In this age of rampant consumerism, it is no surprise that some people have pledged to stop the madness. . .or the buying. I first heard about this concept from a group in San Francisco whose members pledge to only buy secondhand items. Then I read about this New York City man who has sworn off everything from toilet paper to taxicabs for himself, his wife and his little girl.

Recently, one of my favorite mommy-bloggers started an experiment called “A Year Off“. This mom of seven is going to attempt to spend a year without making any unnecessary purchases.

I spent a couple of days thinking about this. How could I pare back on my buying of things? What is the difference between a “need” and a “want”? Why did a brand new Target have to move a mile from my home? I was becoming all a-flutter over the idea of joining the army of low consumers.

And, then Fairly Odd Father came home from work and said, “Look what I got! Only $10!” And I screamed and then fainted.

(just kidding about the fainting part)

Can you tell what this is? It is a G-I-A-N-T universal remote control for the television/cable box/VCR/DVD. I sputtered something about not buying “wants” this year. FOF explained that this was NOT a “want” but a “need” because he could never find the right remote control when he needed it.

But, the joke is on him, because little man D thinks it is a toy and hides it in the back of his Tonka truck and then moves it all over the house. I have a feeling we may “need” a tracking system for the remote next.

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From Fairly Odd Father this weekend:

“Why is it when I don’t remember something, it’s because I’m not listening to you; but, when you don’t remember something, it’s because you were distracted?”

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