We finally decided to paint some rooms and I wanted to paint all of our trim white. Off we went to the paint section of the hardware store and we were overwhelmed by the choices. Who knew there are about forty different shades of white? Some have pink undertones, some have grey undertones, there’s off-white, near white, and so on. My husband finally wandered over to the power tools while I debated the merits of “Moon Rise,” “Swiss Coffee” and “Powdered Snow.”
Shopping: Too Many Choices
I used to love going shopping but now I hate it. Too many choices just complicate things. Instead of trying something new, I go into mental overload and just end up with my tried and true. I don’t think I’m the only one to do this. I read that the flavour most often purchased in ice cream shops is plain old vanilla.
Grocery stores are getting bigger and bigger because they must carry every single one of the packaged, processed foods for their demanding customers. There’s one whole aisle just for cereal! Marketing and advertising all these products has to be at least one reason why our grocery bills are skyrocketing. Plus it takes a lot of time to read all the labels for the best nutritional content and figure out the best price by the unit cost.
The same applies to clothing, appliances (both large and small), home décor and furniture, and have you seen all the different kinds of pens at the stationery store? I need a little notepad to record the features of my choices as I drag myself from store to store. Comparison shopping online is even more time consuming, but at least it eliminates the wear and tear on my legs.
Less is More
When we purchased our first new house (in the olden days), we could only choose our floor coverings and bathroom tile. Everything else was considered standard. Now you can pick your preferences for just about anything. I know new home purchasers prefer it this way as they get exactly what they want the first time. Luckily, most builders have a décor expert to assist in making the choices, otherwise I think a lot of new house interiors would take at least twice as long to complete.
I think it was better when we had only two or three things to choose from. Life is becoming just too complicated. Sometimes more is just too much.
