The lesson of the week at my house is: someone is paying for everything we use.

It’s easy to recognize this when we teach children to turn off unneeded lights or to turn off the water when their hands are nowhere near the sink.
In addition to the obvious, I like to remind my kids that even the “cheap” items from discount stores have hidden costs to the environment and, likely, to the workers manufacturing the junk. The cheaper stuff is, the more we want to buy. So we buy more cheap stuff that is more likely to break or wear out than its quality alternative, then we do it again. This is a cycle we consumers have become too comfortable with.
