BUYING FOR LIFE: an ode to the 'long term wishlist'

A great lesson I learned from my parents (and I’m sure many others learned from theirs as well) is the “Quality Over Quantity” mentality. Of course, it took many years of this statement being repeated and the switch to living on my own (and therefore paying for my own things) for this mentality to stick. 

I’ll never forget buying my first couch. Something my entire family laughs about often.

I had months to search for the perfect couch before I was actually moving into my first apartment. I had scoured the entire internet and most of the stores in our area. Being the picky person that I am, I had an image in my mind that I wasn’t willing to stray from no matter what advice I received. I was determined. Leather, faux or the latter, modern in shape and with the capability to be used as a bed. Easy, right? 

I finally found the couch I could settle on. I showed my parents with much excitement, only for them to disagree with my choice. How could they?! I spent days, weeks, looking for this! I love it, I explained! Not only am I picky, but I am very passionate when trying to explain my ‘vision’ to others. My dad (probably trying to hide his laughter) tried to reason with me. He explained why they didn’t love it the way I did: it probably wouldn’t last long and it wasn’t the best piece to invest my money in. It wasn’t a quality piece, but that it was my decision to make. I nodded, immediately hit BUY and ran off with excitement. 

(The ultimate life lesson: listen to your parents.)

CUT TO - not even two years later, this couch was indeed falling apart. I don’t usually have a hard time admitting when I’m wrong, but boy was it hard to call my dad and tell him I was going to have to replace the couch (way) sooner than I thought. He probably said I told you so, in the most loving way possible. 

In that moment it hit me. When it’s financially appropriate, it pays to save for quality every. single. time. In the moment you may be spending more money, but in the long run you save. You will never regret spending money on one piece (furniture, clothing, shoes, jewelry etc) that has lasted you years, knowing that you won’t have to replace it any time soon (thus saving you money!).  

Think about it this way: buying a pair of $20 jeans every 3 months verses spending $100 on a quality pair that will last for years to come? It just makes sense.  

Carman and I have invested in a few things since being married — I love knowing that we will carry these items into the rest of our lives together. This year we checked off a few of our long term wishlist items and one of them was a new record player + sound system (shown above!). Music is a big part of our lives and now we have a record player that will grow with us for years to come!

Here are a few of the items that have been on my long term home wishlist:

Art - We love Matisse, Picasso, Cy Twombly, etc.

Eames style lounge chair 

Breuer cane chairs or danish cord chairs for our dining room (we got these! pictured above in our dining room!)

Quality linens for our master bedroom (checked off the list! Post coming soon featuring Coyuchi!)

Coffee table (checked off the list! We love our new west elm mid century table!)

Quality record player + sound system (checked off the list! We made the big purchase of a customized U-turn record player and Sonos sound system this year.)