I've been the one that had to overcome allowing clutter 
You must be young I remember getting it for around 35 cents a gallon back when I was in college . I thought it was outrageous when it got up to a dollar a gallon.
We can appreciate about keeping the clutter down
My wife and I agreed a few years ago to simply allow each other $100 each from the household budget to get what we wanted for Christmas when we wanted to get it. It was a good idea since over time I had gotten her pretty much every gizmo and gadget she could use, she is not into jewelry and prefers to buy her own clothes, so this way we don't have to worry about getting some gadget that may or may not get used much and we are glad because we can get exactly what we really want. I'm thankful as my wife has been easy to please as far as not making a big deal out of stuff like that.
....
I was recently thinking about all this, likely because of the "holiday spirit" and how theft rates increase
Stores claim theft is passed on to the consumer. Sooo...what do they do? In order to cut their costs with these self-serv lanes, which doesn't get you a discount, so cost factors only work in one direction, actually make stealing easier, increasing loss, thus increasing consumer costs.
Doesn't quite seem right, does it?
You're not only doing more (for the same cost), you're paying extra to do it because of increased theft rates.
