Helping My Husband Buy Better Gifts
Family Tech with Christina
April 27, 2012 at 1:23 pm
by Christina Tynan-Wood
Last year just before Mother’s Day, I confessed – in my Family Tech column – my tricks for helping my husband buy gifts for me. I figure that making it easy for him to succeed at this essential marital chore – even though he is completely hopeless at it — is better for our marriage (and wastes less money) than silently wishing he would miraculously learn to be a thoughtful and insightful gift giver. It’s certainly easier than trying to be gracious when I get (another) gift that no one who knows me at all would expect me to like. I know it’s not personal. He just hates shopping. I also know he’d like to be good at this.
And besides, even if he was the best gift buyer in the world, he can’t read my mind. He can’t know that I hanker for a Carhartt jacket because my sister has three and has been raving about them.
And could I really expect him to guess that someone who has a Kindle in her purse would be pleased to get one as a gift? (I have it in for review and have to send it back!)
And, since I never wear anything like these big chunky bangles I saw at Etsy.com, it’s not really possible for him to know – if I don’t drop a big hint – that I’d like to change up my style a bit.
This year, I have been using MyRegistry.com to drop all those things in one place. Books (Kindle and print) I want at Amazon, little bits of jewelry I hanker for, clothes, shoes, even memberships and gift certificates. I have the MyRegistry toolbar installed on my browser. So anytime I happen upon something I like, I just click, add my size and color choice, and move on. I can even scan items I find in stores using the iPhone or Android App. If I ever decide to use the service as a registry for an event – shower, birthday, wedding – I can even send fancy cards – printed or emailed – right from the site. And if I’m saving up for something big and would rather have cash, I can beg for it gracefully here as well.
I like to shop. He doesn’t. So I let him do the things he does well. And I go shopping. When I drop things I want into a wish list instead of a shopping cart it helps me stay within my budget — but gives me hope that I might someday get some of these things. And it gives my husband a customized store he can go to anytime he wants to buy me a gift. He can pick anything in this store and it’s sure to be a win for him — and for me.
Christina Tynan-Wood writes the Family Tech column for Family Circle, and is the author of “How to Be a Geek Goddess.” You can find her at GeekGirlfriends.com, as well as here on Momster.com.
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