Frugality is the hot new trend
Posted
Apr 28 2008, 10:50 PM
by
Karen Datko
Has saving money replaced America's devotion to shop till you drop? Silicon Valley Blogger at The Digerati Life has found lots of evidence that frugality is catching on across the nation.
A chart of what's in and what's out -- posted at SFGate, the Web site of the San Francisco Chronicle -- says it best. Under "in" are such things as cooking at home and fixing the old car, as well as "library" and "tap water." The corresponding items under "out" are eating out, new car, bookstore and bottled water.
With the economy in or headed toward a recession, more people are less inclined to spend every dime they make and then some. "The International Monetary Fund predicts that household consumption will fall further in the next couple of years and that a 'prolonged period of belt-tightening' has just begun," "SVB" writes.
Or, as SFGate quoted David Rosenberg, chief North American economist for Merrill Lynch, "We're going back to the good old days of living within our means."
How do you jump on this bandwagon? A New York Times story cited by SVB shares the cost-cutting techniques of numerous people: Using ground turkey in place of ground beef, flying in the afternoon rather than early morning. One woman refills the A1 steak sauce bottle with a cheaper brand to fool her husband. The story also noted this change: "Sales of inexpensive domestic beers, like Keystone Light, are up; sales of higher-price imports, like Corona Extra, are down."
SVB lists a number of her own suggestions, including: traveling less, watching movies at home instead of in the theater, avoiding junk food, and increasing household income.
