We just moved into a new house about two months ago.  It’s taken some getting used to.  New sounds and smells, a new drive to work, and new places to put skillets and bowls.  The latter is the hardest to remember, of course.  Another thing that has taken some getting used to is the amount of catalog traffic I’ve seen in my mailbox.  The lady who lived here previously must have either ordered a ton of stuff online or she liked to at least shop a lot.  One of the two it had to be, because I would guess we’ve received at least 100 catalogs of various varieties since moving into this house.  That’s a lot.

We have received catalogs on just about every subject.  Office supplies.  Kids’ clothing.  Kids’ toys.  Women’s clothing.  Furniture.  Decor. Lighting.  Gadgets.  Medical equipment.  You name it, we’ve probably received it.  

I mean, I saw the house before we moved in.  We took several tours and looked it over quite well before we purchased it.  We even had it inspected.  Unless they were hiding some of this stuff they bought, perhaps somwhere under the house, I do wonder if they ever actually bought these things or if it was a fluke.  Perhaps it was because her husband was a doctor.  The colluding catalog companies thought they had hit a gold mine, what with him making apparently a whole lot more than we do.  She also didn’t work outside the home, from what I was told, so maybe a lot of time was spent looking through catalogs.

I haven’t called any of these companies to tell them to quit sending us stuff.  I don’t want to waste much time doing that, and with this many catalogs, it would take a while to call them all.  I don’t really know what to do with them all, since out in the sticks we don’t have recycling.  I thought about taking them all to work, as I have a few of them, just to share the wealth.  But, no one I work with could afford a $248 shirt, anyway, so it’s probably a waste.  They don’t recycle at work, either, so it would be a wasted effort.

I just find it funny that there are so many of them.  Yesterday, I received three new ones that I had never heard of before.  One was Serena & Lily, Early Fall 2014, and another was Nordstrom.  I have heard of the latter, but I certainly didn’t know they had a catalog.  I just thought it was a store in New York or such.  A store that I would probably never go to anyway, as a $4,550 sofa just isn’t my style.  It would have to be an awfully special sofa for me to spend that much on it.  Like Louis XIV sat on it special.  I am pretty sure he didn’t sit on this sofa, since they sell it out of a catalog that doesn’t have Christie’s on the cover.  Seems like there are many of these sofas available, if you have that kind of cash laying around.

It has been kind of fun seeing how the other half lives, though.  I was raised a normal, lower-middle class kid, with three siblings and parents who both worked outside the home.  Neither made a lot of money, and although we always had a roof, food, clothing, insurance, doctor visits when we needed them, and everything else, we were not well-off.  I’m still middle-class, but probably on the upper end at this point, having a decent job and Sweetie having the same.  Contrary to popular belief, all lawyers don’t make $1M a year.  LOL.

As I look at some of these catalogs, it makes me wonder what I would do if I stayed home all day, every day.  I think I’d be bored to death after about three days.  That’s about my limit of staying inside without a lot to do.  Catalogs would keep me company for about 15 minutes.  These catalogs would have an even shorter shelf life.  They just aren’t my style.

I do like to shop online and from catalogs, don’t get me wrong.  But, in my former life, in my former houses, I think I’ve received 100 catalogs perhaps throughout history, total.  Not in 2 months.  This is nuts!

I picture a few catalog-senders wondering what happened to the lady who used to spend tons of money on catalog merchandise from our address.  Perhaps they think she moved.  Perhaps they’ve caught up with her already.  Perhaps these catalogs will stop at some point, when I don’t buy anything from them.  Let’s hope so.  There are only so many trees in the world.