I found a little post about this new service on a friend's blog and signed up right away, but just for a few catalogs, the ones I didn't like. I went back yesterday, though, and started putting them all in. The benefits to the environment are great, but there are benefits to our emotional well-being, too.
Catalogs are designed to make us want something, and many of them do it very well. At the very least, catalogs can encourage us to spend a little bit more than we should on things we don't need. They can also lead us dangerously away from thanksgiving for and contentment with what we do have, which is usually quite a lot. I'm sure I would love some of those glittery butterflies to hang above Daughter's crib, but I'm perfectly happy with our home as it is (except for the pictures Kansas Dad still hasn't had a chance to hang*, but that's not really on point). I started thinking, perhaps it's better if I didn't have enticing pictures landing in my mail box every day of all the things we don't have.
So, I'm canceling them all. I know the stores I like. If I'm in the market, I can always go online and find whatever I need.
* No, I do not use a hammer and nails on our walls. I also don't kill bugs or spiders, unless absolutely necessary. (I even once called Kansas Dad about a spider that jumped at me when I tried to corner it. It was gone before he got home, of course.) Just a few of the many ways we fulfill gender stereotypes in our home.
