http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/opinion/sunday/cant-save-heres-why.html
I hesitated to post this here, since the author does have some genuine pairs of pants in their complainypants drawer (e.g. the increased prices of college and healthcare), but the gist of the article needs to be mocked: don't bother cutting back on expenses, instead do something vague and mostly out of your sphere of influence like "Pick a cause, and resolve to fight for change" (whatever that means).
I do agree with this quote: "So let me suggest another financial resolution, one that will do more for our future financial outlook than simply forgoing a few consumer goods: talk about money." I think we'd be much better off if we had serious conversations about money, and not the current "I'm so broke, I can't pay attention" and "you just don't understand, these $30 shoes WERE $100, I got a great deal!"
Making one small change won't make that much of a difference, I'll admit. Cutting $10/mo is a mere $120 a year. That's really not going to make the difference between being homeless and living the high life in retirement. The problem is that many people view it just like that, and don't even bother. But first you save $10/mo by cutting back on the cable bill. Then you save another $20/mo by switching mobile providers. Later you realize you can cut back the cable by another $20/mo. Then you try out Netflix, and decide you can cut cable altogether, saving yet another $40/mo. You get voip, and realize you don't have to have a high number of mobile minutes (and use google voice to send texts, so you can cut the text package too). Eventually you're paying $15/mo for mobile phone service instead of $100.
We're on a roll, saving $155/mo, or $1,860/yr. That's not a huge amount, but it is enough to start making a noticeable difference in retirement. But you keep going. That $8k/yr Disney vacation you always go way overboard on...you scale down a bit and get it under $2k (hey, I never said you had to give up every bit of consumerism). With the money saved you decide to also splurge on a cruise for $3k. Ok, not great but nonetheless, you see how you're having TWO awesome vacations for less than the cost of one in years past, still saving $3k/yr. We're nearly at $5k/yr, that's almost enough to fully fund a Roth IRA.
But we keep going. You decide to keep that 5yr old "clunker" of a car for another year, saving a $400/mo car payment. It breaks down and needs a major repair costing $2,000 plus another $300 in a car rental to tide you over. $4,800 saved minus $2,300 spent = $2,500 total savings. Hey, you start to realize that even if the car is a major money pit, it's still costing less than a new car would. Maybe next year it won't need any repairs and you'll be even more well off. You decide you'll keep it next year too.
Hey, now your car's six years old, you have no cable tv...guess you can venture in one of those "thrift stores" that all the poor people go to. Holy crap, there's some nice stuff in there! Yeah, there's a lot of crap too, but it's not half bad. Maybe you'll check out some other thrift stores too. Ooh, this one has really nice clothes, the other one is good for toys, this other one is the one for small kitchen appliances...etc. Now instead of spending $100/wk on clothes, you're spending that much per YEAR. Savings of...oh crap who cares anymore. You're living the frugal lifestyle, putting away tons for retirement, and can't see reverting back to your old lifestyle. You work when and where you want, spend lots of time on your hobbies, retire early if you want, etc.
Or, you can just think that saving $120/yr isn't worth it, don't even try, and never gain momentum toward a frugal lifestyle. Your choice.
