“He looks like Buster Brown.”
This statement is equal parts puzzling and entertaining when you don’t know who Buster Brown is. That’s the camp I fell into before today.
I could tell my mom was dismayed over my son’s new haircut based solely on her delivery. The deadpan look. The hand on her hip. The click of her tongue behind her teeth. If we’re being perfectly frank, so was I.
I fared the jab, laughing it off.
Then I actually Googled Buster Brown. An actual guffaw rumbled out of my belly. Tears rolled down my cheeks. I was LOLing in the most literal sense.
Holy.
Crap.
Buster.
Brown.
Is.
Terrifying.
Even when he isn’t trying to be terrifying, he is.
Buster Brown is also a watershed moment. Or perhaps I should rephrase. Realizing that my husband and I turned our adorable toddler into Buster Brown is the watershed. And I’m not talking about tears. Of joy or otherwise.
Will my son outgrown this haircut? Yes, of course. Will my husband ever live it down? Not a chance. But the point is that there is no harm, no foul here. In fact, ridiculous haircut aside, we did actually come out ahead in terms of time and money.
His haircut doesn’t bother me. Not really. I am no stranger to being incredibly frugal with my locks. But in this moment, I realize that once again, we are losing sight of the bigger picture.
RELATED POST: Frugally Awesome…Or Awkward: Haircut Edition
Sometimes spending is the answer.
A lot of times it’s not.
Most of the the time it’s actually the problem.
But sometimes spending is the answer.
Sometimes when you’ve been given oodles of hand-me-down shirts but the only pants that kind of match are so long your son is constantly tripping over them, you need to spend. Sometimes when you do your best to cook dinner from scratch but are also wrangling a toddler so the ground turkey resembles bouncy balls, you need to spend.
RELATED POST: That One Time I Ruined Dinner
Sometimes life gets messy. Sometimes things get hard. Sometimes a little bit of spending can lessen the load, put a little more pep in your step, or fulfill an actual need.
The point isn’t to never spend. That’s the opposite side of the same coin that I am all too familiar with.
The point is to spend when it matters on things that matter.
The point isn’t to be so principled, so puritanical that no one, not even myself, can uphold my standards and expectations.
The point is to believe in something but to also understand that life is the biggest multivariable equation there is. And sometimes, we have to make small concessions in order to focus on what really matters in the long run.
A lot of times that means savings. A lot of times that means looking at all the other options besides buying. But sometimes that means spending.
And that’s alright.
So Tell Me…When was a time recently when spending was the right decision for you?
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons and Flickr
We always buy good tools. Dewalt or other professional grade tools and we maintain them. My husband has an angle grinder he uses to sharpen lawn mower blades, and a work sharp flat hone he sharpens knives and other cutlery on. Hubby told my mother to bring her knives and sewing shears over and he would sharpen them for her, she did not need to buy new ones. She was amazed at how sharp they were afterwards, she said they were like new. With the flat hone he also sharpens the expensive convex shears (over $90 on sale at half price ten years ago) he uses to cut my hair, my mom’s, my kids and a couple of my friends as well. I bought a good mid grade set of wahl clippers after my two boys got three really bad haircuts at the barbershop as the lower quality sets had bad reviews that they are noisy, heat up quiickly and don’t cut as well due to cheaper components. I have had them over six years and they work great and saved me thousands of dollars. I am thankful my husband is actually very good with the shears and clippers, my boys want him to cut their hair not me, and do not want to go back to the barber and neither they nor my mom will let me cut their hair. I would probably end up leaving my mom’s bob looking like buster brown as I am not as meticulous and patient as my husband is. I am sorry your little boy looked like buster brown, but hair grows back and it sounds like he had enough hair to cut it properly without shaving his head. Good quality doesn’t cost, it pays and maintenance of your vehicles, home and equipment is cheap insurance. It pays to do it right.
