Milly is reading a book called “Not Buying It” by Judith Levine.

Judith and her husband try to go a whole year without buying any necessities. So the question she tries to answer is what is a necessity. Are olives necessities? Is the plush double ply toilet paper a necessity?

She also states 78% of americans think americans are materialistic but only 8% think they themselves are materialistic. Go figure. 

In the book she defines Afluenza as “A painful contagious socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.”

She also says over consumption has been diagnosed as a medical disorder.

I’ve often said my kids usually have sniffleous in the winter. At least they don’t have afluenza or consumption yet.