Debates & Decisions

When it comes to money, Big Guy and I are not always on the same page ... sometimes I don't think we're even in the same book!  This can often lead to what I prefer to call "spirited debates".

Our television is twenty years old.  Granted, that's still two years younger than my car and fifteen years younger than the freezer, but it's starting to suffer from electronic senility; the picture wobbles now and then, the vertical hold is losing its grip,and volume control is becoming a sometime thing.

However ... the big chest freezer, as noted above, is almost twice as old.  And it is also starting to show its age.  The gasket is starting to leak (unless you lean really hard on the lid when you close it), it takes longer to freeze things all the way through, and doesn't freeze anything as rock-hard as it used to.  This is rapidly  -  in my view  -  going to become an active health hazard due to incomplete/insufficient freezing of food, and I can see myself very soon simply refusing to eat anything that was in it.  Plus, due to its age, it cost a lot more to run, even full, than a new one would.

Now, we rely very heavily on that freezer.  We buy in bulk on sale, we cook and I bake in bulk, he hunts, we go fishing, we have a garden and fruit trees  -  we need a freezer we can depend on.  And this one is rapidly approaching the point where we can't depend on it.

Here's where the "spirited debate" ensues ... 

He sees the television in the living room every day.  He doesn't see the freezer in the basement every day.  Therefore the television takes up more space in his conscious mind, and so to him is more of a priority on the list of things needing replacement.  Every point I try to make about food safety versus mere entertainment is countered with "There's nothing wrong with that freezer" or "A little freezer burn never hurt anybody" or "Ice cream is supposed to be scoopable" or "That just means things don't take as long to defrost, that's not a bad thing".

Standoff. 

Big Guy's take on things is that we need a new television but I want a new freezer for no good reason that he can see.

My take on things is that we need a new freezer, and a new television after we replace the freezer would be nice if we can afford it.

And people wonder why he doesn't know I have a nice healthy savings account ....