Great post. Say, what do they mean by better, anyway? For instance, I hate those big screen TVs most of my relatives have and the idiot shows/movies they watch (and their lack of ability to entertain you in any other way also). When they break down (which they sure can), they can cost a fortune to fix. My brother is on my case right now because I simply don't want a new car and paid to have the transmission fixed on my 8-year-old Suzuki Esteem. (He doesn't know I don't plan to buy another car after this one quits). He's forever paying on a fairly recent model. I keep a small stash of appliances in my garage, my backups, I call them. When one quits (which actually doesn't happen very often), I plug in another. The kids in the family love this, by the way. Anyway, I say let them snicker behind my back. I'm not impressed with most of the new stuff I see people wear or drive in or the furniture they have in their homes. It's just so dumb to be in debt for stuff like that. I learned a long time ago to just turn it all off, the advertising, I mean, cut out as much TV as possible, quit paying for magazines and newspapers full of ads. That and quit hanging with idiots if you can manage it, ha-ha. I don't even fool with a cell phone now. Working from my home has made it very easy to drop out in this way, and I have no regrets.