Friday, May 6, 2011

Chair Shopping in New Westminster (or Oops! I Bought a Desk)

Today was big day in local shopping for me. I went out looking for a desk chair and ended up buying a desk. I got it at Modern Home Furnishings on 12th St.

It's going to look something like this, but in a dark stain and with different handles:


Despite doing this blog and this local shopping experiment, I have a conflicted relationship with buying stuff, particularly big stuff. (Yeah, yeah, husband, I know you don't believe me.) But it's true.

When I was a kid, my aunt and cousin came to visit us one summer and they took a trip to the local mall. When they got back to our house, my aunt said it was so cold in the mall, she had to buy my cousin a towel to wrap around herself to keep warm. I was astonished and even shocked by this because this is something my parents never would have done. They didn't actually use the phrase, "Suck it up," but that was their attitude. In the same situation, they likely would have told me to go outside to get warm. Spending money and buying something was never the answer to a problem.

This upbringing has left me with the mindset that if anything costs more than, let's say, $20, it's too expensive. Of course, I do regularly buy things that cost more than $20, (the desk, for the record, cost more than $20) but there's always a voice in the back of my head telling me I'm spending too much. Thank goodness for this blog, which is helping to snuff out that little voice. Because of this blog, I would feel bad if I didn't buy stuff.

And there are all kinds of reasons to feel good about this purchase.
  1. Yay, new desk!  I've written before about my desk chair, the one that I bought second-hand for $25 over 10 years ago. I didn't mention that my current "desk" is a plastic folding table. I used to use a small table my grandfather made as a desk, but it's now our hall table.
  2. B.C.-based and made in B.C.  Modern Home Furnishing is a local chain. Most of their products, including my desk, are made at their factory in Surrey.
  3. Made of B.C. wood  My desk is going to be made of alder wood and, from what I understand, alder wood grown here in B.C.
I'd say this desk is so far my biggest purchase in my year of shopping locally. I'm glad it's such a thoroughly local one.