Living Cheap is the New Chic

Wikipedia.com: Conspicuous consumption is a term used to describe the lavish spending on goods and services acquired mainly for the purpose of displaying income or wealth. In the mind of a conspicuous consumer, such display serves as a means of attaining or maintaining social status. A very similar but more colloquial term is "keeping up with the Joneses".

According to the Frugal Zeitgeist, the Age of Conspicuous Consumption is over, or at least it's no longer cool. In other words, as the economy continues to tank, there's nothing worse than whistling a song and swinging your Prada bag as you walk past a recently-homeless family living in the family minivan.

As Frugal Z put it:

In hard times, showing off the latest and greatest trendy gear now smacks of showing either a distinct lack of common sense or gross insensitivity to people who have lost their jobs and are really struggling.

I'm kinda glad it's cool to be a Cheap A$$ed Penny-Pinching Tightwad these days. It's time for a new age of restraint - peppered with the kind of maturity that actually celebrates a little delayed gratification.

My interest in saving-my-way-to-riches came after meeting a man named Bob during a financial seminar. No kidding. Bob owned a couple of rental properties in an upscale shore town and saved his way to wealth by pinching pennies between his butt-cheeks and turning them into... well... you get what I mean. He was often mistaken for some homeless fella as he lost weight to keep his food budget shockingly low. This guy was like the Patron Saint of Frugal Fanatics. He was the first person I ever met who broke the rule, "You can't get rich by saving."

Many years after Bob, my interest in the whole "frugal" lifestyle skyrocketed after reading a book called The Complete Tightwad Gazette. The tips range from kinda bizarre to the totally awesome. The author tried all or most of the frugal tips and spent years writing about how the frugal lifestyle saved her family. They bought a daggone house with cash, and only the husband supported the family. The wife made it a full time job to save money, clothe the children, and feed the entire brood on super-tight budgets. She must be on to something, because I ony have two children and I'm always one nickel short of having two nickels to rub together.

Although I haven't fallen head-over-heels into the frugal cult lifestyle, I made a few changes. Those changes will snowball until you can mistake me for a homeless woman I can hopefully rub two dimes together.

For those of you who aren't sold that being a cheapo is the new cool chic, what if you could save $1000 in one month? That's right. This site issued a challenge which features daily tips to guide you to saving $1000 or more in just 30 days. It's not exactly free money, but it will free your money. I haven't started the challenge, but when I do, my cheap ba'hind might splurge on  dinner at McDonald's Outback Steakhouse or something to celebrate the fruits of my frugal journey.

Do you have any stories about saving money to fight off the recent economic downturns?

Photo credit: Mint Software over at Flickr

Comments

[nikki indigo]

this entry is extremely timely given my recent challenges. my frugal spending extends only as far as buying offbrand food products. i don't shop that much as it is, but i know i can be more mindful of my spending habits.

[Deacon Blue]

For a while last year, Mrs. Blue cut down on her Starbucks spending by buying the General Foods International Suisse Mocha Flavored Instant Coffee and one of those big things of flavored powdered creamer (vanilla in this case) and used them together to make a decent little "mocha" at home. No, it doesn't taste like Starbucks, but it goes down well and costs a lot less.

Just one little thing, but it's something to throw out there for the folks who have a daily expensive mocha habit to kick.
;-)

[SagaciousHillbilly]

We have been working very hard to simplify our life for the past four years.
You'd think that getting simply would be simple, but it has been a huge struggle to get rid of stuff. Stuff has included things like houses and cars.
Extravagant habits were even harder to dispose of.
We also both retired, so when we watched our retirement saving lose 40-50% of it's value, we were really glad we had done the things we did beforehand.

[Hawa]

@nikki: It's so funny you should say that. I don't shop much either, but the money still flows out like a river. You hit the nail right on the head with "spending habits." It's like overweight folks who "graze" and nibble all day. They claim they don't eat a lot, but it's the details of the "habit" that got em... not the huge meal. Same with the money.

@Deacon Blue: It sounds small, but that's a great change the Mrs. made. The little things we look past (the "habit" I just spoke about to Nikki above) really kill the pocketbook. I started to add up the little things and realized it was the small cracks creating my flood.

