Inspired by a fairly hilarious fundraiser in which TV writer Wendy Molyneux dared people to make her go see the hated Entourage movie by donating to children's cancer research (read more in the Hollywood Reporter article Terri cited), we got to thinking about school fundraisers, those conspiracies to fill every nook and cranny of your home with gift wrap and cookie dough. Could schools find a way to put the fun in fundraising by banning packet programs with cheap prizes and inspiring us to want to put up our bucks? We brainstormed ideas, commisserated about the shrinking pool of people to sell to in the no-door-to-door age, and celebrated alternatives like restaurant meals, supermarket scrips, and the option to opt out.
Next, we looked at what happens to all that stuff we bought from all those awful sales: layers of clutter that only get excavated when we move. A New York Times article suggested that we all have a clutter set point that we will return to however many times we clear things out, and so we discussed our own personal set points, the value of having friends whose set point is much more cluttered so that we can feel better about ourselves, and the wonderfulness of big nice-looking storage bins.
Finally, we made our recommendations for the week: Catherine reviewed Gretchen Rubin's new book, Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives, and found an article on "UnBake sales"; Amanda passed on an article she wrote for PopSugar on refusing to do (most) school fundraisers; Nicole shared an article on creative school fundraising ideas (and also talked earlier in the episode about a presentation on inclusive education at UC Davis, downloads from which you can check out on her site); and Terri suggested some questions you can ask about whether your child is a hoarder. We'd also like to invite everyone to join us for a Tony Awards live-Tweet on Sunday night; we'll be using the hashtag #TonyPRP.
Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episode and Kristin Eredics for our happy in-and-out music. (If you're reading this description somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)