Three Family Purchases that are Worth the Money
The return on these relatively inexpensive investments can last decades
After years of marriage, parenting, buying, occasional regretting, and some resounding satisfaction, I’m convinced these three investments at three different stages of family life are worth the money —especially if you have more than one kid. Here goes!
1. The Youngest Years: THE SWING SET
A decent, reasonably sturdy swing set is a must have for the early to middle years of childhood! My girls spent hours upon hours playing together on and around the old swing set in our backyard. They not only used the swings, slides, etc. for their intended uses, but the swing set itself served as a vehicle to creativity, innovation, and cooperation as they made up endless games, dramatizations, and competitions with the swing set as the base of operations. This gave me precious spans of time to do other stuff (like write, clean, cook, lay horizontal on the bed, plan, create) while the kids entertained themselves and got physical exercise at the same time. MONEY WELL SPENT.
2. Tweens and Up: THE TRAMPOLINE
Alas, there comes a time when the beloved old swing set starts to get rusty and ragged and just doesn’t have the same appeal it once did. But never fear! The trampoline is here!! It performs the same functions as the swing set (creativity, physical exercise, cooperation, competition) with a more grown-up vibe and slightly more danger. Also makes a great place to sleep out under the stars. We’ve gone through two trampolines in our 27 years of marriage, and they were WORTH EVERY PENNY.
3. The Teenage Years: THE HIGH-CAPACITY WASHER
As your family gets bigger, their clothes also get bigger (except in the unfortunate case of teenage girls when their miniskirts and shirts sometimes resemble baby clothes.) But anyway, a growing family usually means increasingly large mountains of laundry. (And if your husband is gigantic in a good way like mine is, it doesn’t help matters much because two of this outfits max out a regular washer.) Whether you enlist your children to do their own laundry, rotate who’s turn it is to do laundry, or do the laundry yourself, a high-capacity washer will become your best friend and totally revolutionize your life!! I still love the thrill of piling obscene amounts of clothing into my high-capacity washer. It feels almost criminal after so many years of doing tiny loads of laundry. BUY ONE THESE BABIES TODAY. (The only downside is you still have to fold all those clothes!)
That’s it! What else would you add to the list? I’ll open up comments on this post to everyone (usually reserved for my beloved paying subscribers!) so you can chime in. I’d love to hear what family investments have been worth it for you!
With love,
Kimberly
A vintage picture of my daughter, Brooke, swinging on the beloved old swing set