Everything is on Sale!

Is it me, or is the whole country on sale? I think that marketers are better at what they do than most people. Everything at the Container Store is 25% off, their Elfa closet organizers are 30% off. Don't you think that if you got the RIGHT container you would be more organized, and life would be better? Bins, boxes, baskets, you must NEED something, right? And thus the American consumer goes back to the store. That's good, and bad. Good because if people don't buy things, people don't make things or ship things or buy houses. Bad because we know, of course, that many of us already have enough bins, baskets and boxes.

I was at Nordstrom over the weekend. Pants that were $79.99 last spring are $59.99 this year. I can't decide if that's great for me, or if it totally annoys me. The Juniors Dept (BP for you aficionados) has cute jewelry and scarves at a good price. It allows you to be trendy and feel like you are saving money (well, compared to shopping in the other departments, of course, you are not saving money if you wouldn't have bought anything at all).

So where does all this leave us? It's not all about money. (I think about freecycle, which is great on many levels). It's more about how we build our lives. I think a lot about this, but still don't know that I have any answers. Except regarding kneesocks: always buy cute kneesocks on sale.