Wednesday, January 20, 2016

In Which I Vow to Never Spend Money Again

Last time, on The Pretty Vintage Girl, our redheaded heroine bravely faced a broken furnace, a broken dryer, incompetent repairmen, freezing temperatures, and vowed to escape to Mexico and sunshine.

Did she come back?

Is she still freezing?

Does she have a way to do her laundry?

Has her January gotten even worse?

Well.

In short, Mexico was lovely and warm.  The three of us drank a lot, ate a lot, and walked a lot, so I'm pretty sure that all balanced out.  Really.


We explored all over the resort, tried as many drinks as possible, and managed to fit in some time on the beach.


We had a regrettably long layover in Atlanta and got home late Monday night.

On Tuesday, after work, Mark and I went to go pick up Thunder.  On the way, I bought a new washer and dryer.

This is notable because it's the first time I've ever bought a brand new major appliance.  Between renting and inheriting friends' used washers and dryers, the need for buying my own had never come up.  There was a brief period when I was married when I had to go to the laundromat because either a washer or dryer broke and we somehow didn't have the money to buy new ones, in spite of having two decent incomes.  But then friends moved and gave us their old set, so that was the end of that.

And, just in case I didn't feel like enough of an adult, we bought a brand new mattress this week.  Because why not.  And because the one we have (which my friend Katie so kindly gave us for free after my old one was rendered completely unusable) is getting increasingly uncomfortable.  I think this new one is going to be the nicest mattress either of us has ever owned, and I'm pretty excited about it being delivered tonight.

I also spent some money recently on improving my winter wardrobe, as I was getting tired of pants, T-shirts, and cardigans.  Most things I own are much more warm-weather appropriate, as I have an innate fondness for sundresses and rompers, and none of those work well when it's snowing.

In related news, I'm never spending money again.  It's been an incredibly expensive January.  And, while I don't regret any of our purchases, I do need some time for the bank account to recover.  Now, if the rest of my life and apartment would just cooperate with that, I'd greatly appreciate it.

It's all been extremely exciting and terrifying, which I suppose accurately sums up being an adult.  You make choices and weigh decisions and hope you made the right choice, whether it be about a washer and dryer, a job, or a person.  You might not know for a week, a month, a year, or a decade if it was the right one or not.

I like to think I've made a lot of good decisions in the past year and a half (hopefully enough to balance out the bad ones).  I chose to leave a terribly unhealthy relationship, wherein I made some very bad decisions indeed.  I chose to instead be with someone who I've always loved in some strange way from the moment I met him, regardless of how little sense it made.  I chose to take a job with a small business I believed in over a "safer" corporate position like my parents would have preferred.  I chose to go on vacation to Mexico with two of my best friends.  I chose to be more honest about my life and who I am.  I chose to join a gym and start doing yoga regularly.  And I chose to spend a lot of money on new and much-needed stuff this month.

I could be wrong about any of the above decisions.  I hope I'm not, but only time with tell.

And even though this year has been stressful and expensive and the first month is only just past halfway over, I still wouldn't change anything (except for my rental company).  So I think that's a sign that I'm doing at least something right.

But really.  I'm not spending any more money.

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