Consumers cut back on small pleasures
— -- Jason Jepson works for a chi-chi yacht dealer in Newport Beach, Calif., but he's so worried about the economy he stopped buying $1.79 PowerBars at his gym.
Such small luxuries seemed almost necessities in happier economic times. But no more for lots of folks, including those and other USA TODAY readers who described how they've changed their habits.
The murky financial outlook and recession fears are factors. Another driver: fear of being out of step with a cultural mind-set that increasingly says less is more. If your best friend and next-door neighbors are cutting back on little luxuries, shouldn't you be, too?
"For years, we had the opposite. It was all about keeping up with the Joneses. Now, the Joneses are starting to cut back," says Ellie Kay, author of 12 personal finance books.
The cold, hard numbers on the nation's economic mood bear out that consumers don't feel flush.
Consumer confidence plummeted in February to its lowest since February 2003, which was just before the U.S. invaded Iraq. The Conference Board's much-watched index of consumer confidence fell to 75 from 87.3 in January, the group reports
"There's a sense that prices are rising — and will continue to rise — but wages will not," says Ken Goldstein, economist at The Conference Board. "This is squeezing household budgets whether they're $200 per week or $200,000 per year. Folks are looking closely at anything they don't have to purchase now."
Most consumers actually feel more pain from these small cuts than from big ones. You miss your daily java jolt a lot more than, say, a new car you'd only hoped to buy sometime this year.
Small cuts can also have a big effect on the economy. If cutting back becomes a cultural mind-set, it can be very hard to turn around.
"The new status isn't how much you've got, but your ability to show what you don't spend," says futurist Watts Wacker, who advises businesses on trends.
"This is a seminal moment. It's not a fad that will die out when the economy picks up."
Trends guru Faith Popcorn puts it this way: "It's cooler not to spend."
Related Stories
ABC News Live