Is It Cool To Be Frugal These Days?
Despite double digit unemployment and millions of job losses that may be gone forever, many of us did hang on to our incomes. Despite that, we saw our savings evaporate.
This was a pretty scary wake up call, and we Baby Boomers seemed to really be affected. A lot of us were used to seeing our incomes and assets grow. We felt comfortable spending money because our savings and other assets kept growing in value. Maybe that growth convinced us we were being careful with our money even when we were really not. Some of us are already retired, and living on an income that is fixed to the value of our savings. And some of us see retirement in the future, and we wonder how we will ever be able to grow our retirement accounts back again.
And woe to those of us who lost an income during the recession. That meant living on ever declining savings at a time when stock market value and savings interest rates were also plunging.
Frugality Is In
According to the FrugalPig.com, frugality is in, at least with the middle and upper-middle economic classes. I imagine people with very low incomes are used to being pretty thrifty as a matter of simple survival. But those families who did manage to keep steady jobs still had penty of reasons for concern. Stock market values declines, reducing the value of savings and retirement accounts. What money we did save in banks or bank CDs, for example, earned less money. Meanwhile it cost more to service debt if we had outstanding balances on credit cards. And financing got a lot harder to come by.
But we American middle and upper middle class people are a hardy and flexible lot I think, and we are the backbone of the whole economy. And we adjusted, not just for the recession, but possibly for the future. Besides, most of us were raised by the more frugal generation before us, and we sort of , remembered some of those childhoold lessons.
The Rich Are Spending
Reuters prediced a 5 – 10% increase in the sale of luxury goods in 2010. Cruise lines and makers of luxury cars ($200K+) are beginning to report optimistic news too. Apparently the well heeled are not concerned about spending, though the few I know claim they are, possibly so I do not hit them up for loans or business financing.
However, the middle classes, which includes typical people like teachers, engineers, skilled workers, and other professionals, are still wary. They are opting out of buying new in favor of fixing up old.
Green and Cheap
The new Green trend probably fits in well with a frugal lifestyle. Simple money savers like keeping tires well inflated to improve gas mileage and tire wear are green and frugal! We are willing to go green as long as it fits into our budget. For example, I don’t see lines of solar panels on the rooftops in my neighborhoofd. But I do see people putting in affordable ceiling fans and looking for leaks to cut summer air conditioning bills.
Are You Working Towards Frugality These Days?
How are you cutting bills and increasing savings? We invite you to register for free to add your comments.
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Everybody I know is cutting back….doing more of their own yard or household work, doing without the latest gadget, etc. Keeping up with the Jones’s is out around here for sure.
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It is amazing that a few lifestyle changes can really save a lot of money without that much pain. I really had to sit down to see money I was just wasting…like an obese person who doesn’t realize how much they are snacking…..but it was worth it. I’m getting back on the plus side now…. i.e. positive savings, not clothes size.