I’m not worried that Quanta is cornering a market right under our nose, but I do feel embarrassed that a company I have probably supported with just about every personal tech purchase of the last five years is one that I never could’ve named before today. Understanding the market realities in which we’re spending and saving makes savvy customers more of a force to be reckoned with by even the largest companies. It’s worth all of our time to learn about the companies we’re spending our hard-earned money on. Check out this fascinating infographic on the six insanely large companies that (if you’re like me) you just aren’t thinking about.

In the heat of the holiday shopping season, I’m taking a moment to consider where I spend my hard earned money. You might be familiar with the status: Walmart’s the largest grocery store in the U.S., the largest retailer in the world, the leader in global corporate revenue and the largest employer in existence. Still, these facts don’t do much to demonstrate the reach of this superpower.

Check out our graphic demonstrating the Weight of Walmart, and if you find the statistics as shocking as we do, please share it with everyone you know:

Update: Thanks to Mike for the heads up about the AOL/Time Warner error. The graphic has been fixed.

I remember just a few years ago I was deep in debt, and often spent sleepless nights worrying over our bills. I wanted desperately for there to be an instant fix, but deep down I knew it would take many months of hard work and discipline to get out of debt.

At one point in particular, when a family member was dealt a serious health blow, and the financial collapse was well underway in late 2008, I had just about given up hope of ever being debt free, of ever having savings, and ever realizing financial peace.

Fortunately, we persevered and we eventually reached the debt freedom we so desired. I was right; it did take many, many months and a lot of long days, but it is so worth it.

During that time of economic despair, I thought a lot of bad thoughts. I won’t get into specifics, but you can imagine for yourself what someone with a wife and two kids and a pile of debt might be feeling. There were many sleepless nights.

I managed to keep a somewhat positive perspective by tracking my debt level each month. Every month I saw that number go down was a win. Every month I saw a rise in my debt I tried that much harder to make a dent the next month.

I began to look forward to pay days because it was another opportunity to knock out some debt.

I began to look forward to extra work because it increased my income, and provided a chance to knock out some debt.

I started tuning out the naysayers. I ignored people out there who said being in debt was normal, that everyone had a car payment, that everyone had to borrow money to finish school, and that everyone used credit cards.

I started having mini conversations with myself like:

• Maybe I didn’t want to use credit cards.
• Maybe I didn’t want my kids to have to borrow money for school.
• Maybe I didn’t want a car payment again, ever.
• Maybe I wanted to live debt free and not owe anyone a dime.

I wasn’t going to let someone else, or some tired financial conventional “wisdom” dictate my life. I was responsible for creating my situation, and I was responsible for turning it around.

In addition to these lines of thinking, I also practiced the following to help lower my financial stress levels (and still do today when I feel the blood pressure creeping up).

Turn off the television (and the radio, and the computer). It is good to disconnect every now and then. Instead of being glued to the television as talking heads pour over the latest thrashing on Wall Street (as I did on Monday evening), turn off the television.

• Go for a walk around your neighborhood.
• Call a long-distance relative you haven’t talked with in a while.
• Toss the ball with your kids.
• Go to bed with the sun and catch up on sleep.

Whatever you decide to do with your time, stay disconnected. No checking the smartphone or sneaking a peak at your portfolio. Trust me; it will feel refreshing.

Surround yourself with positive influences. I can’t stand for people to tell me everything will be fine when I don’t think it will be. That goes for the economy and many other areas of life. I’m not a pessimist, but I am a realist, and I can see things for what they are.

Having said that, it is easy to slide towards negativity when surrounded by downers – people who are constantly taking a “half is glass empty” approach. Seek out positive relationships with people who are genuinely optimistic about life.

If you happen to disagree on politics or economic theory, or whatever it is that stresses you, just suggest avoiding those topics and enjoy each other’s company for different reasons.

Maybe you can find someone with whom you share a mutual hobby, and can engage in it together.

Find an accountability partner to help get up and get to the gym early on a cold morning.

If you’d like to learn more about a particular subject, seek out a mentor to tag along with and learn from their experience.

