My husband and I are very careful with our money. We eat out occasionally, but we rarely purchase “stuff”. We cloth diaper our kids, and I breastfeed – so no formula or diaper expenses. Our kids wear a lot of hand-me-downs, kids grow so fast and our kids don’t care about their clothes anyway. I think grand total this year, my husband and I have spent under $200 on clothes for ourselves. Our debt (non-mortgage) is very very low. One of our cars is completely paid off, and the other will be soon. Otherwise, we keep our credit card and other debt to a level that we can pay off every month.
So, why do I obsess so much about what others think about how I choose to spend our money? Because when I do buy something, I generally buy something expensive.
Miriam’s high chair is a TripTrap chair. Yes, I spent $250 on her high chair, and plan to do the same in the next few months on a chair for Asher. It’s a solid wood, well constructed, adjustable chair that doesn’t have a tray – so the kids sit at the table with us. It will work for them in their rooms later on as desk chairs, but until then, they’ll each have thier very own chair at the dining room table. The chair holds up to 300 freaking pounds!
$250 for a chair that will last their entire lives doesn’t seem like a bad decision to me.
So, now I am in the market for a kitchen play set. The library purchased one recently, and Miriam LOVES the thing. However, I don’t want plastic, and I want something that is durable enough to last two toddlers (and friends) the entire length of “kitchen set play”. It would be even better if it’s something I can put away when they are done with it for when they have kids.
When I was little, my dad put together a kitchen playset of us made of sheet metal. He cut his hands up really bad making it. If I were skilled, or if DH had time, I’m sure we could make one that would meet our wants and needs, but neither of those are true.
So, the play kitchen that I’m looking at is $200. I know I could pick one up much cheaper at target, made of plastic or plywood, and have to replace it in a year or two. Instead, I’m going to lay out the money once, and be done with it.
Terry Pratchett wrote a great explanation of wealth. To paraphrase it, a poor man buys a cheap pair of boots because it is all that he can afford, and has to replace them every 6 months. A wealthy man buys a pair of boots that costs 4 times as much, but never has to replace them. They last forever.
I believe that the path to true wealth is to buy quality, not quantity.
So, I’m not going to apologize for spending a fortune on a high quality toy which will be a combination birthday and hanukah gift for my child instead of buying 9 separate plastic toys which require batteries and will be broken within the year.
This is the right decision for us, and anyone who judges me for it can take a flying leap! Especially that little voice inside that always judges me. She can just shove off! 
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