Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Post-Move Shopping

In one of my posts about the closing, I wrote about going into this trance of spending-- you're writing such big checks that it starts to seem like it must all be play money anyway and what's a few hundred or thousand dollars more?!?
I think I am still having some residual effects from that. I've found myself grabbing stuff at Home Depot and Lowe's, not really checking prices or my total spending 'til it's rung up. Some of what I've been buying are true necessities, like lightbulbs, but other things are just convenience items, little things to aid in my quest to have a place for everything and everything in its place! So I start to wonder: Am I actually like my mom? Wanting everything to look nice and be organized regardless of the cost? Of course when you are moving into a new home, you want to get some of these things out of the way quickly, and you don't want to spend the time looking for the best possible bargain on everything... but I have had moments where I've felt like I was in that consumer-zombie state!
For my higher-priced items, I've sort of been in the same mode. A new couch and armchair and bed will be where the real damage is done. I've fallen into a dilemma trying to decide between a few things I like at Room & Board and Crate and Barrel. After mulling over many pros and cons, I almost pulled the trigger last night at Crate and Barrel, but then I was worrying that I might not like the stock-plus fabric enough, so I started looking at custom fabrics. Suddenly my very reasonably priced couch was 60% more in the nicer fabric... and more than double for an even nicer fabric! I was writing up an order for swatches when I suddenly realized I was being stupid to consider than highest price fabric-- it was actually one of those micro-suedes. I never wanted suede to begin with but the color was closer to my ideal, so I was thinking about it... but with the extra expense thrown in, I realized I should just rule it out. I may still consider the mid-range fabrics, but that is when I start to wonder if a subtle difference in texture and color depth is really worth hundreds of dollars. But I don't want to spend the next 20 years looking at my couch and thinking "why did I buy this ugly beige lump?"
So far, most of my furniture browsing has been more driven by concerns relating to size, space, color and style, as opposed to cost. I've so far done my browsing in mid-range stores, i.e. Crate and Barrel/ Room & Board-- not Target/Ikea, or on the other hand, I don't know, Maurice Villency or whatever the other expensive furniture stores are that I'm not even familiar with-- so I can more or less look at anything in the store and figure it's not totally out of my range.
Anyway, I was looking at the stock-plus color again when I got home last night and was thinking maybe it will actually be ok... the only other problem is that they estimate a 14-16 week turnaround time on orders from that manufacturer! I wouldn't have a couch until April! Well, it's not like I haven't had some practice being patient...

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had that same experience when, after saving money rigorously for most of a year to help pay for our wedding, it came time to disburse the savings in three- and four-figure chunks. $150 on this, $280 on that, $470 on the other? Yeah, that is what it is. (WHAT??)

Sounds like you are being sensible and giving your head a shake before it gets too much! Good for you. It is deceptive how easy it can get to shell out for stuff, especially when it's in aid of something important to you.

Meadow

Askazombiehousewife said...

It is really easy to overspend. We had to weight a couple of weeks for the bulk of our stuff to arive
and I thought I had all we needed to take with us.

Anonymous said...

ugh. it seems like every trip to home depot or lowe's will cost $200.

Anonymous said...

This is YOUR HOME. I have bought the couch w/ the stock fabric b/c it was cheaper - you will look at it and hate it all the time.

Take your own advice about clothes. This is a couch! You are going to have it and enjoy much longer than your favorite jeans. You want to love it. Go for the fabric you really want. It will save money in the long run (no 2nd couch b/c you hate the first & no slip covers!!)

Anonymous said...

My friend furnished her living room for under $2000 by buying from ValuCity Furniture. Her place looks like a Pottery Barn catalog. For $2000, she got a sofa, armchair, ottoman, and two lamps. If you look hard enough, there are plenty of copies out there of Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn for much cheaper. Quality is really good for the price. The Door Store in Manhattan is fairly affordable.