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Researchers find one in four people grapple with compulsive overspending during the holiday season. An overwhelming 56% of respondents feel pressured to spend money during the holidays, with family emerging as the primary source of financial strain.

More than 75% of respondents experience what researchers call “money wounds” — emotional difficulties stemming from financial challenges that cut to the core of personal well-being.

The study reveals that low self-esteem, compulsive overspending, and shame from past financial mistakes emerge as the most common “money wounds.” The financial stress takes a significant emotional toll. 68% of those experiencing money wounds report that these challenges hold them back from feeling fulfilled and successful.

Many of those with money wounds admit to avoiding their financial troubles during the holidays. This avoidance manifests in various ways: refrain from buying gifts (37%), declining party invitations (33%), and avoid checking their bank account balances (29%).

Perhaps most heartbreaking is the social isolation that follows. 42% of respondents say they’ll become distant from others to avoid experiencing spending pressure. This distancing comes at an emotional cost, with participants reporting feelings of shame, guilt, and loneliness.

There is a glimmer of hope. 61% of respondents are actively trying to embrace the philosophy that “money and spending don’t equal happiness.” However, the road to recovery is long. On average, respondents believe it takes six years for a money wound to heal. More sobering still, many don’t believe financial trauma ever completely resolves.

As the holiday season approaches, the serves as a powerful reminder of the emotional complexity behind financial stress, urging compassion, understanding, and support for those struggling with money-related challenges.

“You won’t believe what I got from Shein for only $100!” The video opens with an influencer flashing perfectly manicured nails and a box bursting with clothes, accessories, and things no one actually needs.

Within minutes, thousands of comments flood in: “I need this!” “Adding to cart.” It’s consumerism served piping hot to millions of impressionable viewers who didn’t know they needed a $9 glitter bucket hat until five seconds ago.

Consumerism is the temptation we just can’t shake. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok have turned buying stuff into a sport. This “haul culture” isn’t just harmless fun. It feeds the idea that more is always better and that your worth is tied to what you own. Haul videos like this are the poster children for a culture of overconsumption.

But while the world’s social media feeds scream “More, more, more!” the Gospel quietly calls for something radically countercultural: stewardship.

Possible Preaching Angle: Stewardship isn’t just about protecting the planet. It’s about managing every resource—time, money, relationships, possessions—in ways that honor God (Gen. 2:15). When our shopping carts (digital or otherwise) are overflowing with things we don’t need and can’t afford, we’ve veered off course. And when our closets look like a Forever 21 warehouse but our tithing is nonexistent? It’s time for a heart check. The issue isn’t, “Can I afford this?” It’s about remembering that everything we have—our paycheck, our possessions, our very breath—is on loan from God. When we buy mindlessly or hoard resources, we’re not just being careless. We’re saying we trust in “stuff” to bring satisfaction instead of trusting in the One who provides all we need.

Tarryn Pitt loves scouring thrift shops for treasures, from vintage canning jars to velveteen armchairs. “I’ve been thrifting my whole life — it’s one of my favorite things to do, at least once or twice a week,” she said. “Pretty much all of my home decor came from a thrift store.”

She was browsing in secondhand stores where she lives in Prineville, Oregon, when she got an idea about her upcoming wedding. The average cost of a wedding in the United States is about $33,000 — an amount she said she found extravagant and also created a lot of environmental waste.

“I wanted something that was unique and fit my personality,” said Pitt, 25. “A thrift store wedding dinner seemed like the perfect answer.”

She and her fiancé, Holt Porfily, are inviting 307 guests to their outdoor mountain wedding in Sisters, Oregon. All of the wedding tableware and decorations at the outdoor meal will be thrifted.

“It’s honestly not just about saving money for us, though,” Pitt said. “What we’re doing is super sustainable, and I love giving old things new life.”

So far, she said, she has spent less than $2,000 on her wedding dinnerware and decorations, about half of what she priced out to rent similar items.

In late December, she posted a TikTok video of some of the plates she had found during one of her thrift shop excursions. Pitt said she was shocked when the video received more than 3.6 million views and 2,200 comments.

Pitt said the response has been so positive that she now plans to keep only a few plates after the wedding, and she hopes to rent the rest to other interested brides and grooms. She said she will keep the price low for obvious reasons.

Elevated stress is draining young Americans’ wallets as “doom spending” becomes their go-to coping mechanism.