I often get accused of being an old fart when I say things like this, but I honestly believe that the further we get from face to face, human interaction, the less connected we are with reality.

Many of us stay stressed because we lack this interaction, and in its place we’ve inserted more ways to stay connected to work, to finances, and to the never-ending, 24-hour negative news cycle.

Those things are good in small doses, but when it becomes a way of life, it simply adds to our levels of stress. Now go unplug for a while.

Naturally, there is justifiable frustration, even downright anger, over these higher gas prices. We don’t just feel the increase at the pump, but we feel it as the increased costs to transport virtually every consumable product are passed on to consumers.

Some argue higher gas prices are a good thing – that they force us to consume less and seek out “alternative energies” that we might not turn to otherwise. Putting the politically-charged arguments aside for now, one thing I find interesting is the things we are willing to, and not willing to, tolerate in our society.

According to the AAA Daily Fuel Guage Report, at the time of this writing the average cost of regular unleaded is $3.55 a gallon. One year ago it was $2.82 a gallon. That’s a 25% increase in the cost to fill your car’s tank over last year’s prices.

Then I read this from a study on store credit cards published the end of last year:

Among the 35 store cards surveyed, the average store credit card rate is 23.83%.

I recognize not everyone signing up for a store card pays interest, but many do, and for them it is acceptable for a store card to take 25% more of their money in the form of tacked-on interest. I wonder how many people screaming about high gas prices also pay considerable amounts of interest to credit card companies and retail stores?

Some use this opportunity to point out that if you are living so close to the edge that a 25% increase in gas prices sends you over, then you are failing at personal finance.

Well, that may be, but the fact is there are a lot of people just that close to the edge. Some are there because they made bad decisions: bought too much house, or too much car, or too many goodies. But many are there because of bad circumstances: layoffs, illnesses, etc. Yes, bad things happen to good people.

Those good people may already be living frugally, and they may have already cut all frivolous expenses from their budget. They are struggling to keep their heads above water as the water levels continue to rise. So for these folks, higher gas and food prices are not a good thing.

This all leads me back to my idea of a serentity prayer for finances. I cannot single-handedly control the price of gas. I can control the amount of interest I pay. I can complain about both, but complaining about something over which I have little control seems futile. I need the wisdom to know the difference.

Instead, I can focus my energy on managing my household’s finances so that I don’t have to borrow money and pay those interest rates. I can focus my energy on inspiring others to take the same approach.

Granted, those markets were suffering from a little irrational exuberance prior to the housing bubble, but their lots still offered tangible items like sticks, bricks, dirt, etc. And last I checked, I can’t grow vegetables on virtual properties built online. Farmville anyone?

You know Farmville, the Facebook application where participants pour hours of real world time plowing, planting and harvesting virtual crops for virtual gains. You can grow the size of your farm by increasing the number of neighbors, or if you can’t convince your virtual friends to be virtual neighbors, you can just give Facebook your credit card and they’ll gladly convert $20 to virtual acreage. Then you can plant even more crops to harvest even bigger gains towards that ultimate goal of…what is the ultimate goal again?

It’s Time to Get Our Hands Dirty Again

My kids are like a lot of kids these days, and many adults, too. They don’t necessarily mind work, but they don’t want to get dirty, or cold, or sweaty. They don’t mind sitting in front of a computer building virtual empires, or leading their favorite football team to the Superbowl in Madden 2010. But don’t ask them to toss a real ball, or swing a real hammer.

It’s too hot. It’s too hard. I might get hurt. There are bugs. It doesn’t pay enough.

I’m not exactly sure where it all started, but I distinctly remember a number of virtual “advancements” that seemed to encroach on our real world activities. They made us a little lazy, a little soft.

For example, when I was growing up, I remember parents scrimmaging against their kids at soccer practice. In fact, my grandfather was goalie for the parents’ team during scrimmages. We even ordered him a jersey with “Papa” on the back, number 60 (his age at the time). Now, most parents sit in their cars during practice, checking their fantasy football stats on an iPhone.

