Danny ChaiI came to an interesting realization recently. Excepting travel, which is inherently expensive, I’ve spent more than $400 on an item exactly twice in my life. On Jieun’s ring, and on her used Camry. The music related things I have were all less than that. Same with TV and audio equipment. Jieun bought our speakers for me as a gift. My mom and Henry provided our furniture. Computer was a wedding gift. Inherited my car. That’s kind of crazy. I clearly have an aversion to buying big ticket items. I just buy a bunch of smaller ticket things.
This came to mind because our new apartment is about 2 blocks away from Pak ‘N Save so I’ve been grocery shopping there and it brings back a lot of memories for me. I doubt many people in this Whole Foods / Trader Joe’s generation (of which I am one) know what Pak ‘N Save is, but it’s this grocery store where, in exchange for lower prices, you bag your own groceries. Hence the name. I thought it’d be crawling with cheap Asians but it seems to be dominated by Latinos, both in clientale and in the products they offer. Huge dried chile selection. Kinda odd.
It brings back memories because growing up, this was my family’s primary grocery store. Specifically, the one on Almaden Expressway between Branham and Blossom Hill. There were Safeways and Lucky’s that were closer, but we drove a bit to save money. So my sister and I got to be pretty good grocery bag packers. It was actually a fun challenge. They didn’t let you double bag, so you had to strike a balance between packing the bags completely (so the back of our Subaru GL wagon wouldn’t get too full) and the bags being too heavy and risking rippage. Plus, it was fun playing with the conveyer belt.
Looking back, it’s no wonder I’m so cheap now. My family did a lot of things to maximize the dollar. Like going to Pak ‘N Save. Extending clothes use. And I don’t think we ever really splurged. Our vacations were generally to local places or SoCal. The whole family flew together on a plane exactly once, to Orlando, which coincided with a pastor’s conference. We had to hit the side of our TV to get the colors right. Until high school, our VCR had a cabled remote. Good times.
So yeah, I kind of feel sorry for Jieun, because my tendency is to not get nice things. I like it comfortable, but not too nice. Too nice feels like a waste of money, and it’s really hard for me to pull that trigger. The problem is, life costs money, and it’s unreasonable to expect otherwise. Sophia says I have to grow up. And it’s true. I guess I’ll start with a plasma TV. Why not.