Marvelous Money: 10 of my favorite purchases

If money doesn’t make you happy, you’re probably not spending it right.

Of course, money on its own will never satisfy, and it will never fill the deep well reserved for God and people. But spent thoughtfully, within a budget, and according to your values, I believe your purchases can and should make you happier. (After all, even the quotidian stocking up of paper towels still gives me a brief buzz of adulting joy!)

But, looking back over my decade-plus career as the manager of my own purse strings, there are certain items that I still look back on, years later, and think to myself, “I am SO GLAD I spent money on that.” Here are ten of them. I hope my list encourages renewed gratitude for your own favorite purchases, and with your list in front of you, see if you can find any common threads in what you value most highly – and then let those threads guide your future purchases!

In no particular order…

1. Our tan sofa. We bought our sofa from Macy’s in 2011 for $700 delivered, about a year after John got his job. Before that, our living room contained one seating option – our white loveseat from Ikea, purchased midway through college. This purchase represented one of our first big leaps into adulthood, and we saved for months and months to afford it. It is incredibly comfortable, the velvet fabric is impervious to stains, and the practical color hides the dust of daily life effectively. It still looks fantastic after eight years; we hope to have it for many more.

I chuckle when I think about a sweet reader’s comment I got many years ago – something along the lines of, “wait until you get rid of that brown couch – then your room will look really good!” Though you could read it as rude, it didn’t bother me at all. I just thought to myself, “sister, if only you could sit beside me on this here brown couch, you’d know why I’m never getting rid of it” :)

2. Our dunes painting. My wedding gift to John was an original painting I found in a small shop in our Connecticut hometown in 2011. It already had a lovely frame, and I think the price was about $400. It was more than I had budgeted for his gift, but the moment I saw it, I fell in love – it reminded me of his beloved Michigan dunes. I loved the idea of his wedding gift being something we’d keep forever, as opposed to a piece or clothing or an accessory he might wear out. I also felt VERY grown-up purchasing an original piece of art, and there was something sweet about finding his gift so unexpectedly in our tiny hometown, the place where our story began many years before. The painting now hangs on our bedroom wall.

3. My dresser. In 2014, I spotted a low, cream dresser an acquaintance was selling on Instagram. Maybe it was the way she had merchandised it (she’s a photographer!), but I instantly knew it was a piece I’d love for a long time. At $200, I also knew it was a steal. Taking full advantage of our fun and fancy-free pre-baby life, we rented a truck from Home Depot and drove over to Greensboro to bring it home (out-of-nowhere rain storm on the way home and all!). It took ALL of my might to get my end up our front steps (that sucker is HEAVY), and it’s lived happily in our master bedroom ever since. It’s the kind of piece that could look good anywhere, and I plan to have it forever (not the least because I never want to move it again). Peep it in the background here.

4. Our mattress. Late in 2014, John convinced me to get a King-sized mattress. I was opposed to the idea at first – why would he want to be further away from me?! – but eventually gave in. We trotted down to our local Mattress Warehouse and tried out all the options in the store, finally settling on one we both loved after a good hour of reclining on various options. The price – $1,600 – was a little more than we had been planning to spend, but we were confident this was the one for us.

We called the salesperson over. He looked at the tag, and then did a double-take. He explained that there had been a mistake, that the tag on our mattress had been switched with another one and that our mattress was actually supposed to be $2,500. After confirming with his manager, however, he graciously honored the price and let us take ours home for the lower price.

Now, I don’t know if this was some sort of elaborate sales technique to make us think we got a great deal. (Kudos to them if it was!) What I do know is that pretty much every night since, John and I have looked at each other before turning out the lights and said, “I love our bed.” Given the importance of a good night’s sleep and based on how much we love our mattress, I’d have gladly spent $2,500 on it… but I’m glad we didn’t have to :)

5. Our laundry baskets. 2014 was a big year for beloved acquisitions! There are a number of reasons that could be so, but here’s one: in 2014, we had recently paid off my student loans, were rapidly making progress on our car loans, and were looking forever to putting our full efforts toward our mortgage. Every dollar was aggressively scrutinized; if one was going out the door, you can bet it was for something we were all in on.

Which brings us to our laundry baskets. I spotted them at Home Goods on Black Friday, and even though I remember hesitating over the price ($50 for 2!), I brought the wicker pair up to the register. Like several other purchases on this list, there was just something that spoke to my soul about replacing our mismatched college bins with a matched, grown-up pair. We use and love them to this day.

6. My favorite jeans. I wrote an entire post about these jeans, so you know they’re beloved. In the throes of post-second-pregnancy life, the angels sang when I slipped them on. Great quality, the right amount of stretch, a fab high waist, denim that feels SO GOOD on, and a more-than-fair price point (I got mine for $60 on sale!). Confession time: I wear them 5/7 days a week, emailed customer service to request they make a white version, and have convinced a handful of friends and family members to buy their own pairs. Maybe you’re next? :)

7. My first car. Maybe it’s on the list because I was really hoping for an SUV but thought I could only afford a sedan. Or maybe because it was incredibly comfortable, the best road trip companion for my many trips around the South. Or maybe because it was, after all, my very first car, and negotiating its purchase on my own is one of the most grown-up things I’ve ever done. For whatever reason, my Mariner will always be one of my most beloved purchases. I would happily still be driving it today if the transmission hadn’t died the last time we were in Michigan – see above for our farewell family photo!

8. My leopard-print gloves. At $5 from Walmart, purchased while still at college, these beauties win the “most bang for my buck” prize by a landslide – especially considering I’ve worn them every winter for approximately the last twelve or so years. With holes in several of the fingertips, my family likes to joke that these were my texting gloves before texting gloves existed. They’re simple, they’re chic (well, aside from the holes), and when I find something I love, I tend to wear it into the ground.

9. Our TV console. A newer addition to the family, our console joins the list because it solved a problem I had been puzzling over for more than a year. With one fortuitous trip to Home Goods, it brought style, organization, and a much-needed additional surface to our living room in 2018. I searched every retailer known to man for more than a year, almost pulling the trigger on pieces three times as much as this one ($430) multiple times, but I am SO happy I didn’t settle for something I didn’t love.

10. Our Le Creuset. Last but certainly not least is our Le Creuset dutch oven. Back in February 2012, we were throwing our very first dinner party together – a Julie & Julia themed event for four couples with boeuf bourguignon on the menu.

Needless to say, we were anxious new hosts, and in a spontaneous flurry of nerves, we decided we needed this exact pot on the morning of the party. We dropped $140 on it like it was nothing, which makes me laugh to this day – because $140 was most definitely NOT nothing at that time in our lives, and nothing but the nervous desire to have everything go right for this big event could have made us make this sort of spur-of-the-moment purchase. Happily, we have used this very pot to cook thousands of meals since, and considering it’s Le Creuset, I’m confident we’ll use it to cook thousands more – and smile every time we remember the reason it joined our family :)

What would be on your list? I’d love to hear!!

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