Gung hei fat choi!
For those unfamiliar, it’s New Year’s Day. At least in most of Asia. And since the western new year started off so badly, what with fires and the inauguration of nazis and shit, we’re gonna hope the Asian New Year starts a little better. (Maybe with a plan for actual resistance, Democratic Party?) At least this week we’ve had rain and clear air.
But back to Lunar New Year (which we use in SoCal because it’s more inclusive than “Chinese New Year”). Since my Chinese American husband didn’t grow up celebrating many holidays, I only recently learned that the traditional Cantonese New Year greeting of “Gung hei fat choi” translates as “Hope you get rich.” I discovered this via Ronny Chieng’s hilarious stand up special, which I promptly showed to Andy. Andy laughed until he snorted and said, “Can confirm.”
The cultural emphasis on money is probably one of the reasons why my husband is so focused on saving money. He made coupons a huge part of my life. He spends hours making sure we have the best deals on the internet, cell phones, streaming services…and always get free new iPhones with them.
There are only two things Andy hoards: information and money. Everything else? Purge! He’s constantly trying to get rid of stuff in our garage. After our first two cats died, he tossed all their stuff. Then he threw out storage containers that had curtains from our last, bigger house.
Once we got Boss Cat, I had to buy new scratching posts, litterboxes, bowls, etc. When Andy moaned over the cost, I reminded him that it was his fault. And when Boss Cat promptly shredded some curtains and I discovered Andy had purged the old ones, I pointedly said, “Oh, too bad I have to buy more! They’ve gotten so much more expensive.”
I said that frequently.
After we lost our dogs Woofie and Fey to various cancers, Andy carefully boxed up their bowls, toys, leashes, and collars. He even sacrificed precious garage space for their bagged-up beds. Months later, we had all the amenities ready for our new dog Tankie. Tankie loved his beds and dog-proof soccer ball; Andy loved the lack of a canine cash outlay.
Our son Dalton, unfortunately, takes after both of us. He likes money AND stuff—especially stuffed animals. He refuses to donate any of them, despite being a teenager.
Much to Andy’s dismay, the garage had to make room for a storage container of stuffies once Dalton started playing the tuba in middle school (the stuffie army AND the tuba could not all fit in the kid’s bedroom.)
Then Dalton got a surfboard. Andy quickly figured out how to secure it in the rafters of the garage.
Dalton recently spent his Christmas/lucky money from Andy’s mom on a snowboard. This put Andy in a quandry: we will ultimately save money by not having to rent snowboarding equipment, but now there is more unpurgeable stuff in the garage.
Andy is currently eyeing Dalton’s tub of stuffies speculatively.
I’m not entirely certain that Dalton’s stuffed snake* is going to make it through the Year of the Snake.
And with the fascists in the White House?
I’m not exactly sanguine about the rest of us, either.
*Dalton also has a stuffed tarantula and Komodo dragon, though stuffed tigers dominate.
Congratulations on the rain. And happy year of the snake.
My Chinese husband was the opposite of Andy. I’m a quarter Scottish, so I was the thrifty one. Eugene loved to shop–food, souvenirs, things for the house, gifts. Not so much for himself, but he loved giving gifts and loaning money to friends and relatives. He wasn’t interested in purging. He never cleaned out the cupboards. In fact, once I returned from a trip to find that he’d paid the bills, but he hadn’t filed anything, and he didn’t even throw away the envelopes.
I don’t love to shop and I do throw away envelopes, but, like your husband, I love giving away money and gifts. My dream job would be fairy godmother.
They don’t make garages big enough! 🙂
Not for the amount of stuff you have to store if you have a small house!
Not so funny story — Our township recently bought everyone a new standard trash container so the collector can use mechanical arms instead of people. They chose the gigantic one. It comes up to my armpits and is huge. Other townships have done this but given the home owner a choice between two sizes. The dang thing barely fits in the garage between two cars and you can’t walk by without hitting it. The decision-maker must have been in a family of 12 people. Everyone has been complaining but they say there is nothing they can do. It’s a done deal. I don’t know what the folks with smaller homes and single garages do.
We get a choice of two sizes now. We should probably downgrade–not a lot of rubbish for our small household.
You and I have the exact opposite problem. You married a purger and I married a hoarder. While you may spend more money up front replacing items… I’m going to spend a flippin’ fortune paying somewhere to clear out all his crap when he’s gone.
It sucks when your only option is predecease him.
I love that Dalton proudly hangs onto his stuffed animals. Pretty sure I kept mine into my teens, as well. But I didn’t have a cool tiger, Komodo dragon, or tarantula.
Fortunately, we only waited two months after our cat passed to adopt Laverne and Shirley, so we didn’t have to buy anything new or even unbox that much.
Apparently kids are in no hurry to look adult these days. Not only are they hitting all the milestones like driving later, they send each other pictures of various stuffies. Flexing!
Interesting! I had no idea.
I watched the comedian clip. Good stuff. 😛 I’m like Dalton. I like to save in both senses. I think Andy needs to share his best deals on stuff knowledge with the rest of us!
Ronny Chieng is one of my favorites. Andy is all about Costco and keeping an eye on the costs of connectivity. But I’ll ask and see if there’s any more universal advice.
Oh, and hope you get rich! 🙂
I hope you get rich, too!
I’d like to see a picture of the stuffed tarantula!
It’s at the bottom of the tub, I think! I’ll send it to you when D moves out.
I grew up in a “waste not, want not” family so while we were coupon clippers and shrewd investors, we also saved all the stuff, wanted or unwanted. It’s interesting how Andy puts no value on things he doesn’t directly use. In my upbringing that’d be wasting and therefore contributing to wanting. In other words, wrong. Fascinating the values we pick up from parents.
I think my grandmother kept the pots and pans she got as a young bride for the entirety of her 60+ year marriage. She certainly could have afforded newer and fancier ones, but no way was she wasting money on them. Depression Era and practical.
I had a big Feng Shui and Chinese astrology phase in my life many moons ago. It’s been niggling away at me again as I start to admire minimalistic interiors. This move has already started a stripping back, if in very small, bite-sized steps, but I do expect once those steps have all been taken, I’ll be getting back into it again. Hopefully it’ll help me to maintain some form of order.
I send you “I hope you get rich” wishes 🙂 Also less orange man and his cohorts, along with their appalling behaviour and total lack of morals and values.
I would trade all my worldly good right now to see the nazis and christofascists in prison where they belong.
Rather funny post. Yes,I laughed over Ronny Cheing’s comedy skit on Chinese and money, geuy hei fat choi take-off.
Thanks, Jean! Hope you get rich this year!
😀
Very belated, but Happy Chinese New Year. With all that’s going on in the world, well, this is an interesting year and I guess everyone is trying to get by.
Andy is always so productive. Since he is great at purging and organising, I guess he would know where everything is at home, no excuses! It’s nice Dalton has a collection of stuffed animals still around. Each one probably means something to him.
I go through phases of being a hoarder and purger. When I can’t find space for something at home, I go on a purge rampage for a bit. So much so that I’ve regretted purging things when I could have sold them online or worse…wanting them back later. When I’m in purge mode, it usually is with a ‘over and done with’ mindset. Sometimes you just have so much space for all your things.
Thanks, Mabel! You might think Andy should know where everything is inside the house, but I often see him wandering around opening drawers and closets. I’ll finally ask him what he’s looking for and then tell him where it is.
That’s so funny! I guess Andy eats humble pie and you are the one that knows where everything is! Probably puts things away and never thinks about it again…
You’re right about the second part. “Putting things away” is definitely not his forte in the house.