Furniture Shopping

I'm looking for new furniture - for the master bedroom, the living room, the den, the dining room, Deanna's room . . . essentially, I want to refurnish the entire house. But Don and I refuse to go into debt, so we have to buy s-l-o-w-l-y, s--l--o--w--l--y, s---l---o---w---l---y - you get the picture.

For two years now, I've been saving money out of my allowance every month and putting it away to buy furniture. (Yes, I get an allowance. But, unlike with the kids, Don's very reasonable about raising it when I ask. It's my "mad money", to go out to lunch with friends, take the kids to Pizza Hut, etc. Last month, some of it went for the Choir Director's end-of-year gift, gifts for this person and that person, anything where I needed ready cash on-hand - that's what my allowance is for. And, by the way, getting an "allowance" was my idea, not my husband's. He gets an allowance each month, too. That way we have a limit on loose spending and untrackable cash expenses so our budget doesn't get out of hand. Several of my friends have taken the idea to their husbands and now get an allowance, too. One of my close friends was talking with me about her allowance several months ago and mentioned an amount which was a good bit higher than mine, along with some reference to "our" allowance. When I told her that her allowance was much higher, she cracked up. "I asked my husband for that much each month because I told him that's how much YOU got. I guess I got the amount wrong. I thought that's what you had told me." We giggled together, struck by how funny the situation was - she was pleading her case, using me as an example. Now I had to go back to Don and ask for a raise, using HER as an example. The main thing is, we are both happy with our amounts.)

Anyway, getting back to my main thought - I've been taking money out of my allowance. But I USE my allowance, so some months no money goes into savings, others, it's only $5 or so. At this rate, furniture buying will come sometime over the next 50 years.

When we got home from England, in frustration with my meager savings, I asked Don if we could start putting away some REAL money every month, at least once he bought a new car for him. His car has over 250,000 miles and has been puttering along on its last leg for 2 years now. Don loves his car, I'm scared of it. It's a 2-door, so everyone has to crawl over top of each other to get in. It's small, low to the ground, the windows don't work anymore, and the wrap around seatbelts no longer wrap. It's held together with glue and duct tape, but it just keeps running, which is why Don loves it. It gets low gas mileage and it works great for him to run the 50 miles each way to work. But God forbid we ever have to go anywhere in it as a family. What we want for him is a small, gas-saving sedan that the whole family can easily fit in. We'd use that around town - going to dinner, to church on Sunday, etc., and only use the van for trips or when Daddy's at work, since my van is such a gas-guzzler.

Don agreed to putting money away for furniture once he had his new, used car. However, here we still sit, trying to cram our family of 5 into his little sports car and pray it will get us home. He doesn't really seem to be interested in buying another car. I think buying the van threw him over the top. He can gear himself up for one car purchase every 5-7 years, and buying the van drew out all his car shopping savvy, although, truth be told, I did EVERY bit of that, and just showed him the finished product. But he had to spend money, which he HATES, and then there's the tag, tax, title, insurance, etc. It all drives Don crazy. So, he's drug his feet so bad, the used car salemen don't even call him anymore. And I have no new furniture.

I mentioned this sequence of events to him recently and he laughed. He recognized that my frustration with our home is directly tied to his inability to purchase a car. In the meanwhile, I've been trying to get a vision for what I want to do in each room, prioritizing each one, so I don't waste valuable time and money when I'm ready to purchase. I want to redo the living room and make it a classy room that I'd be happy taking visitors into, instead of a junky room, like everywhere else in the house. A new couch is a definite, since the old one now has a slipcover over it (there's a reason why they call them "slip" covers). And we inherited an old recliner from my parents that my Grandmother gave my father and my mother was throwing out. He begged me to rescue it for him, but someone else's sentimentality can only clutter MY house for SO-O-O-O long. The time is up for the blue recliner. It needs to find a home at my parent's or someone else's house. I really want a sectional because our living room is such a strange size - long and narrow (15' X 30'), and I think a sectional would be more versatile. I've always wanted a fireplace in the living room, but Don is hot-natured and refused to put one in when we rebuilt. I've recently discovered electric fireplaces that plug into an outlet, and I'm going to invest in one for our living room. Then I'll have a mantle, as well, which I've always wanted.

At first I thought I wanted to go with a dark color in there and do more of a designer look. But I've recently been thinking about keeping my slightly off-white walls, natural woodwork and beautiful eggshell lace curtains, and building a "white linen Southern look" around them with magnolias, attractive furniture, an oriental screen, and less clutter. I'm finally beginning to get a vision and ideas. I'm really excited about the living room.

I've begun to turn my focus to the Den (which is REALLY sad). The room is very small, WAY too cramped, and has a lot of wasted space due to the lay-out. One of my close friends, who has a wonderful eye for decorating, suggested that I get the TV out of it and make it into a Study instead of a Den, because of the size. I don't know. I really want a family room. If the children are watching TV in the living room, it won't be nice for long. We have lots of options, none of which are great plans. One would be to make the spare bedroom into a Den or Study (but then we wouldn't have a spare bedroom, which has been my plan for quite some time.)

The problem is that we have the computer and all its "stuff" (file cabinets, printer, scanner, etc.) in there as well as the TV, movies, and seating. But Don doesn't usually just sit with the family. He's not a TV watcher. If he's in the den with us on weekends, it's because he's working on the computer and, at least, we're in the same room together. If I move the TV OR the computer, we won't have that option for family time.

I don't know. Needs lots more thought and prayer. One thing that would help is a larger couch. We only have a loveseat, which we can cram three people onto, if we try, but the people are getting larger, not smaller, and it's getting harder and harder to fit into this room.

More thought and prayer. That's what I need. And a car for Don so we can start saving for furniture.

I'm sure the list could go on and on, but we'll stop there for today. NEEDS LIST: 1. Car for Don; 2. Thought; 3. Prayer.