"Getting rid of everything that doesn’t matter allows you to remember who you are. Simplicity doesn’t change who you are, it brings you back to who you are."

Monday, March 18, 2013

The Jones-ing Bug

It's a fact of life around here that we're not shy about spending money.

Perhaps I should clarify that statement. 

We will drop a wad on things that directly improve our life.  Like a couple of good steaks.  Or a truck full of nice composted soil for the garden.  Or my Dermologica skin care habit. @;)

But we also have a tendency to be "El Cheap-o" if we think we can get away with it.

Example?

I drive a 1999 Jeep that's soon to hit 250K on it.  Am I selling?  Nope.  As long as it can get me from point A to point B safely, then I'm gonna run that sucker into the ground. 

Now that's not to say that I wouldn't like to be driving around in a nice Lexus like some of the neighbors do.  Sure I would.  But I don't live in the Jeep, so it falls into the "good enough" category.

What is difficult to work through is when one of us gets the "Jones-ing Bug."




You know...The "I can't live without it!" or "That is SO COOL -Lets Get it!" or "You're not my Momma...Stop telling me what to do!"

As intelligent, mature adults we don't fall into those traps very often but with home improvement projects we've been finding lately that one of us is HOT about an issue while the other is COLD.

Example?

Granite bathroom counter tops. 

I heard nothing but "Gotta have it" for months from SM.  From Google-ing images to HGTV shows to roaming around quarry lots getting quotes...I just wasn't HOT.  I just didn't see the point and I finally wore SM down to the point where he agreed that it just wasn't as important as he thought it was.  So far, he's happy with how the bathroom remodel has turned out.

Yeah me!

But the "Jones-ing Bug" has struck again and now it's me that's "Got to have it!"

What have I got to have?  New living room carpet. 

The stuff we have was new when we bought the place.  Really good quality, dense carpeting.  The trouble is that's it's 15+ years old and is stained beyond repair, IMHO.

2 humans, 4 dogs (1 deceased) and a cat (also deceased) have run rough-shod over this carpet.  The 3 P's (poop, pee and puke) from the critters has also graced it's surface.  Folks who have indoor pets also tend to have carpet cleaners and I've gone through 2 Bissells in the effort to keep that carpet decent. 

But enough is enough and I've told SM that we're gonna cough it up.  As in drop a wad.  SM is kinda on board with me.  Last year we replaced the carpeting in the office, and 2 bedrooms.  Good enough carpeting.  Not the best, but not crap either.

I'm torn though as I know that I've got at least 8-10 more years of the 3 P's and it's gonna kill me the first time one of these noodle-brains has an accident on it.

So what to do?  Back and forth we go.  We almost buy, then we pull back. 

SM though came up with an option.  "How about a professional cleaning?  One last try to see if it can be salvaged for a few more years?"

You might think it's crazy but we haven't had a professional carpet cleaner come here in years.  I would use our Bissell at least once a month or so.  Seemed good enough, so we never felt it needed it.  But SM does bring up a good point.  Maybe they can clean the carpet back to where it's "good enough" again.

SM researched and selected Chem Dry.  They'll be here at 9 this morning.  I'm optimistic and keeping my fingers crossed.  After all, I've got other things to spend that money on.

Like a bathroom shower stall.  Tile, shower pan, glass enclosure.  Can anybody say Ka-Ching?

4 comments:

  1. Oh, please let us know how it goes :) I have gotten to the point that I could care less if I have carpet....and actually prefer not to. Especially with two teen boys who track EVERYTHING in. I'm learning the hard way just what that beautiful red clay down here can do lol.

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  2. You'll be very pleasantly surprised at how beautifully your carpets turn out after they have been professionally cleaned :)

    And - you'll also be saving your spot in landfill for sometime in the distant future, instead of straight away :) Or were you thinking of donating the old ones to a dog pound?

    Would love a before and after pic? :)

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  3. Hope the pros get your carpet nice and squeaky, er, fluffy clean! We've given up on carpeting, we've got the dogs & cats doing the Three P's here, constantly tracking in goat/chicken poop and gravel as well as a 4 year old human that doesn't quite understand how much stuff she drops....especially sticky or staining stuff. I think the only place I'll have carpeting is when they stick me in the nursing home...although I suspect they don't even have carpeting there because of MY Three P's at that point!

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  4. So, here it is, some hours later. And...? I just pulled out my horrid, cheapo carpeting that the last owner slapped down before she sold. I tiled it and put area rugs - so that the dogs don't do the Chinese splits. Much better, albeit noisier.

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