One of my pet peeves with my generation is the sense of entitlement we carry around. I deserve this. I deserve that. I'm so worth it. Yeah, you're worth it. That doesn't mean that you can afford it. And if you can, it still doesn't mean you should spend your retirement money on it.
I'm not just pointing fingers at other people. I'm pointing one squarely at myself too. I have a perfectly functional top-freezer white fridge. Right out of grandma's kitchen. Bought used on CL at an astronomical savings for a barely used device. Because MrM hates spending money (now, before you start worshipping his prudence, I want to say that he is saving to buy all the planes he dreams about and not because he is wiser than I am). A few months ago our fridge started dripping water and I jumped on the chance. I wanted a new bottom freezer French door fridge. The time was right, our fridge was leaking and there was some money in the bank. I wanted that fridge, I could afford it, and hey, I was worth it. Right? But MrM would have none of it. He pulled the darn freezer apart, found a large mass of ice that couldn't defrost because it was plugging a drain directly under it. He cleaned it all up and we have a roomy, functional fridge again. It is still white, top freezer and right out of grandma's kitchen.
Last month while I was in my mom's kitchen, microwaving my coffee for the 100th time (I keep forgetting to drink it), I was overcome by a sense of familiarity. We had bought that microwave when I was in 8th grade. Same with her Moulinex food processor. I've been seeing these devices for almost 20 years (did I just date myself?). She says "Everything works well, so why upgrade?".
On the flip side, I know people who will spend half their weekly take-home on a fancy French enamel coated stock pot. Seriously - just cook in the $10 cast iron pot from your local store and you won't be that disappointed. What is it with our generation that we justify our excesses with "I'm worth it"? You are worth what? Retiring in poverty? Living in such financial stress that you can't decide whether to downgrade your own food or your dog's? Is it really worth that? And, are we not supporting low quality production by predictably upgrading every 5 years?
I have my own weaknesses in this regard. I still have toys I've budgeted to splurge on this year. So I am by no means better than anyone else. I might even be worse. But I have learned something through example and I will be trying to remind myself of it all the time.
My new mantra after having my eyes opened during this vacation is this: There is a time for buying a good quality product. That time is when you can afford it and the product that you have is no longer doing its job. (MrM - I'll stop threatening to throw your college pasta pot). There is also a time to upgrade that good quality product to the latest and greatest thing. That time is also when you can afford it and.. (you know the rest). What is latest and coolest will change faster than any of us can keep up. Nickel will be the new steel, purple will be the new red and gray will be the new orange. What do you do with your scarlet appliance collection then?
No comments:
Post a Comment