(Jenn) How do the Iversons go about making a major life decision (in this case, which of 14 apartments should we choose to live in for the next 5 years)? Well, it depends which Iverson you're talking about . . .
Ben:
1. Narrow the 14 apartments down to the 6 best.
2. Make a list of all the features we find important in a home (location, commute time, space, bathrooms, yard, etc.).
3. Rank each of the top 6 options according to each feature, giving the best apartment for each category a score of 6 and the worst a score of 1.
4. Put each feature into a category, and weight each category according to how important it is to us.
5. Plug everything into an Excel document and see which apartment wins!
6. Make a bar graph to show Jenn (not so much a number person) the winner.
7. Pray to confirm that the decision is correct.
Jenn:
1. Narrow the 14 apartments down to the 6 best.
2. Look at the pictures on the camera of each apartment. Look at them again, and again, and again. Repeat until the camera dies.
3. Imagine our family living in each apartment, one at a time. Ask questions like, "Where would we put the toys? How am I going to do the laundry? What furniture will go where? Could I really stand having pink cabinets/only one bathroom/no backyard/an ugly exterior for 5 years? Which one will feel the most comfortable? Which will feel the most beautiful?"
4. When none of them seem to be the perfect match, rework everything again. Rearrange the furniture in your mind. Change the bedrooms around. Draw pictures if necessary.
5. When one of them seems like it would absolutely work, tell Ben that you've decided. Tell him that you hope he agrees, because it's now impossible in your mind to imagine living in any other place.
6. Pray to confirm that the feeling is right.
Miraculously, the two of us came to the same conclusion on this one. Isn't it amazing? Mostly I just think it's funny how differently our minds work, and I love that Ben creates an Excel file for everything (yes, there was a giant Excel document for deciding where to go to grad school, and there's even a little one for GPS systems). I have to give Ben credit though. If he were 100% logical, we would never get along. He even had a category in his Apartment equation entitled "aura." That's pretty good. And he gave it the same weight as "price." I guess we balance each other out. :)
5 comments:
This made me laugh so hard because it's exactly the way we are! I loved all of your "feelings" questions. That's totally the way I am. And Chris makes an excel chart for everything too. His most recent one was figuring out which was cheaper- bus or driving, including all the variables you can possibly imagine. They are so funny. The contrasting personalities makes life interesting.
Love this Jen! So funny to think about how different people do things different ways, and when you're married you wonder how you ever manage to make the same conclusion. Glad your envisioning furniture arrangments and his bar graph matched up!
This is so great! I love the excel spreadsheets for everything, but I myself would definitely use more of your techniques, Jenn.
We have the same spreadsheet for business schools at our house!! Must be the econ connection!!! So glad you guys decided on a place. Now we can start to make plans to come see you. :o) Looks like Wharton so far for us. Feeling good about it. We bought tickets to go house hunting and will be in Philly on the fourth of July. Fun timing, huh?!?! Miss you!
Hey guys this is Kami (Knowlton) Boyd from good old Layton High, I stumbled on your blog from Amy Choules, it is so good to see what you guys are up too. Good luck in Mass, I am living in Maryland so not too far, the east coast is wonderful, but nothing beats good old Utah. Congrats on the baby, looks like Jen is due about 2 weeks after me, I am prego with my second as well. Your little boy is so cute, I can't believe it. How old it he? Well, I hope you don't mind me nosing around your blog, my address is www.derrickandkami.blogspot.com if you want to catch up. miss you guys, glad to see you are doing well.
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