As I have previously posted, I have a long standing goal to have plantation shutters installed in two bedrooms in our home. But, since plantation shutters are very expensive I decided that I would update my plan and just get some new, nice shades for these two bedrooms.
I have done quite a bit of research, measured the windows, priced out my options and then I settled on a plan which will run about $800.
But, in our home there is another step I had to take and that was to discuss the project, the expense, the source of the funds (we have this money sitting in our house project account) with Mr. Sam. We have a rule that anything over $300 has to be discussed and agreed to between us. Most of the time we reach agreement pretty quickly, but not so this time around. I've talked to Mr. Sam about this project several times, gave him the pricing, told him about my research, but he thinks it is silly to spend this kind of money on custom shades. If we can't reach agreement then we don't go forward that is our rule. We imposed this rule back in 2007, because we were trying to throw every extra dollar at our debt. But, we have kept the rule because we believe that we should be in agreement that expenditures above $300 are necessary or a mutual want (vacation) or one of us convinces the other.
We did finally agree or he finally gave in, but we did reach agreement.
The other rule we have is the $100 rule. When we are spending more than a couple of hundred dollars we have to wait a day for each $100 of the purchase. So in this instance, if we are spending $800 on custom blinds we have to wait 8 days before we actually make the purchase. This waiting period prevents expensive impulse purchases.
I haven't yet ordered the blinds because of the waiting period rule, but will do so next week.
Do you feel like the $100 dollar a day wait is kinda pointless after so much investigation and a mutual agreement even if it did take some negotiation? I totally understand putting off impulse buys. We use much the same idea (we discuss purchases). No set time frame but I usually wait week and see if we still want whatever it was.
ReplyDeleteI only ask because as this had been on a longer term things you wanted to do list, with so much research I assume you spent a week on it already.
Hey Jason, yes we do normally follow the $100 waiting period rule even though there may be a research time period and a debate time period.
ReplyDeleteCertainly, where we are both in ready agreement we have made a more rapid purchase. And sometimes, the wait period makes no sense, i.e. when I bought a nused car in 2008. I would have been waiting another 5 mos. to purchase the car (which would no longer have been available).