Interesting article!

**Judi Dial** · 05-04-2010, 04:04 PM

Gee, you'd think that maybe we knew something the rest of the country is realizing..after all this time!

See this article on Yahoo:

Frugality among consumers is outliving recession - Yahoo! Finance

Judi

**nadine64** · 05-13-2010, 02:03 AM

Thanks for the link. Great article. I know I don't plan on going back to wasteful spending anymore.

**Nada.Leona** · 05-13-2010, 03:16 AM

Wow, you mean people aren't going to want to go back to being broke all the time?! Shocking!

*note heavy sarcasm*

That's okay. We're the cool kids.

Everyone is just trying to copy us. We knew saving money was cool before the recession. We're the Fonzies of the frugal world.

**mombottoo** · 05-14-2010, 09:48 AM

We had 4 kids and I had no choice but to be what they call frugal nowadays...I called it stretching Abe & I don't mean the $5 bill either.

**Michelle68** · 05-17-2010, 12:05 AM

Thanks for the link, Judi!

**Thevail** · 05-17-2010, 03:37 PM

I think the strangest thing about this is that the article still generally poses the idea that living within your actual means is some bizarre habit brought on and sustained only by fear.

I don't suppose it has even occurred to most people that when people quit spending like they were a Rockafeller... they didn't actually miss it.

That just perhaps, those people who were not getting the "happiness" they thought they would from overspending..

didn't notice much of a difference in their "happiness" when they quit overspending.

Or perhaps even felt more "happiness" because they were saving money and felt more security, something they may not have previously thought of as a "happiness" option..

**Luckybustert** · 05-17-2010, 03:53 PM

Originally Posted by Thevail

I don't suppose it has even occurred to most people that when people quit spending like they were a Rockafeller... they didn't actually miss it.

That just perhaps, those people who were not getting the "happiness" they thought they would from overspending..

didn't notice much of a difference in their "happiness" when they quit overspending.

Or perhaps even felt more "happiness" because they were saving money and felt more security, something they may not have previously thought of as a "happiness" option..

Well, of course not...because that's not how Madison Avenue and the mainsteam media have told us we should want to live. How DARE we depart from the script?!

I agree with the comment about us being the "cool kids"....the ones who dared to go there first....blazin' trails....WE decide what makes up happy, not someone else telling us how we *SHOULD* want to live!

**Thevail** · 05-17-2010, 04:14 PM

I just worry that the media is already slanting most coverage to make this "saving" behavior seem marginal and odd or even counter productive for Americans.

I mean, every one of these articles mentions.. "well the economy isn't going to recover very fast if people do this!"

No one seems to want to admit that the tech bubble, easy access to credit, and the housing bubble fueled an economy that couldn't ever really exist unless Americans continuously spent more dollars each year than actually existed..

How is the economy supposed to "bounce back" to "normal" when normal was crazy???

**Luckybustert** · 05-17-2010, 04:27 PM

Originally Posted by Thevail

I just worry that the media is already slanting most coverage to make this "saving" behavior seem marginal and odd or even counter productive for Americans.

I mean, every one of these articles mentions.. "well the economy isn't going to recover very fast if people do this!"

No one seems to want to admit that the tech bubble, easy access to credit, and the housing bubble fueled an economy that couldn't ever really exist unless Americans continuously spent more dollars each year than actually existed..

How is the economy supposed to "bounce back" to "normal" when normal was crazy???

I don't want to turn this into a political thread, but think about it....people who are in a precarious financial position are more apt to turn to the government for help, and relying on government assistance gives the politicians more control over our lives. The "new normal" has the government more involved in our lives than ever, and doing things that promote independence from that model are being painted as "unpatriotic". It's not about reality...it's about what people are willing to believe and do.