I’m guilty, too. This past season, I actually enjoyed the hour my daughter was practicing soccer because it was the one hour of the day I could tilt the seat back, turn off the radio, the telephone, the computer, and just rest. Maybe that’s the key. Maybe if we all unplugged and rested a bit more, we’d have time for true recreation. Not virtual fishing, but real fishing, complete with fresh air, smelly bait and muddy grass under our feet at the shore.

By the way, by the end of the season I had remembered my grandfather participating in all my practices, and made it a point to play soccer with my kids’ teams when the coach asked for volunteers. I learned a very important lesson – soccer was much easier when I was a kid!

We’ve Come a Long Way, or Have We?

Like I said, it’s tough to put a finger on the point where virtual connections became more important than real connections. Where virtual products and services were preferred over tangible ones. Where virtual reality was more engaging than our own reality. It has been more of a gradual decline.

Consider the following tug of war matches currently being fought in our society between the old-fashioned farts like me and those advancing new technologies and services:

• Virtual books (Kindle) vs. real books. Disclaimer: I own a Kindle, and while I do like it, I miss real books. I miss the way an old book smells. I miss looking at the cover, seeing the occasional photos included in a biography, making notes in the margins, and bookmarking my favorite sections. I think I’ll eBay this Kindle and go back to hardcovers.

• Email vs. real mail. Letter writing is officially a lost art. When was the last time you received a handwritten letter from a friend or loved one? Receiving a new email isn’t exactly an exciting event, but I can still remember how special it felt to receive a handwritten note from my mom while away at school, along with a few goodies for the dorm room.

• Debit cards vs. cash. Spending cash hurts. The physical transaction of a twenty dollar bill leaving your wallet and being placed into the hands of a cashier registers far more in your brain than swiping a piece of plastic. Debit cards are more convenient, but if you need to get a grip on spending, go back to cash (while you still can).

• Second Life vs. real life. I’ve never understood these virtual reality games. Why invest so much time and energy building something that only exists in a virtual world? I’d rather spend that time building something I can see, and touch, and enjoy in the real world. Doesn’t matter if it is a birdhouse or a real house.

• Online learning vs. classrooms. I attended a traditional campus for the first two years of college, but finished my undergraduate degree several years later using an online degree program. It was nice not to have to go to class at end of a long work day, but some things were lost in the online learning world. I experienced very little interaction with other students, and missed professors asking me why I had a puzzled look on my face because I didn’t understand something, but was unwilling to raise my hand and ask the question.

• Ipods vs CDs vs tapes vs records. That’s right; record albums. Remember those? Records, and even tapes and CDs, used to be made more special by the cover art, the lyric inserts, etc. I remember my mom enjoying looking through old record album collections…remembering how she had to hunt all over for the album, the first time she put it on her record player, etc. Can’t exactly get that from a download from iTunes.

• Physical gold vs gold stocks and ETFs. Gold and silver are hot commodities these days, and many are scrambling for new ways to own both. My grandparents and great-grandparents also thought a lot of gold and silver, but preferred to hold actual coins. My great uncle even collected a few nice silver pieces. They thought certificates guaranteeing your gold was being held somewhere else was about as worthless as used toilet paper. Wonder what they would have thought of the many “investment” products created today that merely track gold and silver prices, but have no tangible assets to back it up.

• Virtual friendships vs real friendships. Social media has helped connect many people who may not have otherwise been connected. In fact, the phenomenon known as blogging has connected you and I. But I still highly value offline friendships. Close friends and neighbors are the ones you can turn to in times of need, and likewise, you can be there for them.

• Digital pictures frames vs. real pictures. Digital picture frames are neat, aren’t they? You take a bunch of photos, put them on a memory card, and stick it into a digital frame. The frame loops through dozens of photos, instead of just the one you’d see in a glass and paper frame. I still like real, hardcopy pictures. I’ve been going through many old photographs since my grandfather passed away, several that are 30-40 years old (and older). I’ve enjoyed reading the notes my grandfather wrote on the back of the photos – the date, who’s in the photo, a little story to accompany the picture. Can’t get that on a digital frame. Which makes me wonder; what will our kids and grandkids have to remember us? Will the portraits of our lives be reduced to a single CD of digital images?

