretty common joke that husbands don’t want their wives to go shopping, or they’ll spend all the money.  In our case?  It’s a little different.

When I was living on my own in college, I spent all my money.  I had it “budgeted” to the day, and spent every cent.  On Starbucks, clothes, music, eating out, renting movies to avoid studying, etc.  I had no problem buying what I wanted.  If it made money tight that week and I had to eat oatmeal three nights in a row, so be it.

Then I got married.  And due to his and my personalities, we decided that I would take care of the finances.  I quickly learned that my budgeting skills in college were no match for the bills of married life.  My view on money changed pretty quickly.  No matter if we had plenty of dough or were barely scraping by, I usually had money in the back of my mind.  It’s sometimes hard for me to justify spending money now.  Which brings into mind visions of Scrooge hoarding his gold coins.  Yikes.

So, Timothy is helping me relax.  And I’m helping him save.  Win, win.

But it’s an even bigger win when HE is the one who goes shopping.

I’ve been wanting a coffee maker since before we got married.  I’ve agonized over it, questioned whether or not I needed it, tried the nasty powdered coffee and tried to talk myself into liking it, and then finally just decided to go to my mom’s house every morning on the way to work to get my coffee fix.

But then, on one magical trip to Goodwill, I found it.  Well, my mom found it.  And then spent ten minutes trying to explain it to me.  Once I grasped the concept I threw it in my car without a moment’s hesitation.

A $3 coffee percolator.  Probably from the 60s.  With a bit of rust on the bottom.  Perfect.

I used it one time and it was so nasty I couldn’t even finish the cup.  I thought it was probably something I did, so I kept it, intending to keep trying.

Then a crazy week happened.  It was  full, busy, and stressful and I may have been a bear to Timothy a couple of times.  He had to work an extra shift on Saturday, so on his way home he decided to get me something to cheer me up.  He thought about bringing home a cup of Starbucks, but then his romantic brain got the best of him and he came home with this:

And that would be a french press coffee maker.  The legit kind.  With a bag of Starbucks coffee.

While I settled for a rusty old used coffee maker, Timothy didn’t even bat an eye and bought me the good stuff.

I’m sending that boy out to do all the shopping.

~Whitney