A few weeks ago I went to the supermarket with my father-in-law to get
things needed for a welcome-home breakfast for my husband after a long
business trip.   On our way to the vegetable section I got pulled away
to the flower area, of course, and got a Gardenia potted mini tree.  It
had ready to bloom buds in many of its branches and I was happy to bring
home a flower that would probably bloom over the weekend and fill the
home with its special aroma.  When my father in law saw me walking
towards him with this pot in my hands he asked “Oh, are you taking it
with you to Brazil”?  I was shocked when he asked me that.  “how..why”?
was sort of my answer.  His response, even more confusing, “I don’t
know…”  That kept me thinking for a few minutes until I realized that I
was being a materialistic shopper and he was being, well, who he is, an
experiential shopper.  According to an article I read weeks ago,
Experiential Shoppers prefer to spend money on things that are not
touchable, such as a dinner with friends at a restaurant, a trip away,
or a good bottle of wine – sorry, all nonreturnable- are happier people
than those who spend the money on tangible things, like a pretty awesome
Yves Saint Laurent satchel bag or an even cooler head-spinning cocktail
table.

My husband is more like his parents in a way that everything they buy
need to have a purpose.  They don’t buy a potted flower to then
eventually trash -they buy the seed, plant it and see it growing into a
big tree, like the one below which my mother-in-law planted at their
vacation home 25 years ago.  That tree is a symbol of a
beginning for them.  Me on the other hand, am quite the opposite, I
don’t plant anything I rather buy a few flowers and put them in water
until they sadly die, and they usually die sooner than later…  Why? 
Because I forget to change the water!  If it weren’t for my mom who
loves to plant -she is perfect age for that- the very few plants I have
in the house would be as dry as a desert.

And so, maybe that’s the reason why sometimes I feel bad when I spend
money on things that I don’t really need and very often that sentiment
sends me straight back to the store to return it?  Oh… what a relief I
feel when I do that!  I usually console myself thinking that the fact
that I prefer to buy things for the home, rather than for myself, should
make me feel better about it.  I would not hesitate for a second if
confronted with the option of choosing between a pair of Klismos chair
or a pair of Louboutins.  But one of the things that make me happier is
to see my vision come alive and see it become a reality.  I guess that
different things make each of us happy.