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With the current optimistic news from the “experts”, (which I don’t believe by the way, because I don’t know how the economy recovers without jobs, what…ever), some people are already planning for a slow but steady economic recovery. So the question on the table is: Will it remain chic to save money? If or when the economy turns around, will Americans return to crazy spending habits?
Some people say yes. In a recent survey posted over at Daily Finance, they report the following:
“Retailers, manufacturers, and vendors said overwhelmingly that not all changes they’ve seen in shopping behavior this recession will endure. More than half thought that sticking to a budget would be a passing fad, while just under half think it’s a longterm consumer trend. But most lifestyle adjustments seem more likely to be short-term fads; more than two thirds thought Americans would start dining out more, buying more new clothes, vacationing further from home, and buying American-made products. The findings, Jones said, echo the group’s earlier consumer surveys.
A majority of respondents also said that money-saving adjustments made by consumers during the recession will turn out to be fads: buying smaller packages, bringing lunch to work, and trading down to cheaper brands. But some behavioral changes accelerated during the recession, like using store-loyalty cards, buying in-house brands, and using shopping lists. “In two years, we maybe moved five years down that path,” said Jones.”
Did anyone else notice the respondents to this poll were all retailers and vendors? Of course they are going to hope people go back to the keeping up with the Jones’s mentality of the 80’s and 90’s. Let’s hope they are wrong.
Consumers making the change from financing their lives with credit to living within their means and saving for the future could arguably benefit everyone in the long run. Health care costs will go down due to less heart attack and blood pressure damaging stress. Fewer people will declare bankruptcy. Less wasteful spending means less waste, which means less resource depletion and perhaps a healthier planet. We have become a nation of stuff and the only people who truly benefit in the buy more stuff economy are the ones who sold us on the idea to make themselves rich.
It would be nice (however, unlikely) if the trend to repair the economy was geared a bit more towards developing healthier spending habits over encouraging spending for it’s own sake. Maybe our legislators would like to lead the way. Pork free diet, anyone?
So what do you think? Did your spending habits change? Will you go back to your old ways post recession?
