Did you know that there are tons and tons of statistics that show that most Americans carry a good deal of debt and modern families can’t seem to keep their heads above water. And analysts predict that this is only going to get worse this year. Yes, the recession and the real estate down turn have something to do with our financial states, but most of the debt that we have incurred as individual families in a nation has to do with our spending habits.
According to these statistics and analyses, we spend much more than we did just 10 or 15 years ago. I am not just talking about the cost of items increasing, but the volume of items that we are buying and the size of those items. Do I believe that it is easier to spend now than it was a few years ago? Absolutely. I’ll be going through some of the reasons for that opinion. Let us start with the first one.
The increased availability of everything
When I was a child growing up, shopping meant going to mom and pop stores looking for something specific, from a bag of clothespins to a washing machine, a new hair band to a pair of shoes for school. Everything was thought out and planned. When something was needed, we had to hunt it down, knowing which shop might have it. Today, our choices are endless and there is much less planning involved. Warehouse stores and superstores are packed with multiples and multiples of goods from floor to ceiling. There are more stores now then there were years ago. And, if we want to shop, we don’t even have to shower, get dressed, get in the car and leave our homes. Just a couple of clicks of the mouse and the keyboard, and we can have practically anything we desired delivered to our door from gourmet chocolate to living room furniture.
How can we actively combat this phenomena? Pretend that you are on an isolated island and can’t get to a store. See what you already have that could be used in place of what you want to buy, or find a way to borrow it.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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