Remember the old joke about how many workers does it take to change a light bulb? Answer three. Two to turn the ladder and one to hold the bulb.

New riddle — how many appliance bulbs does the average household change in a year?

My decade-old oven recently blew out its first 30-watt light bulb. So, trotted off to the store for a replacement.

First off, there were no 30-watt appliance bulbs. Wattages available were 25, 40 or 60.

Beyond the wattage dilemma, was the quantity. The bulbs were available in blister packs of two or four or more. Opted for the 40-watt twin pack even though I know that in 10 years I won't have a clue as to the whereabouts of the spare bulbs. Lots of folk are better organized than I, but seriously doubt if they have a storage tub or a box marked ALB (Appliance Light Bulb). Course, there is always eBay, but then there is packaging and mailing.

Now to the crux of the matter, we, the customers, are being oversold in a number of areas.

If you have only one pair of black shoes that need shoestrings, you will have to buy a package with a minimum of three pair. This speaks to the power of retailers. In times of near-depression, buying two more of anything that you don't need is ridiculous.

There have been a number of television programs on "clutter." Part of the problem is Americans are hanging on to an ALB or two extra pair of shoestrings and on and on. This is why when the household is filled up with "stuff" we are compelled to rent storage space or buildings. It is one thing to hold on to things of sentimental value, but to keep in stock extra appliance bulbs or two pairs of shoestrings is a joke.

Could be that these items should be marked with expiration dates and thrown out like we are encouraged to do with food if it is still around past beyond a certain date on the label.

Let's all band together, get our Magic Markers and cardboard, make up placards reading, "NO MORE EXTRAS," and launch protest marchs on the White House, the state capitol, county courthouse, city hall and chamber of commerce.

But first, we have to decide what to do with these five extra markers and three too many pieces of cardboard. Course we could market "Who Dat" signs for Saint fans at the Super Bowl — but wait — we've got to have permission from the NFL... or do we?

So we are back to storage bins labeled UFOs (Unidentified Fantastic Objects).