I don’t mean to be a complete wet blanket. I am all for technological advances, but I also happen to believe that in many cases, change does not equal progress. I guess when it comes right down to it, I am old-fashioned. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

My mom and grandparents used to talk a lot about the “good old days.” My grandfather used to joke there wasn’t much good about them – especially the times we were at war, suffering through a depression, his family’s lack of now-modern conveniences like indoor plumbing, electricity, etc. But there were good things about those times, things I wish we could enjoy today.

More families stayed together. More families played together. Kids played outside, and for the most part, they could do so safely. People were more reluctant to get too deep in debt. People knew their neighbors. People trusted their government (well, for the most part). Kids respected their teachers. Music was still music. We gathered at the table every night for dinner. We moved slower. Life was just – simpler.

There was a time – and it wasn’t all that long ago – when a Middle Class lifestyle wasn’t just obtainable; it was downright easy to be a member. Really, all you needed was an “average” job, and you were in – a home, a nice car, occasional dinner out, color TV, an annual vacation, and a pension for when you got older.

Obviously, those days are gone, so I don’t want to wax poetically about nostalgia and why can’t we bring them back, etc. But I do want to point out the two reasons those days have left us, and I’d like to expand on one of those reasons:

• The most obvious reason for the end of the “one average job’s paycheck can raise a family” is that the economy changed. Expenses outpaced wages, and many of those jobs (manufacturing, etc) are gone. And they won’t come back. Forget relying on the government and waiting for “good times” to come back – they aren’t.

• The second reason, however, is one that doesn’t get as much play, because it’s personal, and it “hurts” a little. And that reason is simply this: WE’VE changed, and we want more, because there is more. Many families cannot “make it” on their salary not because food and shelter cost too much – it’s because of all the other stuff.

I’d like to expand on this last point somewhat, and discuss how a return to frugality can help.

To start, what really changed in terms of what we buy and what’s available? Well, the answer is, everything changed. There’s so much more available to us now, and more importantly, many “more” things that are an almost expected part of everyday life (cellphones for the entire family, anyone? There’s something a 1970’s era family never had to pay for.)

We want the food and shelter and automobiles that people used to have, but we also want a flatscreen TV in every room, cellphones for all, birthday parties for kids that run into the hundreds and even thousands, satellite radio, DVD’s (every child I know has a personal DVD collection of Disney and Pixar films), and more. Plus, we want more space – the average house is far bigger than one just thirty years ago. The “great room” is now part of our vocabulary.

We’ve added and added to our lives, at a pace that far exceeds salaries. This is why “the credit card bill” is a monthly staple. We want more life than we can afford. And it’s why many people find themselves in trouble.

I mentioned earlier that this “hurts”, and it’s why this reason doesn’t get much press. Nobody wants their kid to be the only one without a cellphone. Or without Toy Story 1, 2, and soon even 3 on DVD. Or without cable TV (on a flatscreen). I’ve personally known parents who stressed about paying the heating bill turn around and buy their son a new Xbox that same week! This sort of thing happens more than you think. And it’s insane.

Here are a few stats:

• One in nine families can’t make the minimum payment on their credit cards.
• One in eight mortgages is in default or foreclosure.
• One in eight Americans is on food stamps.
• More than 120,000 families are filing for bankruptcy every month.

*(source: Elizabeth Warren’s, “America Without a Middle Class.”)

OK, how do we fix this?

I co-founded and run a website called The Daily Middle (www.thedailymiddle.com), where we explore the global economy and how it specifically relates to the middle class (typically individuals or couples making between $40,000 and $120,000 per year) here in the U.S.

The Daily Middle relies on those experts who saw this “Greater Depression” scenario starting to play itself out years ago – experts like Peter Schiff, Jim Rogers, Dr. Marc Faber, Gerald Celente, Ron Paul, David Walker and Nouriel Roubini.

