As I was browsing through old photo folders the other night, I came across this picture (from 2002) of our old dining room table. We never really had a nice looking dining set for the first 11 years of our marriage so I was so excited when it came time to pick this one out. I remember falling in love with it right away. Hubby was a bit leery though, “what about all the ridges? Won’t there always be crumbs in the grooves of the table?” I assured him that wouldn’t be a problem. Of course I could just wipe those out, or use a tablecloth, or whatever. Those ridges would not be a problem! I was going to have a beautiful table with leaves that pulled out. With 4 matching chairs. What were a few grooves?
I quickly learned that he was totally right. There were always crumbs in the ridges! I was constantly trying to find small sharp “gunk-removing” tools to get the table clean. I didn’t want to admit how wrong I had been. We suffered through that table for 6 years before we finally got rid of it. What a waste of time, money, and energy.
I still make purchasing mistakes. Quite often, Hubby is right on these things. Oh well. You can’t really avoid those little “live and learn” experiences. Thankfully, they’ve been trivial little things like a dining room table, toaster ovens, or clothing.
The good news is that I learned a lesson about dining tables. I still love the set we bought almost 3 years ago. The table has a marble top that wipes clean with ease.
I guess now the only mistake is that we didn’t buy a house with a separate dining room and we have a very small kitchen/dining area. But hey, we have a great table! At least we are making good use of the space we have.
What purchasing mistakes do you make? How long do you live with the mistake? It’s worth documenting the details for a Memory Monday exercise!
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