a Ministry of Food and Family...

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Frugality not in Fashion, Really?

Frugality is not part of our 'American' popular culture. Why would it be when on every other intersection a new big box store is being built. We are saturated with things and in this observation, it would seem we have more than we need. In that case, why should anyone be concerned about being frugal. Firstly, what does it mean to be frugal? 
Frugality refers to finding the best value for your dollar in the overall context of your life.  That would seem like common sense. However, many of us, especially young people and older too have no idea how what is the best value for their money. They think it means getting something on sale or taking advantage of black Friday specials. Yes and No. What they don't realize is that just because you get something on sale does not mean it will last or have the ability to be passed along, or morph into something else or used in another way in order that the value grows or is at least sustained. Many products have a short shelf life and many including clothing have a short fashion life. A Hollister t-shirt today may be all the rage, but then again, that trend may already be over. See what I mean. The same can be said about food. We buy things on sale, we buy in bulk and praise ourselves for such activity; regardless, of the fact that we bought too much, bought something we thought we would like but don't. Ethics of frugality or simplicity have long been part of the economic norm of most American households, at least while I was growing up. The sociologist, Max Weber noted that frugality combined with the values of industry, equity, generosity, and solidarity formed the core of the Protestant ethic and went on to describe it as worldly asceticism. But within the current Western culture of progressive plenty, frugality has been portrayed as “unfashionable, unpalatable, and even unpatriotic” According to an article put out by, The Wall Street Journal, titled: Basic Costs Squeeze Families, getting more know how about being frugal should be on everyone to do list. That is why, this blog and upcoming website is going to re-educate the American household on frugality, subscribe today so you don't miss a thing. 

read: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/basic-costs-squeeze-families-002900254.html

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