I was talking to someone the other day about the plan the government was researching about 4 years ago to have the value of money expire if it wasn't used. So, you would earn a dollar, and that dollar, as it aged, would become worth less, at a rate that was accelerated beyond the rate of inflation. The idea was to try to accelerate the economy by encouraging consumer spending. Luckily, this craziness didn't go too far, so we don't have the added burden of having to think of how old every penny we earn is.
I think the flip of this idea is interesting though. What if after you've acquired a possession, you still had to do something to keep your ownership of it. So, let's say you buy an exercise bike for example, and you don't use it. Someone could come repossess the bike because by not utilizing it you aren't earning the right to keep it. Think of all the things that you own that would disappear because you are basically neglecting them. If ownership required a commitment to the object possessed, the entire relationship to consumption would be fundamentally altered. Maybe you wouldn't even have to pay for the object to begin with, just show you deserve it by showing up and using it in the store for example. The store would really be a storage place where objects that are disused would be restored to until they could be redistributed. Over time these would develop into museums of the useless, with piles of unread books, unworked tools, and unworn clothing. For me, this would be a happier world, as I am both an impulse purchaser and a total packrat. If only the repo men would come tote my garbage away!