Big ideas about how to spend money in order to save money come to me all the time. When we moved into our current place, I was in an absolute frenzy that I wanted to buy a $50 metal drying rack to save on our hydro. The pros of having a rack vastly outnumbered any con, but it was the steep price that stopped me. Friends told me about their wooden versions that weren’t at all worth even the more reasonable price, and so I decided to settle in for the long wait. Everything at Canadian Tire goes on sale eventually and so would my drying rack.

Fast forward six months and I was right. Even better, it’s half price!

Out on a round of errands, I decide to push back supper and make that last stop to pick it up. Did you know that the laundry aides are all the way at the back of the store? I mean, didn’t they know I was coming for my {queue the singing angels} drying rack and get one ready for me immediately inside the front door?!

By the time I’m finally standing in front of it and drooling over the yellow sticker on the shelving that denotes the now quite affordable price, my excitement has reached a record peak. Six months in the making, no less. [I'm sure you can hear the but coming, eh?]

BUT! all of a sudden, every pro towards buying it rush completely out of my head as I take in fully its enormous size. And the debate begins…

• Will it fit in the laundry? No. But I wasn’t planning on it being in there to begin with.
• Could it fit in the basement? Not anymore, since someone gave us a play table for the kids.
• Will it fit on the deck? No again. The whole thing is taken up by the barbeque and our outdoor table.
• Will it fit anywhere else? Nope. Not in our narrow townhouse.
• Why am I buying this? Because I’m trying to do my best to save the environment by guilting myself into being the perfect housewife and force feeding the rest of our life into that ideal.

That’s quite the revelation to have standing in Canadian Tire, let me tell you.

Don’t get me wrong. I hope to one day have space to accommodate a rack or a backyard to hang a pole. Fresh sheets full of the summer breeze are delicious to sleep on. It’s just that yesterday I learned a little lesson in priority and frugality and waiting on a purchase that you might be absolutely sure of. Not to mention, appreciating the now, without losing sight of hope for the future and, last but not least, letting go of the guilt.

It was hard to walk away without that purchase. But I did. I bought the Kleenex and pencil sharpener and water bottle that I also needed and walked out with a heart a little more free than when I had walked in.

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