Frugality has suddenly become popular.

I’ve been frugal for pretty much my entire life, whether or not it’s been considered cool(and most of the time, it hasn’t!). Lately, though, it seems like I’m constantly seeing another article about how Americans are spending less, are bargain hunting, and are cutting back on things like eating out. CNN recently had an article about how coupons use has shaken the downward trend and is now on the upswing. And MSNBC ran an article this summer called, Is Frugal the New Black?. Overall, I think this is a positive thing, given that Americans tend to live beyond their means and carry significant credit card debt. I think too, that Americans on the whole tend to be far too material-goods oriented, and that having to live on less may help us refocus on things more important than new stuff from stores.

I personally have always had a hard time understanding why people are so put off by frugality(or used to be so put off by it). Granted, it’s a lot of fun to go out and buy whatever you want, to use electricity with abandon, and to eat out, but the consequences of spending money that way(if you can’t afford it) are far more un-fun than a frugal life. I’ll take my debt-free(aside from my mortgage), laundry-hanging, home-cooking, clearance-shopping, freecycling life any day over a more glamorous life that is weighed down by debt. And it seems, at least from the media reports, that more and more people are starting to see things the same way.