According to a recent study from Intuit Credit Karma, 60% of Americans are feeling anxious about the state of the world, particularly over the cost of living and inflation. With these concerns taking a toll on mental health, 27% of Americans admit they’re “doom spending” — spending more money despite financial worries. This trend is especially popular among Gen Z (37%) and millennials (39%), with one in four sharing that spending helps them cope with anxiety, stress, and uncertainty.

What’s behind the current spike in this trend? Constant online negativity. More than half of Gen Z (53%) and millennials (49%) say the steady stream of bad news on social media drives them to spend more to relieve stress.

Nearly half (44%) of Americans reported feeling pessimistic about their financial future, and a substantial portion of young people are forgoing savings entirely. This has left many young adults seeing core financial goals, like paying off debt or saving to upgrade their living situation, as far out of reach.

For Christians, financial expert Art Rainer suggests that reprioritizing money is a key place to start:

So, where do we get it wrong? We’re putting our hope for security, our hope for a better future, a hope for a sense of satisfaction and contentment on money. And it gets us into a lot of financial trouble. We get into cycles of discontentment and dissatisfaction. And then of course, we continue to try to get more. And it just never works out. Money in and of itself is not a bad thing. We can use those things for God’s purpose and for His glory.

Does this sound familiar? You’ve read rave online reviews about a restaurant or hotel and made a reservation. Then you show up and wonder if you’re even in the same place the reviewers visited. That’s when you know: They were fake reviews.

Phony reviews make up a big percentage of the total out there—anywhere from 16% to 40%, according to some estimates. Some fakes are raves by employees, artificial-intelligence software, or people hired to wax poetic about the place. Others are negative write-ups by disgruntled ex-employees or competitors.

The problem is so widespread that the Federal Trade Commission just created a new rule that will seek civil penalties for violators who pay for fake reviews or testimonials. Meanwhile, review platforms and online travel agencies are stepping up their efforts to weed out fake reviews before they ever show up online.

Possible Preaching Angle:

The article in The Wall Street Journal continued by listing six ways to check the validity of online reviews to distinguish a fake review from a true review (such as, “look for a picture,” or “avoid extremes,” and “check the timing of the review”). But how about us? How do we tell the difference between truth and falsehood, good doctrine from bad doctrine?

Giant companies that study us in hopes of unearthing insights that can help them sell more potato chips, laundry detergent, and lipstick have reached a conclusion that economists and pollsters have also found. We are unhappy—squeezed by inflation, troubled by global conflicts, and worried about an acrimonious election season. The companies are calibrating their pitches to entice us to open our wallets as a way of improving our collective mood.

Clorox thinks it can help with a new toilet bomb, a tablet of cleaner that foams and fizzes in the toilet bowl and releases a pleasant scent. “People are looking for a spark of fun and joy,” said Clorox’s general manager of cleaning. “We all know the world can get messy, but we understand the link between a clean environment and one’s physical and emotional well-being.”

As part of what Clorox calls a “consumer-obsessed” approach, staffers started using artificial-intelligence tools to scan digital media for new ideas. The Foaming Toilet Bomb is its first product from this initiative.

Procter & Gamble combs societal trends to select a scent of the year. So, P&G declared “Romance & Desire” its scent of the year, and bequeathed it to anxious Americans in the form of new Febreze air fresheners with a fragrance of pink rose petals and champagne spritz. The product line is intended to offer a sensory reminder of the importance of human connection, the company said.

As 29-year-old Neha Wright checked her mailbox and brought in the latest batch of bills, she realized the moment had finally arrived: Her childhood love of receiving a letter in the mail had officially been replaced with a very adult fear of receiving a letter in the mail.

Neha’s parents recall that as a kid, she would teem with excitement when she got a letter addressed to her and would run to open it. Neha’s mother said, “Most of the time it was something boring like a postcard from a cousin or a school paper. She’d check the mailbox every evening after school if she knew a letter was on the way.”

Now that she’s reached adulthood, seeing a letter in the mail sends a chill down Neha’s spine, and its sort of up in the air whether she will open it at all. She continued, “It’s almost always my electric bill or a notice from my bank, two of the scariest things a girl can receive. I’m pretty sure that if I don’t open it, I can’t be legally held responsible for the contents!”

According to her bank, this is untrue, but when reporters tried to inform Neha of this, she simply closed her eyes, held her hands over her ears, and said, “Lalalalalalala.”

Neha said, “It’s hard to imagine there was once a time where I loved receiving mail, because it meant $20 from my grandparents. Imagine opening mail and gaining money? That must’ve been awesome!”