In my research, I run across articles, videos, stats and quotes all day long. And my advice in this case can be summed up with following two quotes I find particularly meaningful:

“One does not accumulate, but eliminate.  It is not daily increase but daily decrease.  The height of cultivation always runs towards simplicity.” – Bruce Lee

“It was hardly an exaggeration to say that the American standard of living was bought on the installment plan.” - Historian Daniel Boorstin

You see where I am going here, right? For many families, fixing their economic situation can be as simple as saying “no”. Right now, the average American family’s net worth (adjusted for real inflation) is at 1970 levels. Take a look at a family in 1970 and see what their expenses were – it may sound drastic, but that’s kind of where you need to be if you want the same economic lifestyle. Ok, pay the internet bill, but does everyone in the family really need a cellphone? Or cable TV? Do gifts have to be charged? These are all places to start – and yes, living frugally means sacrifice and a change of mindset.

Now, for those of you who are waiting for some Government magic, let me dispel that right now:

• The official National Debt has just surpassed $13 Trillion (not including the massive debts of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae which are backed up by the Federal Government, estimated at $6.3 Trillion.)

• Our Unfunded Liabilities (Social Security/Medicaid/Medicare) are approximately $60 Trillion

• Our National Debt is now growing 3 ½ times faster than decades ago

• We are the world’s largest debtor nation with a National Debt that is 14 times larger and 89% of GDP (not including Fannie/Freddie debts and unfunded liabilities.)

We are in deep, deep trouble, and if you think “things are going to turn around,” you are mistaken.

To me, there’s really only one solution, and that’s to live below your means and return to frugality. If it requires giving up a few things that others are paying on credit for, so be it. If it requires cutting coupons, buying off-brand merchandise, well, that’s what it takes. If it requires a combination of both, fine. But being frugal and living below your means does not just help you today – it will allow you to weather almost any economic storm.

But being frugal isn’t always easy. It takes a good, objective look at “everything” you are spending money on, and it requires hard choices to be made. It’s not just cutting out a latte every day. It might mean your child doesn’t text his or her friends, because the “pay as you go” cell phone is for emergencies only. And that’s OK.

We hope you will join us at The Daily Middle for our “daily dose of reality” to keep your feet firmly planted on the road back to frugality.

Occupation

My work is far from prestigious, but is also a step up from some of the jobs I’ve held over the years (being on the business end of a walk-behind Ditch Witch laying sprinkler pipe during a Georgia summer was some of the toughest work I’ve ever done).  My current job would be best described in the “Computer and Information Systems” area, barely landing us in the upper middle class category.

Education

Though it took a number of years, three schools and the accumulation of some debt, I did finally return to school and complete my bachelor’s degree.  This accomplishment landed me in the top fifth category, but I wonder if a basic bachelor’s degree will one day soon be the equivalent of a high school diploma with the push for more government subsidized post-secondary education.  That’s for another post.

Income

The combination of my full time job’s income, and my work here at Frugal Dad (and other freelance gigs), lands me in the top fifth class.  This is a good lesson. I should be living the high life, or at least a taller life, but thanks to debt we are living on far less than we earn.  The gazelle intensity is worth the sacrifice though as we are hammering down those debt balances.

Wealth

By far the most disappointing results of the group. Between our remaining school debt, and the fact that my retirement accounts have been obliterated in the last year, this drove our net worth into the lower middle class territory.  I am not overly despondent about it, but it is a great reminder that I have work to do.

Lessons Learned

My wife and I “treaded water,” financially, for most of our 20′s.  Well, that’s not entirely true because we did accumulate some debt. We got married young, decided to have kids young, and decided she would stay home with the kids rather than pursue a career. It was a personal decision that worked best for our little family, but it was one that did not come without sacrifices.

Until I finished my degree, and broadened my experience in my current career field, my earnings were in the lower middle class income range. We survived, but had little disposable income to save and invest.  In our late twenties things finally began to look up as my income increased, and we began to adopt a more frugal lifestyle.

Now that we are in our thirties we have some ground to make up on those who saved more diligently in their twenties. It’s a bitter pill, but one I wouldn’t trade for my beautiful children and the life we are blessed with now.  However, our primary mission is to make up lost ground on our retirement savings, clear the rest of our debt, and sock something away for our kids’ college education.  Easier said than done.

