"History repeats itself because no one listens the first time."  

Anonymous

Also born in '72, I remember the fuel rationing.  I helped dad put the storm windows on in the winter, and learned to turn lights off when I left the room and I turned my own thermostat down as went to bed as a 5 year old.

I clip coupons and buy in bulk when things are on sale.  I've done this for years.  Last year I saved almost $3000 at the grocery store.  Did you know that if an item is advertised as on sale, but rings up full price you get it free?  All you have to do is show the receipt to customer service.  It often happens for me on $20 boxes of diapers.  

As a kid, I went to all of my neighbors houses weekly to collect their glass recylables.  Once a month, my mom took me to the recycle center and cashed in about $40 worth of glass.  That money paid for most of my first year of tuition in college.

I spoke to grandma last month; who grew up in the 30's.  I asked her how often she and Pa took mom out to eat.  She said twice.  Twice a week?  Twice a month?  Year?  No.....Twice!  Once for Pa's promotion and once for Mom's graduation.  Her basement was stocked with the necessaties all purchased on sale.

When my salary trippled from 20k to 60k in a three year period I continued to buy bread from the day old rack.  I even finish the food from my daughters dinner plate.  As a teacher, I have the summer to tend the  veggie garden, and we only use one car during this time.  

I don't see any of this ever changing.  I think I love the challenge of saving each and evey dollar.  

This is all nonsense!  Everyone has to make decisions about the money they make and what they want to do with it.  The decision is prioritizing what we spend our time and money on.  The calculations we all used to do have changed with the increase in gas and food prices.  It was costing me $8 per day to commute to work, now it costs me $3.25 (I bought a Chevy Aveo).  When gas was a smaller portion of our budget, we didn't worry about mileage or driving.  By parking our Expedition (it isn't worth anything so selling it is useless), we were darn near able to afford a commuter car based on the gas savings.  Now we have a third car with lower maintenance and better gas mileage.  People are being frugal because it is worth their time and energy to find ways to save money on gas and food.  If prices drop, then it might not be worth their time and energy to be frugal.  I don't see anything wrong with that.

For some folks, frugality is a lifestyle and they won't change regardless of economic circumstances.  For others, the new found frugality will stay with them.  We're going to encounter something that our generation has not experienced, a severe recession/depression.  This will force many to re-examine what they value and I think that many will stop valuing things mainly because many of these things will simply remain unaffordable for millions.

The albatross around the necks of many is debt and those who aren't defaulting will struggle to service their debts even as the cost of staples and things we actually need rise.  There will be a wholesale re-examination of values and we're being conditioned for that right now--look at how many articles are being published about hard times and frugality.

It's a wake-up call.  I was there for the energy crunch in the 70's - I had just gotten my license.  I remember scrambling in my purse for loose change (yes, change) to pay the $0.64 per gallon price.  The lesson is, we learned nothing.  No administration has done anything to fix this problem.  All are enslaved to big oil.  What happened to incentives for solar energy for homes?  Are we really expected to believe that no advances have been made in alternative energy research/sources for the last 30 years?  If so, shame on the government, which means, really, shame on us.  Let's not forget, we get the government we deserve.  But I just can't help but feel that big oil is in the background, rubbing their hands together, giggling gleefully, just waiting to spring all the good news about the alternatives.  And just imagine the cost.  And we thought mortgages were a nightmare?

Karl Marx: 'History repeats itself, first as tragedy, and then as farce."

Hegel: "The greatest lesson of history is that people never learn anything from it."

I read alot of PF blogs and one universal theme, once one is debt free the frugality starts to slip, you don´t go back into debt but you don´t squeese each penny like you used to. Even Amy Dacyczyn lossened the purse strings a bit when her newsletter made it big.

What I think will happen is those who crawed out of debt won´t go back in, those who are struggling will simply go back to old habit when the good times return.

I am currently in China and soon will go back again to Thailand besides the negative things people teach their children we also through the media teach others the wrong things.  It is so hard to explain to people that we are not rich it is the availability of credit that makes us appear wealthy. If Asians were not obsessed with retiring at age 50 they would easily within 3 generations of work either exceed us in net wealth, consumerism or debts.  They already exceed out houseing costs on average by 3 times because of the oscession of owning land in thailand or pure housing costs in china.  With some faith in the banking system realistic approuches to capital we are sunk if they get smart.  Thankfully for us they are just as dumb but in a different manner.  We will buy goods they will buy land and houseing that will take over 100 years to capitilize

I agree that there is a big difference between frugality and poverty.  Unfortunately many don't know the difference.  Ironically most of the people that I have heard lately claim they are poor make 2-3 times what I do and are not providing for nearly as many people.  

I know we are not poor and have not only the necessities but many luxuries too thanks to thrift shops and yard sales.  I am not too proud to wear used clothing or buy used things for our home.  My best friend and I love to share our bargains with each other.  That is much sweeter to me than bragging about how expensive something was.  

Our annual income is about $30,000 for a family of 5.  We live in a too small house but the trade off is that our mortgage including taxes and homeowners insurance is only $334/month.  It's not fancy but it is in decent neighborhood and is many times better than most rental properties that I have seen in our town.  We have put a lot of sweat equity into it but it was worth it.  I do not have to worry about how we are paying the mortgage each month.  

The only debt we have is our mortgage.  God bless my grandmother who taught me that if you don't have the money, you don't buy it.  Sometimes that means settling for much less than you would like but it's a lot less stressful in the end.  

Currently I save 8% toward retirement but I would like to at least double that over the next few years.  

It never ceases to amaze me that new couples starting out expect to have everything that it has taken their parents decades to get and then some.  Anything less is unthinkable.  

I may not have a fancy life but it's all paid for except the house.  We would love to get a bigger place out of town but it's not likely with house prices here.  I'll keep saving toward it though.  Maybe if things keep getting tighter economically the house prices will fall enough to make it attainable.  

I watch co-workers work 2 and 3 jobs and still complain they aren't making it.  I just can't fathom it.  

I agree. I don't think the frugality will last. I also don't think that people will stop buying SUVs. The latest commercials for them are boasting about thier good gas mileage and so on. Saw a commercial for a Chevy SUV and it was comparing itself to the Toyota, saying it will go 600 miles before a fill up when the Toyota only goes about 530 miles. The thing that made me laugh is the ad never said the Chevy got better gas mileage. It just said that it goes farther between fillups. Larger gas tank perhaps? I'm not buying one so it really doesn't matter to me but I still see alot of people purchasing SUVs even in our current gas price overload.

Americans just like thier "stuff"...thier gadgets. That's not going to change. We've become a materialistic society with remote control window blinds and ceiling fans. The stimulus check that was given was to boost the economy. I spent mine on debts. But I wonder how many people ran out and bought more gadgets with them.

I do agree with one of the posters here that mentioned TV as thier theory as to why people buy s much stuff they don't need. Over time it seems that "wants" become necessities. The cell phone is a good example. We've got 5 year old kids walking around with a cell phone now. Crazy. TV ads are designed to entice people to buy the product. And if you can't afford it? Easy financing terms...no one is turned down. But credit companies are tightening up at giving out money as the bankrupcy and defaults climb.

I guess time will tell what happens to the frugal, penny pinching ways of 2008. But once gas prices fall to 3/gallon, I think people will rejoice! By buying that new big screen TV.