It had been a while since my wife and I needed to replenish our supply of lightbulbs — and we knew that the influx of next-generation LED bulbs was going to mean a higher out-of-pocket cost than the traditional incandescent bulbs we grew up with. The argument that these bulbs should last for years and years was weakened by the fact that we had just broken two of the fragile bulbs while dusting them. After finding what we thought was the best price on a set of four small bulbs for our bathroom fixtures — just over $15 — we grudgingly took it to the self-checkout. Lo and behold, it rang up at more than $21. We put the bulbs back for now, and we’re going to shop around for a more reasonable price on LEDs — if not a small stock-up on incandescents while we can still get them. I realize that the high upfront price tag should more than pay for itself through energy savings, but I wonder what moderate- to low-income families will do when low-cost incandescents are no longer an option. Maybe we’ll include our remaining old-fashioned bulbs for our kids in our will.