Don’t things change quickly? For the last 8-10 years it was the Donald all over TV with the hit Apprentice. The primetime show was laced with images of black jets with TRUMP painted in Gold, sleek helicopters, and fancy cars.
The Donald’s home town now has an emerging trend quite different than what you would expect… frugality. The NY Times reported that a real estate broker, Sharon Baum, is feeling like it is not in her best interest to be sporting a green Rolls Royce around town. She was quoted as saying “But now, with the recession, it’s not an appropriate time — nor do I want to be riding around in a Rolls-Royce.” The car was her trademark since 1996 and now she is concerned about the image she is portraying. Her plan is to garage the car and drive her station wagon around.
Saving is "En Vogue" now, which, based on statistics is a long time coming. In the third quarter of 2008, the personal savings rate was 1.2%. When the government started tracking the savings rate in the first quarter of 1952 it was 8.6% and it was 7.9% just 20 years ago in the third quarter of 1989.
Although, we have quite a hole to dig out of, it is nice to see frugality coming back in style. MSN Money reports a growing trend of second hand shoppers, some 60 million Americans! There was a day a couple of weeks ago where I would have lied to my mother about the fact that I was buying something from a second hand store. The smell alone makes me want to run the other direction. Now it is the cool thing to do.
Both of these examples are extreme and I am sure there is a more palatable middle ground...I will be looking for it. In the meantime, station wagons and second-hand clothes, here we come. I wonder if couches on porches are coming back soon too?
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