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IMPULSE PURCHASING
The Words Highly Recommended Are a Trigger
A few clicks and the object is on its way to us
Among my husband’s purchases cluttering our house are two cans of rug shampoo, a sealing device for freezer bags, a membership for monthly shipments of mushroom coffee (I can’t imagine wanting to drink the brew), slippers that don’t fit him, a set of wrenches he doesn’t need, and a neglected exercise bicycle (now a supplemental clothes rack).
Last summer, it was deck and patio furniture. He even constructed a patio for the extra chairs and benches. With a table for six, chairs, and benches all with comfy red cushions, we have seating for twenty or so guests.
I can understand why my husband was beguiled by some of the items cluttering our house and yard, but I was less than thrilled to be handed rug shampoo, or the year I received a gigantic teddy bear, the size of a good-sized chubby child.
The books are puzzling — fiction and non-fiction, mostly hardcover. I read omnivorously and frequently patronize the local library and independent bookstores. The highly recommended volumes he selects are not generally the books I am interested in reading.
My husband has never read a book. Never. He may leaf through a magazine or a newspaper, but he…