Freegans

OK, I'm not ready to go trash picking for food, but I'm feeling pretty close in a lot of other areas. . .
Check out this Oprah link I found today.
http://www.oprah.com/tows/slide/200802/20080227/slide_20080227_350_101.jhtml

Traveling

It is not easy to limit consumption when traveling and preparing to travel. Even if you have sunscreen at home, you still have to buy more once you get there. Or try to explain to FSA why a life of limited consumption should qualify you larger items through security. . .

The biggest thing that's killing me right now is clothes. Several kids have outgrown their stuff. I don't have time to sort through thrift shops for used stuff, so I am stuck buying new clothes. Expensive and frustrating. I am donating and/or using (for cleaning rags) every time of outgrown clothing, but I still wish I had time to thrift shop. The kids are quite fine with their new clothes.

Sums it up

And this is why our country is in trouble right now:

"People were relying on home equity to maintain consumption. They can't keep doing that once the equity's gone," said Dean Baker, co-director at the Center of Economic Policy Research. "Undoubtedly, this is one reason for the falloff in consumption in last couple of months."

Home equity fueled spending. Pure insanity.

Birthday Parties

I wonder when the shift happened that everyone decided a birthday party had to cost a fortune. I am guilty of spending too much myself. The kids are not going to be thrilled to realize that part of our anti-consumerism year includes cutting back or excluding extravagant parties. I'm not really looking forward to telling them.