@SagaciousHillbilly: You're singing my song. I have two boys age 16 and 9 plus a fiance. My version of a simpler life doesn't match theirs, so simplifying is like pulling teeth. At first, it all sounds great, until it's time to make a move. The fiance decides spending less for cable is too hard because he'll lose the History and SciFi channel. It's so frustrating, because my life and savings are more important than low-budget monster flicks! ::sigh::

[Debo Blue]

I started eating more home cooked meals and taking lunch rather than buying from the cafeteria each day. That saved almost $400 in one month.

I also placed myself on a strict no clothes or shoe buying budget. My company has recently announced there will be layoffs so that's my wake up call to stop being crazy and get it together. Thank God I don't have much debt.

[GC]

as you know I have a savings goal of 8K by next year for my upcoming big day. I also wanted to have 1K set aside for any emergencies such as my car needing work or new tires or something.

I did a spreadsheet with my whole budget on it and tried to figure out how I would pay for things and save at the same time.

I looked for cheaper car insurance in a lot of different places. It didn't work. Had to stick with the gecko but I did change around some stuff (still carrying full insurance tho--car is still worth about 8K).

I also combined my phone plan with my fiance so we are on a family plan even though we don't live together. We split it and we are saving about $65 a month combined.

I tried to cook at home more and so on but that part is very challenging for me. I plan to do better with that in the coming months.

I also turned off my netflix for three months until the winter started. During the summer I was out a lot and didn't have time to watch my movies. Now that it's cold again, I'm back on track.

[Ed The Sports Fan]

who would ever say cheap, i'd call that 'being efficient' lol...

great post, this is my first time but i'll be back. and a tip for saving money...

open an online savings account. i personally have an online savings account with ING Direct and have an Orange account. You can open a savings account with as low as $1. and the rate is at about 2.7%, most banks don't give more than 1%. try it out. GET AT ME!

-Ed.
www.edthesportsfan.com

[Hawa]

@Debo Blue: I track my spending with Quicken Home and Business. One month, our eating out totaled $1,000!!!(Including lunch and dinner). My fiance owned a kitchen, and there are several restaurant owners in his family. He now cooks most of the time, and we reduced eating out to $400 per month. Pretty soon, that will be down to $100.

I still eat out for lunch too much. I think I'm the weakest link. LOL

@GC: I'm keeping my Netflix, because that is about to replace my deflated cable. I also discovered that Hulu.com and Fancast.com have our favorite TV shows and movies for FREE. I may eliminate cable altogether.

@Ed The Sports Fan: Thanks for the great tip. I am far behind for this Christmas (and I have two school aged sons). I will open the savings account and save for next year. I figure at about $50 per month, I'll have an extra $600 to spend towards Christmas without totally destroying my paychecks in Nov. and Dec.

[GC]

I've been trying to convince him to give up cable but no luck
personally I don't have a tv (the library was my spot until I got netflix)
oh, and you can save on your heating bill if you weatherstrip--kits start at 4.69 for three windows at homedepot if you haven't already done this

[Tasha]

I opened an ING account as well and got a few bonuses for referring people. I also shop online and take advantage of online specials and try to find coupon codes for free shipping,etc before I "checkout". I also cleaned out my closets and sold a bunch of my old stuff on ebay and craigslist--netted close to $1500. We've switched to the energy efficient lightbulbs, and now keep our thermostat on a timer. Saves more than I expected on the energy bills.

We also made a change in our savings allocation. We take 25% out of our paychecks straight to savings so we have to live on 75% of our take home. It's amazing how you will find ways to cut costs when you force yourself to act like that 25% isn't there. All I can say is the "Entertainment" book is your friend when you want to save money on dinner out, etc. It has lots of coupons and deals...definitely worth the $10 or so to buy it.

[Laura]

I called the cable company and reminded them of the sweet deal they gave me to sign up. I told them I was suffering financial (which I am) and they agreed to reduce my cable bill by $20 a month. It can't hurt to ask.

I also called my cell provider and did the same. I have children and they text alot. 4 phones and $5 a month unlimited texting (it saves on minutes). The cell provider agreed to drop it to $10 for all 4 phones since I have been with them so long. That's a $10 savings. Again, it cant hurt to ask.

[Hawa]

@Tasha:Living on 75% of your take-home income is some seriously wise sh*t. I don't have an emergency account, and I would LOVE to make that switch today. This week/weekend, we're working on the budget. I seriously want to establish a number (between 10% and 25%) to save each pay period.

I also hear more and more about online coupons and even the Entertainment book. Thanks for the great information!

@Laura: I also thank you for the great reminder that sometimes saving (on existing services) can be a single phone call away. Before slashing my current service levels, I will certainly do the same.