Wooden shutters and brick have replaced the silk curtains. Salvaged wood from a barn will stand in for the ruby-tinted glass. As for the chandelier, well, there is no chandelier.
“There’s a shift to get away from glitz,” Ms. Kaufman said. “I’m almost starting to feel that luxury is a dirty word.”
It is no secret that consumers are cutting back, anxious about jobs, plummeting home values and shrinking retirement savings. But that belt-tightening seems to have also prompted a reconsideration of what is acceptable consumerism even for those relatively unaffected by the economic cataclysm.
When just about everyone is making do with less, sometimes much less, those $2,000 logo-laden handbags and Aspen vacations can seem in poor taste. “Luxe” is starting to look as out of fashion as square-toed shoes.
“$2,000 logo-laden handbags”
As if many people ever lived in this world to begin with! The NYT again displays it’s cultural bias, yet still wonders why its circulation drops. Is there a lesson in this for ECUSA? Hmmm…..
No kidding, Chris! I totally agree.
Shoot, I balk at paying more than $15 for a pair of dress pants, or a nice dress shirt. And that was when I HAD a job.
But the message is right-on. We are seriously cutting back (eg, a lot of store brands and “buy one get one free” deals in our pantry), esp. as prospects don’t seem to be coming in too quickly, and it’s going to be “Christmas Lite” this year. The kids have been warned and are ok with it.
Anyone have a job for an out of work Librarian anywhere in the South East? 🙂
LibraryJim,
You’ve tried this site http://www.libraryjobpostings.org/?
-Katie in Georgia- an Academic librarian –
there are really good prices at Sierra Trading Post, and they are very upfront about their Christian worldview. http://www.sierratradingpost.com/lp2/CompanyPhilosophy.html
My wife just bought a $12 pair of khakis from them.
When did square toed shoes go out of fashion? This is really bad news. LM
Incidentally, this is as ephemeral as any dream. As soon as the economy recovers, Americans will begin to spend and spend. They have no substantial and enduring reason to spend small or to save. The credit card debt is still astronomical and credit cards are merely waiting, like hyenas in the shadows, for t he gnus to come again within reach. T hey are being FORCED to cut back; they have not been persuaded to pursue a different course as consumers. LM
Frugality is back in…I knew I’d be stylish eventually.
The news i get from the racino in Maine is that the number of gamblers has not shrunk, and I read somewhere – I forget where – t hat the tables in Los Vegas are not different t han a year ago. Correct my memory? Frugality is not really back in, because self-discipline has not made a return. It is one thing to be chaste by choice and quite another to be chaste because you have no other option. Larry
Larry,
You might add: Lottery sales have not declined, either.