My father is a man who loves life. He’s always got a smile on his face and a great story to tell. He is generous to a fault, always willing to help or lend a hand. When he turned 80, we knew that we should do something special, tailored just for him. We decided a night out for a birthday dinner was in order. A local restaurant was more than happy to host a party of 4 for his special night. From the moment we walked in, the staff treated him like royalty. They went beyond the extra mile to make sure he was fully enjoying himself. He said it was the best birthday he’s ever had and he didn’t want to leave! It’s special moments like this – that spending is worth every penny, and then some. (We rarely go out to dinner – its more like we trade off having dinners at each others homes for various weeknight meals, our birthdays or other celebrations…so to go out was a special treat). My heart melts just thinking of the evening and the ear to ear smile on his face. I wouldn’t trade that for anything in the world.
You made my day with this Rebecca. AMAZING!
We should probably do take out for dinner tonight because “don’t want to break my 2.5 week streak of making dinner every week night” is a stupid hill to die on but also my cheap-@$$ spending is also the reason we just had to throw away a cheap plastic spatula that melted in the pan the first time we used it … because I wanted to spend $2 and not $12. *kicks rocks*
You’d think I’d know better BY NOW 😀
We recently spent a few thousand dollars on a natural gas generator for our house. We live a little ways outside of town and electrical service seems to fail when you need it most, so the peace of mind we bought was worth the money we spent. After all, why become financially independent if the result is that you feel deprived. If that is one’s state of being on the way to FI, they are doing it wrong.
Fall/winter boots. We’ve been doing the project 333 challenge, and the things we used to purchase aren’t made for that kind of wear. We were looking for durable, eco-conscious and people-conscious boots. It took an annoying 3+ hours to find something, and they’re not cheap. But I will wear these from now until end of March/ mid-April as my only shoes.
So totally worth it. This is not the type of item you’ll find cheap/used.
I finally know who Buster Brown is now too! Thank you for that…I think? (He is terrifying).
My wife barely spends on herself because she so focused on making our 2 year old as happy as possible. She wants to comfort and teach him many things at his young age like his love for work trucks like garbage, construction and fire trucks. She would buy him clothes and has any construction or fire truck themed and looks for events that would have open houses for firehouses so we can show him all the firetrucks and introduce him firefighters.
With that much energy spend on him, I always tell her if you feel the need the spend on yourself like shoes or clothes just go to town with the credit card and spend it away, we got the expenses covered on whatever she wants. It’s my way for showing much appreciation for her diligent work on helping our son develop and grow especially when I’m away at work. She could be sleeping since she works graveyard shift and let her parents take care of him but sacrificing her time like that is a sign of her commitment to our son.
I’m so glad to see someone else is on the frugal hair cutting binge 🙂 I remember when I decided to quit the platinum and go back to my mousey brown…
Round 1 resulted in that trendy, old lady ashen-purple shade.
Not brown. Fortunately I had another box and round 2 fixed it.
But thank you for sharing. Knowing that there are messy spots along the way for everyone else makes me feel normal 😀
I think I could probably finish out the year with content if I only wrote about hair mishaps and money. Oh dear.
I applaud your Mom in being so truthful. Whatcha gonna do though? I know I can’t cut hair except for my bangs. I suggested it once and my husband looked at me wild. I think people are so talented that can. I wish I would have took one of the high school cosmetology courses just for our family. Imagine the savings over the years. Now though I make sure hair cuts are in the budget.
Sometimes it’s a necessity for us to spend. A lot of people don’t understand why we can’t just put up our own drywall. Being that we will have to look at the walls for awhile it’s best for us to leave that to someone who knows what they are doing and put that in our budget too.
I think we’ve come upon this knowledge by trail and error too! Now, really we can do so many things and I try to be positive about the things we can do. I make sure to brag them up every once in awhile. ha ha
Oh. My mom is a truth teller, that’s for sure 😀
I hear you on the home repairs. We have definitely DIYed more than we’ve contracted out, but I think our time is worth something too. And I only like to test the strength of our marriage so much, you know? 😉