How strange -- I'd never heard of the Diderot effect, but it was exactly the topic of a book I had when I was a kid. It starts with an older couple who are poo

How strange -- I'd never heard of the Diderot effect, but it was exactly the topic of a book I had when I was a kid. It starts with an older couple who are poor, and have shabby worn-out things, but are happy. One day the man breaks his shoelace, so he buys a new one. But then it makes his old shoe look shabby, so he buys new shoes. But then his clothes look shabby, so he buys new clothes. But then his wife feels shabby, so she buys new clothes. But then all their furniture looks shabby, so they buy new furniture. But to buy the new furniture they had to borrow a bunch of money; and of course they can't afford the payments, so everyone comes and takes all the new things away, and they're happy and poor again. EDIT: Although, according to Wikipedia, the term "Diderot Effect" was coined by a paper published in 1988. I don't remember when I saw the children's book, but must have been published before, or very soon after, that paper was published.