Blog Post: Biz Beat: Will the “new frugality” last?

If you’re surfing Jobing.com looking at job openings, it’s possible that you’re facing financial difficulties. To cope, you, as well as many others, may be engaging in what the press has dubbed “the new frugality”: using the second side of draft versions of your resume as scrap paper, changing your own oil instead of taking it to the shop to have it done, or checking out books on career development at the library rather than purchasing them.
According to a report in the latest edition of Knowledge @ W. P. Carey, the online magazine of ASU’s W. P. Carey School of Business, a recent Gallup poll revealed that 53 percent of Americans surveyed said that they were spending less in light of the recession, and nearly a third of those surveyed said that they planned to make this new frugality a way of life, even after the recession was over.
Are the newly frugal likely to stick to this pledge? Probably not, according to John Lastovicka, a professor of marketing at the W. P. Carey School of Business and one of the few researchers who's examined the lifestyles of those who scrimp and save. Research by Lastovicka indicates that about 15 percent of the population is voluntarily frugal, no matter how prosperous or depressed the economy around them may be.
Some traits these “savers” share, according to Lastovicka, include:

• Bravery. Frugal folk are not easily swayed by others’ opinions of their thrifty ways.
• Long-term monetary goals. Some frugal people want to retire in their 40s, or send their child to a private school, or want to build their own dream cabin in the woods. Whatever their goal is, they stick to it, and are less tempted to spend their disposable income on expensive coffee drinks at Starbucks in the meantime.
• Avoidance of coupon usage. This seems contradictory to the image of a saver, until you consider that a highly thrifty person is more likely to buy commodities in bulk to save money than to save a small amount on a pre-packaged item. “They recognize that coupons try to get you to buy packaged goods, which isn't the cheapest way to go," Lastovicka explains.

To read more about traits of the highly thrifty, and how their behavior differs from that of most of us, visit Knowledge @ W. P. Carey for the full story.

 

The question to you...

Are you trying to be more frugal in these recessionary times? Is this impacting your job search? Answer in the comments field below.