Frugality is The New Black
By Jennifer Mathieu in Miss Pop Rocks
Thursday, Apr. 23 2009 @ 7:58AM
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Blech.
Everyone from Time to The New York Times is running articles about this new, fabulous feeling of thrift that is sweeping the country like it's a runway fashion or something. The Times article highlighted a man who has (gasp!) cut out his wine-club membership and a woman who has switched to using cloth napkins! (Wha?????)
And in the Time article, titled "The New Frugality," we learn about how nobody wants to live in a McMansion anymore and how one family decided not to go to Monaco for their vacation. My God, people really are cutting back, aren't they?
I don't know why I'm getting all uptight about any of this. If
anything, I suppose I should be glad that my fellow citizens are taking
responsibility for themselves and living within their means for once.
But I guess what ticks me off is that Mr. Pop Rocks and I have been living this way for years -- used cars, resale shops, staying in on Friday nights -- all on a pretty modest income. And most of the people we run with are the same.
I don't know, I suppose there's a part of me that feels jealous. Should we have been spending our asses off during the boom, filling our home with flat-screen televisions and Prada purses to help us ride out the economic storm when the bill finally came due? Or should I be relieved that for us, this "new way of living" didn't take much getting used to because it's actually the old way of living for us?
Regardless, I have a feeling that despite the proclamations on high by the media that the new frugality is here to stay this time, I can't help but fear that this thrifty fad is just that -- a fad. I just don't think you can teach an old dog new tricks, and most Americans dig the old tricks a little too much, don't you think?
Meanwhile, Mr. PR and I will be hanging on our outlet store furniture sipping homemade cocktails and watching our bulky old television, if anyone wants to drop by.
But I guess what ticks me off is that Mr. Pop Rocks and I have been living this way for years -- used cars, resale shops, staying in on Friday nights -- all on a pretty modest income. And most of the people we run with are the same.
I don't know, I suppose there's a part of me that feels jealous. Should we have been spending our asses off during the boom, filling our home with flat-screen televisions and Prada purses to help us ride out the economic storm when the bill finally came due? Or should I be relieved that for us, this "new way of living" didn't take much getting used to because it's actually the old way of living for us?
Regardless, I have a feeling that despite the proclamations on high by the media that the new frugality is here to stay this time, I can't help but fear that this thrifty fad is just that -- a fad. I just don't think you can teach an old dog new tricks, and most Americans dig the old tricks a little too much, don't you think?
Meanwhile, Mr. PR and I will be hanging on our outlet store furniture sipping homemade cocktails and watching our bulky old television, if anyone wants to drop by.
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