Flowers: You Just Buy Them And Then They Die
February 10, 2009 – 5:12 am
I buy flowers for my wife a few times a year, and recently a friend I’ll call Carla made the following comment:
“I like flowers, but you just buy them and then they die…so I don’t see the point.”
I must admit I was caught a bit off guard when she made the comment though. Half of my brain was saying “Yes, that’s true. Perhaps it’s not a good use of money.” The other half of my brain was thinking “How depressing!”
Carla’s response is completely reasonable in some ways, and a bit sad in others. Carla is a married woman with two kids and a husband, and both adults work full time jobs to make ends meet. Carla’s husband actually works two jobs at the moment and has plans to do so for the next three years so that they can pay off their second mortgage (which I can only assume was used in lieu of a bigger down payment). There work ethic is admirable, they both work as teachers, and are essentially doing what they need to do in order to afford a home of their own.
A budget makes these kinds of thoughts and decisions easy. If you keep a budget it’s much easier to have money for the things that are important to you. If flowers are your thing, then buy flowers. If you’d rather go out to dinner or see a new movie, then do that. A budget removes the fear and guilt because you know where your money is going and you know that you’ll be “o.k.” even if you buy something that dies.
The other recommendation I have is be creative:
- If you don’t want spend money of flowers, grow your own. I tried this a couple times, once with success and once with complete failure (apparently flowers in Texas need water more than once a year).
- Do something else nice for your spouse. Fold the laundry. Run the vacuum. Clean up the kitchen. Clean up the kids.
- Ask for what you want. Chances are the one thing that is most important to your spouse is not what you think it is.
Image Credit: noahg.
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3 Responses to “Flowers: You Just Buy Them And Then They Die”
There’s always the flowering potted plant as an option.
By calgirlfinance on Feb 10, 2009
I have no debt and I agree with Carla. I look at flowers from a different perspective because I used to be a florist and I see the mark up for markup for the arrangements, the quality of the flowers and tricks used to make them appear nice at sale. I agree that occasionally if I see a stunning bunch I will buy them for myself, but I feel as an investment and something to enjoy they are a waste of money. I feel that Valentine’s Day is when everything is so expensive because demand goes up. Buy flowers the week after and avoide the madness.
By jessica on Feb 11, 2009