What if EVERYONE was frugal?

[Broken Arrow]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

Read my lips: "NO NEW SUBSIDIES!"

[lrjohnson]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

In the end, all of your money comes from other people. Once they stop spending, you stop earning.

I agree that my earnings comes from taxes. And that my very job, in the welfare business, may not be needed if everyone is frugal.

However, my non-economics oriented mind can see this potentially being a good thing. What if everyone's hours were cut to 30 hours a week for full time? Well, if we are being frugal we may be able to afford that right? I myself today would rather take a 25% pay cut and 25% hours cut if it was an option. We'd have more time to do frugal things, as well as more time to enjoy our families, our hobbies, our homes.

[rob62521]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

Gosh, who would we write about if everyone was frugal? It would make less interesting threads!

[Marcymox]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

if everyone I knew was frugal- I'd sure have a heck of alot of friends. - everyobody would be like me. Wow. - so cool.

[abowers]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

There wouldn't be ridiculous housing developments everywhere with 4,000+ sq foot houses, and everyone wouldn't own a luxury SUV, they would own compact or mid-sized cars that were more affordable and fuel-efficient.

[disneysteve]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

There wouldn't be ridiculous housing developments everywhere with 4,000+ sq foot houses, and everyone wouldn't own a luxury SUV, they would own compact or mid-sized cars that were more affordable and fuel-efficient.

But what about people who earn really high incomes? Assuming there would still be pro athletes and actors and executives earning 7 or 8 figure salaries, they could buy those McMansions and luxury cars and still be living well below their means. Frugal doesn't necessarily mean cheap.

If I earn 50K and buy a car for 15K, that's 30% of my income. But if I earn 1 million and buy a car for 50K, that's only 5% of my income. Which is more frugal?

[abowers]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

Good point.

[rob62521]

Re: What if EVERYONE was frugal?

Not being frugal this afternoon, but nosy, we drove around and couldn't believe some of the houses that have been built or are in the process of being built in and around our community. For our city, anything over $200,000 is pretty much considered luxurious and these are $300K and $400K+ homes. With our economy locally being a total mess, I'm curious who can afford these puppies and the upkeep. We have lost two more employers in the last month that although they weren't huge paying jobs, they were above minimum wage with some benefits. Either these folks know far more than I about money which wouldn't surprise me, or they are so in debt they will never see daylight...I don't think they are being frugal one bit.