After reading several pieces on frugal living, it’s clear there is a major disconnect between what many believe to be the financial health in this country and the reality supported by cold, hard facts.
Books, newspapers and online columns on the subject of frugality are usually written by someone who caters the advice to people who wouldn’t need it if they didn’t spend their money on so many amenities. Three of the same irritating suggestions on saving money almost always appear: cancel the cable service, cancel high-speed Internet and cancel the gym membership. I can practically feel the author’s smug satisfaction with these techniques, as they pat themselves on the back for thinking of what they believe to be such an original and radical financial strategy.
What’s really surprising is just how Spartan a lifestyle these financial gurus expect people to adopt. Do they honestly expect people in America to make such draconian cuts to their expenditures and lifestyles? Next thing you know, they will expect people to sell their private jets. No gym membership, cable or high-speed Internet! Is that even possible? OK, while the quip about private planes is hyperbole, it’s safe to say if someone is contemplating foregoing these perks in order to save some coin, they already live a life of privilege and comfort well above most (or perhaps beyond their own means).
As shocking as this will come to the writers of so-called frugality methods, millions in this country don’t live the lives depicted on ‚“The Hills,” ‚“The Bachelor‚“ and ‚“The Real Housewives‚“ series. The reality is millions struggle in America to pay their utility and phone bill, buy groceries and pay for car insurance and gas (if they have a car) and then, if they have some money left over, they may enjoy small luxuries like dinner at a restaurant, an evening movie, Starbucks or some new clothes. Cable, high-speed Internet and gym memberships are beyond the budgets of many more people than the general public and media will admit.
A report released in September by the U.S. Census Bureau revealed one in seven U.S. residents lives in poverty. The poverty line is $22,050 pre-tax annual income for a family of four. For an individual, it’s $10,830. There were 44 million people in America living in poverty in 2009. As if the media found this report incongruous with the American ideal of material abundance and wealth aplenty, this report was largely swept under the carpet to make room for stories about the electronic devices. So when people write about cancelling the high-speed Internet or cable package, they neglect a major segment of the population.
It’s not that these authors aren’t well-intentioned when they write their frugality tips, but they are misguided. Like many Americans, they are conditioned through a culture of advertising to believe everyone is well-to-do, or at least to only think of people with plenty of discretionary income, rather than the majority without.
A column called ‚ÄúFrugal Living‚“ featured some of the most staggering examples of this consumerist conditioning. Here the gym membership appeared, but with a twist worthy of M. Night Shyamalan ‚Ķ before ‚“The Last Airbender.” Instead of paying to use a gym, the author wrote about using a Nintendo Wii Fit to exercise. While she’s correct in writing a Wii Fit is cheaper than maintaining a gym membership over time, she fails to realize people who are reading a column titled ‚“Frugal Living‚“ probably don’t have a Wii Fit in the first place and aren’t contemplating buying one because it’s an unnecessary and expensive luxury. The author means well, but because of consumerist conditioning, she can’t imagine a world in which people can’t easily head to the store and buy a high-tech electronic device.
It’s time for people to realize there is a major disconnect between Americans’ pocketbooks as depicted in pop culture and the media and what is the truth.
