That Darn Argument!

My husband and I purchased our home when we were 22 at the urging of my husband’s boss. He was so insistent that he even referred us to a realtor.

Our realtor really liked us and, seeing we didn’t have enough for the closing costs and down payment, put her own commission towards our home purchase under the condition we would pay her back in full in one lump sum whenever we had the money.

Shortly after, the company I worked for laid off half of the staff in my department. I was among the ones to lose my job. In time I got another job and we slowly saved up the money we needed and payed our realtor back. Of course, this meant no furniture purchases for a while.

One day after a big argument with my husband I was really angry. Tired of seeing an empty living room, I drove to RoomsToGo and purchased an entire living room set, complete with tables. I hadn’t discussed this with my husband and proceeded to put it all on the credit card, breaking our no credit card debt rule.

Of course, after I calmed down, it was too late to cancel my purchases, so a day before the furniture was to be delivered, I sweetly and lovingly informed my husband of what I had done, to ease the shock.

I was looking forward to having my living room furnished, especially after waiting so long, so part of me was very excited the day the furniture came. I quickly realized, however, that measuring the pieces would’ve been a good idea. This set was big, and while it would’ve been okay to have a gigantic sofa, all the other pieces were just in the way. Every time I looked at it, it bothered me.

What I Learned

Shortly after the arrival of our brand new furniture, my husband and I went out. Imagine my reaction when, upon our return, I discovered black paw prints on all the pillows and cushions of our white & beige-striped sofa. The cat had gotten into a charcoal bag in the utility room and proceeded to walk all over the sofa with his dark, dirty paws. The stains never came out, so I kept them forever covered with a sheet.

My husband - who is a very intense guy - never said anything negative about my “impulse buy”, but patiently scheduled the payments so we could pay it all off by the time our first daughter was born. Whenever I wanted to do something fun, we simply couldn’t because so much money was going towards our payments.

This really set the tone for the rest of our marriage because even though my husband remained calm and didn’t lose his marbles, I never derived any pleasure from the monstrosity in my living room. I learned to wait until we agreed on something before any big project or purchase. No argument would ever push me to do something like this again.