We have a new member in our household, and he lives in the living room. He’s a 52-inch LCD television. People refer to their cars as “she,” but this is a very male appliance. It was purchased by my husband, and it actually arrived just before the new year. But he did not buy it during a last minute panicked shopping spree before joining The Compact, because he’s not joining me on this venture. He’s supporting me and getting rid of things and welcomes the idea of trying to spend less, but he’s not going to go whole hog and make the pact. Which is fine. But it does bring up a sort of paradox: I’m not buying anything new, but he’s bringing a huge state-of-the-art piece of equipment into the house. And I’m not complaining–the picture is gorgeous and it’s going to be fantastic to watch movies on this thing. The problem goes something like this: “Am I really sacrificing anything if my husband can go out and buy anything new that we need?”
This issue came up for me yesterday when I saw that my favorite boutique in our little town is going out of business. It made me really sad because this woman sells really creative, beautiful stuff that’s recycled in some way. The store is called “Regeneration.” I bought a lot of great gifts in there, and a few things for myself. But now I can’t buy anything at the sale. My first rationalization when I thought maybe I’d go in was, “Since her stuff is handmade and recycled, it doesn’t really break the Compact.” Well, that depends on how far you want to go with this “nothing new” pact, and I’ll do another post on that topic. There are no hard and fast rules, the members make them up for themselves. And some people do allow exceptions for handmade items, even when they’re made by someone else. I haven’t nailed down my own exceptions yet, but that seemed a little too much of a slippery slope for me. But back to my original point, right after I rejected that line of thinking I thought, “Well, if I saw something I really wanted, I could have George buy it.” And therein lies the problem. Theoretically I could have him buy anything I don’t buy. And that of course makes no sense since we’re a couple and live in the same house. So I have to be careful with this…
Back to the TV: I can’t wait to watch “Days of Heaven” on that new screen. It really is beautiful.
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