Overbuying Maximizer

Maybe I am weird, but I get some sort of enjoyment out of finding words to classify myself.  I think I always have.  Well, at least since the days of those deadly accurate magazine quizzes (if you answered mostly A's, you are a ...).  Ok, so maybe "deadly accurate" is stretching it a bit.  Or a lot.  But even though I am a true believer in exceptions to the rules and the idea of the broad spectrum (with only the rare person falling at one extreme or the other), I do feel like I gain some sort of new self-knowledge through the classification.  And I like that. 

Today, I read another chapter from The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin that I mentioned not long ago.  And I found out that I am a "maximizer" (to my "satisficer" husband's chagrin).  And though I don't fit the mold entirely, I am an overbuyer as opposed to an underbuyer.  (I don't think I am quite organized enough to be a true overbuyer, and I have underbuying tendencies.)

As the term would suggest, an underbuyer is a minimalist in purchases, according to Rubin, often putting off buying until the last second, if at all.  Underbuyers are the ones running to the store to buy toothpaste for that evening's teeth brushing, or a can of cream of mushroom soup for the recipe for which they have already defrosted the meat.  They definitely don't have the latest gadgets.  They wait until it is time to jump into the pool before they bathing suit shop.  Overbuyers, on the other hand, have ten tubes of toothpaste lying in wait, and buy things because they may have a use for them "someday."  Me?  Well, I have often wondered if I have some sort of problem in that I never have less than eight rolls of paper towels and twenty-six rolls of toilet paper in my house.  I have seven or eight tubes of toothpaste in my cabinet (all because they were on sale and bought with a coupon for less than $1 - we will need them eventually, right??).  But I just recently found that I didn't have the can of diced tomatoes that I thought I had for the recipe - after I had started cooking.  (Stewed tomatoes don't make the greatest substitute, but the kids didn't seem to notice.)  Oh, and I definitely don't buy bathing suits in March.

What I really loved was the satisficer/maximizer distinction.  Satisficers have criteria (which may or may not be high), and as soon as they find the computer, or daycare provider (ahem), or souvenir that meets that criteria, they are satisfied.  Maximizers, and I am going to quote Rubin for the best effect, "want to make the optimal decision.  Even if they see a bicycle or a backpack that meets their requirements, they can't make a decision until after they've examined every option, so they can make the best possible choice."  Yep.  And there is more: "Maximizers spend a lot more time and energy to reach a decision, and they're often anxious about whether they did in fact make the best choice."

I was sitting on the couch with my husband when I got to this part of the book.  I had to stop and tell him that I had us figured out.  "Great," he said. "In what way are you about to insult me with this classification?  You know how I love to be labeled."  What??  He could only smile as I read him the passage.  Well, opposites attract, right?  I can only imagine where we would be right now if we were both maximizers.  Sheesh.

So how about you?  Overbuyer or underbuyer?  Maximizer or satisficer?