Neha’s adulthood disdain for mail does not, however, apply to packages, which have retained their childlike wonder. If anything, Neha’s joy at receiving a package has only grown. “Oh, yeah, letters and packages are very different,” Neha continued. “Letters are scary and packages are tiny little glimmers of hope that carry things like clothing and skincare products. I’m super pro-package.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Obviously, this is a humorous, but not so hypothetical, situation. How many of us overspend during the holidays, or put an expensive trip on our credit card, only to be shocked when the bill arrives whether by mail or email?

As Christmas approaches, too many parents will be competing to track down and purchase the latest and greatest toy that their child has set their heart on. Take a break from your frenzied competition with other parents to look back at the “5 Best Toys of All Time.” It’s guaranteed that you won’t guess them, even though you should.

So, here are five items that no kid should be without. All five should fit easily within any budget, and are appropriate for a wide age range so you get the most play out of each one. These are time-tested and kid-approved!

1. Stick

This versatile toy is a real classic—chances are your great-great-grandparents played with one. Stick works really well as a poker, digger, and reach-extender. Stick comes in an almost bewildering variety of sizes and shapes, but at least the classic wooden version is biodegradable.

2. Box

Box also comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. You can turn your kids into cardboard robots or create elaborate Star Wars costumes. A large box can be used as a fort or house and the smaller box can be used to hide away a special treasure. Got a Stick? Use it as an oar and the box becomes a boat. One particularly famous kid has used the box as a key component of a time machine, a duplicator and a transmogrifier, among other things.

3. String

Kids absolutely love string. The most obvious use of string is tying things together. You can use it to hang things from doorknobs or tie little siblings to chairs or make leashes for your stuffed animals. Use string with two cans for a telephone, or with a stick to make a fishing pole.

4. Cardboard Tube

The cardboard tube comes free with a roll of paper towels and other products. Some kids have nicknamed the cardboard tube the "Spyer" for its most common use as a telescope. Or tape two of them together for use as binoculars. But if you happen to be lucky enough to get a large size from Christmas wrapping paper, the best use is probably whacking things.

5. Dirt

One of kids’ favorite things to play with is dirt. As we grow up, we pick up an interest in cleanliness and aren’t such a fan of dirt anymore. Many parents aren't so fond of it either. But dirt has been around longer than any of the other toys on this list, and shows no signs of going away. In fact, there are some studies have shown that kids who play with dirt have stronger immune systems than those who don't.

So, what can you do with dirt? Well, it's great for digging and piling and making piles. Dirt makes a great play surface for toy trucks and cars. Just add water and—presto!—you've got mud! Dirt is definitely an outdoor toy, despite your kids' frequent attempts to bring it indoors. If they insist, you'll probably want to get the optional accessories broom and dustpan. But as long as it's kept in its proper place, dirt can be loads of fun.

We used to have a short Halloween season, a nice slow-paced Thanksgiving, and then around mid-November we'd see Christmas stuff out for sale. Well, now these three events are getting mashed together in what one author calls a "HalloweenthanksgivingChristmaspalooza."

Ellyn von Huben notes, "I've noticed that so much of society's sense of holiday celebrations has been condensed that it is hard to even see what holiday we are headed toward."

Possible Preaching Angle:

This story (and her wonderful new word to describe this season) provides a great way to help your congregation slow down, take a deep breath, and focus on Christ and the true meaning of Advent, which Von Huben defines at "The time in which we prepare our hearts for the celebration of Our Lord made flesh to dwell among us."

Theft—or "shrinkage" as the retail industry calls it—is a big problem for stores that use self-checkout kiosks. The machines have created a new kind of "partial shrink" where someone pays for most of their stuff, but skips a few items.

One study revealed that about 6.7% of orders had some items that went unscanned (including accidentally)—far higher than the typical 0.3% shrink rate for a fully-staffed checkout. It might not surprise you that in a survey of 5,000 shoppers, the majority admitted to accidentally bagging an item that didn't scan at the kiosk.

But something the survey revealed that might be surprising? Wealthier people were most likely of all to intentionally steal, they told surveyors. Of people who admitted to stealing, the biggest group was among the 18% of people with household incomes of more than $100,000. (When considering people with household incomes under $35,000, 14% said they'd purposely taken an item without scanning it.)

