Bought With my Own Hard-Earned Money

When my parents gave me permission to spend my baby-sitting money on my main, and only big, fun purchase of the summer (I also purchased one dollhouse miniature last week or the week before, but these two are it and the rest of the money gets saved for school) I knew exactly what I wanted: my long awaited hand washing cup designed by Yair Emanuel.

In Judaism there is a concept called hiddur mitzvah, literally "beautifying the commandment."  In this picture you can see the hand washing cup I've used every morning I've remembered to perform this ritual since the day I started.  There's nothing wrong with this cup--it is functional and durable--but it is certainly not beautiful:

  

Below is a picture of the cup I picked out on the Yair Emanuel site (with crazy shipping because it is coming from Israel):

This cup is purple, my favorite color; and I just happened to fall in love with their design of medium size (six inches high) and price (35 dollars).  My cup should arrive in the mail within the next two to three weeks, and I am excited!

It feels fulfilling to buy things with one's very truly own money, rather than with money bequeathed to one by one's parents, no?