I am not sure who has had a bigger influence; my husband on me, or me on him. When I first met Jeff, he had a few things that needed working on. He wore tube socks straight up (almost all the way to the knee. Really. I am not kidding about this). His glasses were so big, they covered more than half his face. He would wear colored t-shirts (that did not match mind you) under his button down shirts. And, his hair style had more than the beginnings of a comb-over going on. But, I fell in love with the person that he was and knew the rest could be worked on over time. I am happy to report that my work with him is done and I only occasionally catch a sock creeping up above the ankle. I honestly thought I got rid of all the tube socks. Guess I was wrong.
The influence Jeff has had on me is much more subtle and not easily recognized by the casual friend or acquaintance. The ability to shop within my means and not take on any credit card debt. I've never been told not to buy something. If I see something I want and can easily tell Jeff which budget column it should come out of, then I know there is little getting in my way of having it. However, a change has come over me to the point that I am not recognizing myself.
For days I've been getting emails from Old Navy promoting their huge sales, both online and in the stores. Each morning I've been deleting these emails (along with all the other stores filling up my inbox promoting their sales) without batting an eye. On Friday, Old Navy finally wore me down and I ended up clicking through to their website and started shopping. Ooooooh! What a great sale they were having. I couldn't shop and click fast enough. It was like a huge adrenaline rush hit me. Pajamas - check! Work out shorts - check! Cute new capris - check! Some new shirts - check! All of this stuff looked too good to pass up. And, the sale couldn't be beat. Before I knew it, my cart was filled up and I was feeling pretty good. All I needed to do was check out. Ian needed something and I ran downstairs to help him. I came back to the computer a few minutes later and decided to see if everything I had in my cart was absolutely necessary. No, I really didn't need those PJs, so I deleted them. Then Sam needed my attention for a few minutes and I went to her. After I got back to the computer, I decided that the work-out shorts weren't completely necessary either, so I deleted them. Next thing you know, I talked myself out of the cute new capris. I was then left with 2 items. While both things were priced amazingly low, I was then stuck with a new dilemma. Were these 2 items really worth the $7.00 in shipping? Not hardly! The cost of shipping the stuff to me was a crazy high percentage of the cost of the clothing I picked out. Next thing you know, I no longer had anything in my cart that had to be mine. I completely talked myself out of everything I just shopped for.
Who is this person and what have you done with the impulsive, never-one-to-turn-down-a-sale Robyn?!?!? Where is the person that would shop until she dropped and then worry about where the money was going to come to pay for it? Where is the person who could always rely on her father to come through for her when she gave his Amex card for payment?
I guess this person grew up, got married and has two kids. I guess this person no longer thinks about only herself. She now realizes the importance of making sure it is needed than just getting it for fun.
Yes, this is the influence my husband has had on me. I am sure he would say his ability to change my spending habits is much more important than anything I could've done to his look. However, I must disagree. I think our influence on each other is equally important and we balance each other out nicely.
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