Terrence Schulman a lawyer of the Schulman Center for Compulsive Theft, Shopping and Hoarding said, “I want to admit that I don't know what the truth is, but I'll give you a few theories”:

I think that a lot of people who are higher-income and more well-to-do probably aren't quite as delighted to have all this self-service kind of stuff, like checkout or having to pump your own gas. I'm generalizing, but maybe for wealthier people, it's just another hassle — or it's kind of beneath them. So that's one possibility: that it's kind of like a silent protest. Like, why do I have to do this?

Another thought is that scanning a $10 item for a wealthy person, that's like a penny to them. So, there's already a different kind of attitude about money.

There might be even a subconscious kind of thought of: “Hey, if I got caught, if I ever did get in trouble, I have the resources — I could hire an attorney, or I could call somebody. I know how to make something happen.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Having wealth often leads a person to an attitude of superiority, privilege, and a sense of being “above the law.” But all of us need to guard against making excuses for unlawful or immoral behavior as though we deserve it.

For some shoppers, the upcoming holiday season may lead to piling on more debt. About 25% of Americans are still paying off holiday debt from 2022, according to WalletHub.

But those already carrying a balance could find themselves sinking further into the red if they don’t get a handle on their credit card debt. “If you’re in a hole, stop digging,” says Ted Rossman, Bankrate’s senior industry analyst.

One reason you may want to avoid racking up more debt is that higher interest rates are making it more expensive to pay down. As of November, the average credit card interest rate has risen from around 16% to nearly 21%. This is due to the Federal Reserve raising interest rates in March 2020 in an effort to combat inflation.

A higher interest rate means it could take longer and be more expensive to pay down your credit card debt. Rossman says, “Even a more modest $1,000 balance (from last year’s holiday gifts, perhaps) would keep someone in debt for 40 months and cost them $390 in interest if they only make minimum payments at [the current average rate of] 20.72%.”

An article in the Wall Street Journal makes the following claim: “America’s turn toward lawlessness is nowhere more evident than at retail stores, where these days even toothpaste is often under lock and key. Now Brian Cornell, the CEO of Target Corp., has put a number on the cost of “inventory shrinkage,” which is mostly theft: $500 million in lower profits this year (2023).

Cornell says, “The unfortunate fact is violent incidents are increasing at our stores and across the entire retail industry. And when products are stolen, simply put, they are no longer available for guests who depend on them.”

The National Retail Federation calls it ORC or organized retail crime. In a recent report they warned of the increasing endorsement and even celebration of theft. The report stated, “Videos tagged with terms related to shoplifting have accumulated millions of views on social media platforms such as TikTok, and broader social acceptance of retail theft or indifference about purchasing stolen goods suggests ORC perpetrators could face relatively less public shame than other criminals if ORC practices gain greater cultural resonance.” In other words, stealing is now cool.

Amid the increasing number of self-service check-out stations cropping up at grocery stores and other vendors, companies have devised a unique measure to deter potential shoplifters—mirrors.

Initially people assumed it was used to ensure shoppers “look good” before checking out, these reflective devices are actually there to make prospective pilferers feel guilty. This might sound ineffective on its face as robbers would presumably just steal with no one monitoring their actions.

However, mirrors are psychologically proven to make people feel guilty. According to a study in the journal “Letters on Behavioral Evolutionary Science,” people who are in a “self-aware” situation such as in front of a mirror are less likely to engage in “antinormative behavior” like stealing or cheating than those who are not.

The study noted that when participants were subjected to mirrors, their “private self-awareness was activated” and influenced “decision-making” despite the lack of social cues. “These results suggest that socially desirable behavior is influenced by mirrors.”

However, the study authors admit that the mechanism behind self-awareness’ effect on behavior is not well understood—perhaps the mirror makes people “reflect” on the crime before even committing it. Psychology Today postulated that mirrors “allowed people literally to watch over themselves” and therefore “made them more likely to behave in a more upright way.”

In general, experts argue that mirrors aren’t enough to prevent shoplifting at self-checkouts, which are notoriously susceptible to theft due to the lack of personnel. Scams have included weighing meat as fruit, and even scanning bootleg barcodes attached to people’s wrists before walking out without paying.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Bible; Scripture; Word of God - A person can look into a manmade mirror and soon forget what they have seen and go ahead with their sinful plans. However, when we look into the perfect law of God, we see a true and undistorted image of ourselves. God designed this so that our actions will be brought into alignment with his will and so that we will do what is pleasing to him. (Jam. 1:19-25, Heb. 4:12-13)

A Wall Street Journal article begins with this story about the increased debt load many Americans are carrying:

Danielle Smith and her family thought they had finally escaped the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle they had fallen into. They saved money during the pandemic while they were stuck at home. They used stimulus checks to chip away at $20,000 in credit card debt and enjoyed a reprieve from monthly payments on their $160,000 in student loans.

