Spending

I do not like doing the washing up - in fact I absolutely hate it - and some six years ago I suggested to Phil that we buy a dishwasher. He considered it a waste of money and said that he was more than happy to do the washing up from then on. I took him at his word. How those words would come to haunt him. Occasionally I would feel a twinge of guilt and, warily eyeing the mountain of dirty crockery, I would again suggest a dishwasher and he would insist that he was happy to continue doing the washing up. Three years after my initial suggestion he, and his dishpan hands, finally cracked and we bought a dishwasher. He now worships the dishwasher and I often tease him on his reluctance to buy one.

This little story should give you the idea that Phil and I approach spending money somewhat differently. He likes to save it or avoid spending it. I like to save it too but also spend it on sensible, quality purchases. Fast forward to last weekend and Phil, Michael and I were to be found standing in the unfortunately named "Baby Dump" looking at highchairs. There were about 20 or so highchairs on sale and we immediately dismissed the wooden ones for hygiene reasons and then the ones with cloth seat covers, and finally the ones without wheels. This left us looking at about 6 highchairs. I immediately zoned in on the most aesthetically pleasing one and noticed that it had won multiple awards. It was - alas - the most expensive highchair in the store. Phil liked the look of it too but went slightly green at the price. He wanted to buy something - anything - that was cheaper. It didn't really matter how much cheaper, just cheaper. This led to a somewhat heated exchange in the middle of the highchair section. Michael was resting on my shoulder, blissfully unaware of all this and periodically being sick down my back.

When we finally left the store (I'll leave it to your imagination which highchair we eventually bought) we both agreed very readily what our next purchase would be - two Premium Burger menus from McDonald's.