Tetsu has been thinking about joining a place that has a swimming pool so that he can get a little exercise in the evenings after work. Just the evenings mind you because the membership is only half the regular price. He's been thinking about this a month now... Still no decision.
Leiya has been consulting me about buying a guitar. (I fully support that proposal! I found that playing a guitar was a great stress reliever while I was in college too!) She's trying to find something with all the accessories for less than $200. That contemplation has gone on three months now.
This summer Takumi was saying that he couldn't decide whether to buy himself a digital camera or a rice cooker, both of which were over his budget right now. Grandma gave him a check for $150 to use towards a rice cooker. (I guess he looked skinny to her). He deliberated about that purchase for at least six months.
I have been wanting to buy a monthly water delivery system and have spent the year ruminating on pros and cons. Alas, I think that purchase is going to stay on hold another year...
Our family is pretty thrifty. I'm sure some people would use the term "stingy". It takes a lot of consideration before we are willing to open our wallets for anything.
BUT... I took Chip and Toi to the vet yesterday for annual shots. And I bought special cat food for Vel and Cleo and I had to get Choco some heartworm medicine and I found a couple of ticks on her too so I bought tick and flea medicine while I was there too.
On the way home I stopped at the store and picked up regular cat food and cat sand and some fish treats for the kitties too and dog treats for Choco. All in all, yesterday I handed over about $250 just for animal things with hardly a thought... Well, that's not true since I thought enough about it enough to write a post today...
The 6 animals are Top Dog in our house even if 5 of them are cats! The humans are low on the totem pole... Tetsu and I are eating tofu and femented soy beans tonight...
15 comments:
One of the personality profiles I'm familiar with identifies (among other things) two kinds of decision makers. The first wants a decision made -- and are prepared to accept it might not be the "right" decision, but having made a decision they are free to move forward. The second sort of decision maker is concerned with the process of making a decision -- collecting as much information as possible to ensure the best decision is made. They're ok with postponing a decision until they get all the information they feel they need.
Both have strengths (one gets on with things, the other is sure the decision is "correct") Both have weaknesses (one can make hasty and poor decisions without exploring enough information while the other can become paralyzed from ever making a decision and getting on with things).
Sounds like your family prefers to collect information and make the best choice -- you're prepared to engage in a long process to do so; Perhaps you're a little more extreme in that tendancy than some, but there's nothing wrong with it! I on the otherhand make fast hasty decisions, and find researching all the implications too time consuming. I over value "getting on with things". I have been known to spend money foolishly that could have been saved by investing a little more time into the decision. It sounds like perhaps you may invest a lot of time that could have been spent on other things in order to save money... Different traps for different people! :-)
I found this very amusing, Tanya! I prefer to call you "careful" with how you spend. And careful is good. But your sweet heart shows in how you spend on your furry family!
I have a rice cooker that only cost about $30-35. Do you need a specialty rice cooker for Japanese rice?
When you don't have to be careful with your money, those kinds of decisions about what some would call luxuries are hard to make.
Rice cookers are very reasonable over here too! Digital cameras can be very expensive.
We are like you, careful with how we spend our limited resources. But, when it comes to the dogs, we nothing is too much!
I do the same thing. I spend a lot on the special pet food for my cats and dog and I just eat Cheerios most of the time. I don't mind and they are worth it!
Tanya--making decisions on most things require lots of thought at our house...and much "procrastination" my daughter says. I think it's just indecision. I want my $$ to go far, and go for important things, not just whims, hence taking time to see if my purchase is just a whim.
It's funny to picture your entire family thinking and thinking about those purchases. Lucky pets, though, what a cute picture.
I tend to take my time to make sure before I make purchases too (in other words over analyzing). What I don't understand is how you could spend that amount on your furry friends without giving the same thought ahead of time. I don't have animals so that probably explains why I don't understand. It seems to me that if you keep spending freely on the animals you won't feel free to spend on yourself. Lucky animals!
Love your blog!!
Oh! I have a cat carrier just like the one in your last photo, except it is blue! My daughter brought one of her cats to us from Ei-cho in it and I use it all the time here. It is a big novelty at the Vet's office, as it is so different from the ones here in the USA. She has her own cats and her own home now, but I have kept that carrier! I love it!
Your post reminded me of how much we spend for seed and nuts for our back yard birdfeeder. 80 pounds of seed only lasts abour 5 weeks!
We are like that about purchases here, too. I don't think DH and I debate as long as your family does, but we do try to think things through. The pets, though, are different! I think part of it is that they can't make these decisions themselves. They can't go buy their own toys or pick their own food. So we know we have to do it, and animals are not big on delayed gratification! ;)
Well, it's not like the cats have a checking account. You HAVE to buy the necessities for them - food and medicine and cat litter - and unfortunately the necessities for animals, especially 6 of them, are expensive. As for the people part of the family, you're not unusual. And this isn't necessarily only about spending money. I know people who can make a career out of making a decision that I would have settled in 10 minutes! Some people have to have a certain amount (sometimes a ridiculous amount) of info to make a decision, whereas I know from the beginning I am never going to have ALL the facts, I just have to act on what I know.
Oh, yes - another thing: G'G'ma, I undertand completely. It costs more than you would think to keep the bird feeders filled. But we have decided we enjoy watching the birds so it's an acceptable expenditure. Others might think it was crazy.
The cats look very happy to me! Is it true that happy pets = happy family? I have a feeling it is!
You made me smile :)
I feel the same way about our 4 legged children.
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