Lately, they have been hit with one unexpected expense after another, from an out-of-pocket MRI to a broken water heater. They also took trips with their four children that they had put off because of Covid, including to Walt Disney World, local museums, and the zoo. By 2022, their credit-card debt had doubled to nearly $40,000. Ms. Smith said, “It’s just a never-ending cycle of playing catch-up.”

The article noted that American millennials in their 30s have racked up debt at a historic clip since the pandemic. Their total balances hit more than $3.8 trillion in the fourth quarter, a 27% jump from late 2019. That is the steepest increase of any age group. It is also their fastest pace of debt accumulation over a three-year period since the 2008 financial crisis.

Advertising is big business today. There are over 350,995 billboard signs throughout the US (more than any other country.) Google holds about 28% of the online market share, and Facebook controls 24.5%. Enormous amounts of money are spent annually on advertising, YouTube made over $28.8 billion in revenue in 2021.

In the 1970s, the average American saw anywhere between 500 and 1600 ads per day; by 2017, the number increased to 4000-10000 ads daily. Even though we see thousands of ads daily, we notice less than 100 and only remember a handful of ads. There are a lot of messages that are reaching our attention.

Possible Preaching Angle:

While we don’t “advertise” the gospel, Jesus commissioned us to preach the gospel, the most needed message today! We have been commanded to spread the message (Matt. 28:19-20).

Many adults under 35 have stopped playing it safe with money. Instead of banking as much of their pay as they used to, they’re saving less, spending more, and pursuing passion projects or risky careers. A recent study found that 45 percent of people aged 18 to 35 “don’t see a point in saving until things return to normal.”

One 27-year-old said she was prudent about almost everything until the end of last year, when she had an epiphany: “I don’t want to spend my life being so careful and cautious.” Another young adult cited the shaky state of the world. “I’m not going to deprive myself some of the comforts of life now for a future that feels like it could be ripped away from me at any moment … I’m going to spend my money now.”

Many younger adults say the isolation of pandemic life triggered the decision to enjoy the moment, no matter the financial consequences. For others, the motivation has come from worries over climate change, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, domestic political instability, soaring inflation, through-the-roof housing costs, and a topsy-turvy stock market.

A mall-shop worker putting up Christmas décor might seem an ordinary sight in December, November, or even October—but it is August in the Philippines. This majority-Catholic nation has been heralded for the world’s longest Christmas season, typically spanning from September to January or February, depending on the date of the Lunar New Year.

While American Christians lament the “Christmas creep” beginning around Halloween, the majority of Philippine society begins playing Christmas tunes and lighting up the streets at the start of the -ber months: September, October, November, and December.

Glowing Christmas star–shaped lanterns and belens—the physical representations of Joseph, Mary, and the baby Jesus by the manger—are put on display. The colorful lights can be seen almost everywhere, from the poshest subdivisions to the humblest shacks.

For the country’s faithful, the extended public Christmas celebration—fueled by commercial forces more than Christian devotion—can both enhance and detract from “the reason for the season.”

Several major economic shifts from the late 1990s helped to alter the Christmas calendar. Money is pouring into the country from Overseas Filipino Workers ($11 billon in just four months in 2021) and the explosion of call centers in the Philippines (over $26 billion each year). Another factor is the rise of shopping malls. Cultural anthropologist Felipe Jocano says, “The malls are probably how the Christmas season became longer—to encourage the family to spend. The economy became a factor of cultural change.”

So, beginning in August, stores begin to decorate for Christmas. With a bit of a wink and some Christmas cheer—and with a real economic undercurrent that has implications for the Christmas message. All these stores are trying every trick in the book to get people to spend.

Pastor Chad Williams of the Union Church of Manila sees all of this as an opportunity for speaking more openly about Jesus’ incarnation. “The season is far larger for us. How do we use the belens? How do we talk to our neighbors about the incoming incarnation of Christ when they start putting [the belens] up? I want to explore how to use it.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

The holiday season in the Philippines can be fertile ground for spreading the Word to people who just might be more open to it. This can also be true in the U.S. if we can move the seasonal message away from spending and toward the Savior.

