But I expect better from Real Simple. I like this magazine. It usually has sensible stuff in it. So imagine my horror when I saw a blurb under "Moneywise - how to save in May".
For a better bottom line: "Stockpile Paper Goods." (Really? Do we learn nothing??) Here's their big idea: Just before Memorial Day, many stores slash prices by up to 50% on picnic products (paper plates, plastic utensils), says Joanie Demer, a cofounder of thekrazycouponlady.com, a coupon site. Pick up enough supplies now to see you through barbecues and birthdays for the rest of the year.Sigh. Cofounder? More like confounder. So not only are we encouraging mindless consumerism, we are giving a giant green light to loads and loads of garbage and waste. Plastic utensils??? Are we HEARING anything out there??? Hello? Is this thing on?
It's my fault. I read a magazine. I really just should have left it at the doctor's office and been blissfully ignorant, but no, I had to go and read it. (Oh, hey - did you know that's a cool thing to do? I take magazines given to me by my mom to my doctor's office. It's my OB/GYN and he has a horrid reading selection. Mostly parenting and baby mags. Um, some of us are there for opposite reasons. I figure people like me need a tiny bit of variety. I even brought in a Fitness just to amuse myself.) Anyway... I'm really kind of horrified that we still have this mentality. It's so last decade. How to save in May and the rest of the YEAR and beyond is to invest in some bamboo plates or some mismatched dishes from a thrift store and use them again and again. Oh, wah, boo, those need washed. Tough. Wash them. You have kids. Stop spoiling them with unspillable snacks and make them clean up something for a change.
Yeah, see? I shouldn't be given magazines. They make me snarky.
On the note of unspillable snacks, they have a washable/reusable bowl that I've seen on the As Seen on TV ads that is supposedly "unspillable."
ReplyDeleteBetter to use that than the throw away kind you blogged about the other day!