The first Thanksgiving tells of survival against imponderably difficult odds and the celebration of Native Americans and English settlers alike around a common table. With delicious food before them, they thanked God for being alive to enjoy all of God's good gifts.

Thanksgiving has always struck (many) as a profoundly religious observance. Therefore, (they are) dismayed at the backward encroachment of Black Friday—the busiest shopping day of the year—into Thanksgiving Day itself.

Stores have been opening early—say, at 6 a.m.—on the day after Thanksgiving for years. But extremely early openings (4 a.m. or 5 a.m.) have gradually become more common. Target, Best Buy, Macy's, and others caused a stir in 2011 by opening at midnight. Wal-Mart went further the next year and opened in the evening on Thanksgiving Day. (Now) nearly a dozen stores—including Macy's, Target, Best Buy, and Kohl's—will be open at least as early as that … meeting our perceived need to be able to buy what we want when we want it … and at huge discounts.

Our national holidays gradually erode with every wave of unending commerce. It's a regrettable move that suggests what we value most is not family, religion, history, or even the cherished notion that God has blessed America. Instead, for us there is no day so sacred that it would keep us from standing in long lines to get a flat-screen TV.

It is significant that President Abraham Lincoln established a regular date for a nationally observed day of Thanksgiving while the Civil War was still raging. ... In his Proclamation of Thanksgiving, Lincoln urged people to consider that even amid the ravages of war, God had blessed America with "fruitful fields and healthful skies," and that, even in the nation's suffering, God had "nevertheless remembered mercy."

(Now) he might regard the stories of the shrieking mobs surging in a blind rush for holiday bargains and trampling a Wal-Mart employee to death in the process as falling somewhat short of both American and religious ideals. ... Nor does it sound like something that our God—who commanded his people to give even their servants and animals rest on the seventh day—smiles upon.

Starbucks first turned regular drip coffee into a $5 half-caff, extra whipped cream mocha latte. Now they’re producing dozens of bizarre concoctions dreamed up by social-media stars. These complex drinks include a Triple Caramel Threat––cold brew with caramel syrup, vanilla sweet cold foam blended with dark caramel and caramel drizzle––and a Matcha Pink Drink featuring the chain’s Strawberry Açaí Refreshers Beverage with green tea powder and sweet cold foam added. Their complexity is lengthening lines and driving baristas nuts.

“It is a bit exhausting,” said a Starbucks barista in Buffalo, N.Y. The drinks treat Starbucks’s menu less like a lineup of drinks and more like a buffet of ingredients to be mixed together in crazy ways to create off-menu drinks that may list 10 separate customizations on the side of the cup.

The customized beverages center on a Starbucks mainstay––customers’ ability to tailor any drink to their tastes––and take it to the extreme. Starbucks says in addition to the beverage options listed on its menu boards, there are 170,000-plus ways baristas can customize beverages.

American society suffers from a plague of things that are far too complicated

Many Americans struggle with clutter. This is one reason for the popularity of the simplicity movement. And it’s why books like Marie Kondo’s, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, become popular bestsellers.

Researchers from UCLA visited the homes of 32 typical American families. They wanted to look at how people interacted with their environments, at how they used space. They went through each room, closet, and shelf in the home and systematically documented the stuff people own.

Researcher Jeanne Arnold said, “Contemporary US households have more possessions per household than any society in global history.” Her colleague Anthony Graesch notes that our homes reflect this material abundance. “Hyper-consumerism is evident in many spaces, like garages, corners of home offices, and even sometimes in the corners of living rooms and bedrooms.”

The researchers continued, “We have lots of stuff. We have many (ways in) which we accumulate possessions in our home, but we have few processes for getting rid of them … The United States has 3.1% of the world’s children but consumes 40% of the world’s toys.” Children’s toys and objects spill out of their bedrooms into living areas, kitchens, and bathrooms. The push to become consumers, to value stuff, starts at an early age.

Why do modern kids have so many toys? It may be because there are so many playthings available, so cheaply. There’s more stuff available for kids than there was fifty years ago, and that stuff costs less. Plus, priorities seem to have shifted. Modern parents see spending on kids as a priority; parents fifty years ago did not.

You can watch the video here.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Is clutter a uniquely American problem? Probably not. But because of our sheer material abundance, more of us struggle with clutter than folks in other countries. But this is an area in which we can take charge of our lives. As we purge stuff from our lives, and take control of our spending, we can gain a sense of satisfaction and self-control.