Which class do you belong, according to the survey/tool? Do you agree?

Over the last few months I’ve heard him (and others) toss around the idea that one can choose whether or not they participate in this recession. I know what he’s getting at, and depending on how your personal economy is going you might even find it inspirational.  However, if you just got laid off, and suffered some setbacks in the weeks and months leading up to it which melted your emergency fund, you may think differently.

A few months ago I wrote a post titled the Serenity Prayer For Finances.  Basically, it broke down the words of the serenity prayer and applied a financial spin.  Ramsey’s comments caused me to reflect on those words again, and wonder what things I have control over, and what I don’t.  Here’s what I thought a few months ago:

Stop and think for a moment about all the things that are currently causing stress in your financial life.  I bet there are quite a few you have control over, like overspending or expensive car payments.  But if you are like me there may be other things that are outside of your control, yet they continue to cause stress.

I still believe that’s true, and I’ve lived it for the last eight months.  My mom suffered an aneurysm and stroke at 53 years young last September.  She did things the right way – had a good job, good insurance, a little (very little) socked away for emergencies.  But nothing could fully prepare someone for 162 days in the hospital out of the last eight months, being reduced to disability pay, and watching her retirement savings be decimated in a bear market.  It was a perfect storm in her financial life, and it will probably affect her for the rest of her life.

The silver lining (and believe me, our family has had to long and hard to find one), is that watching her go through this has had a profound effect on us.  For the younger ones, it is a sobering reminder how quickly the carpet can be pulled out from under you – just when you thought you were hitting your stride.  It was a reminder that no matter how well you prepare, there is always that unknown lurking out there that can knock you off your feet – quite literally.

So I take exception to what Ramsey says.  Not everyone can choose not to participate in this recession.  The single mom working a part time job because her ex got laid off and no longer sends child support certainly is participating in the recession.  The husband and father of two delivering pizzas at night because the plant he works at reduced his hours is participating in the recession.  The kids feeling depressed and anxious because they overheard their parents fighting about money are participating in the recession.

I chose not to participate, too, until the recession found me and participated in my life.  Sometimes, that’s just the way it works.  Whether it is fate, or just bad luck, we’ll never know.  But to suggest our family, or any other family, chose this fate is naive.  Sometimes bad things happen to good people.  It doesn’t make them bad people.

This all sets up to make us frugal types feel guilty over the current state of the economy.  As if it is our fault that people borrowed up to their eyeballs (and then some) for two decades while our government leaned on banks to be even more liberal with lending policies. Sorry, but I’m not buying it.  In fact, if frugality had been popular years ago perhaps we could have avoided the current crisis we are in.

How Did We Get Here?

We are all guilty of biting off a bit more than we could chew.  Often driven by the inflated lifestyles depicted in Hollywood, American consumers adopted a voracious appetite for all types of luxury items, and quickly became debtaholics to afford the lifestyle.  Borrowing against inflated home equity was “in.”  Creative financing was “in.”  Saving money and paying off debt was “out.”  The prevailing attitude was, “We’ll just save money and pay off our debt sometime in the future.”  Well, the future is now.

I wasn’t immune.  I spent much of the late 1990s and early 2000s trying to figure out a way to get rich quickly.  I even resorted to borrowing to invest because hours of watching CNBC made me feel like I was missing the boat.  I caught the boat, but the hope of sailing home free quickly became a ride on the Titanic.  I suspect many others went down with me.

How Do We Move Forward?

This period of reduced spending is likely to last.  Many baby boomers have seen their retirement funds decimated.  Many Generation X and Y workers have seen practically everything they’ve saved in a decade of work vanish in a few months. It is sobering to watch, and it will have long term effects on consumer psyche for some time.  But here is the $64 million question:  Is that really a bad thing?

Perhaps we all needed a little cold water thrown in our face.  Granted, we didn’t need to be hit by a fire hose that was the 2008 recession, but I think this might be a wake-up call that was long overdue.  We simply cannot continue to borrow our way to success – as individuals, nor as a country.  I know this is a politically touchy subject with the current debate on the much-maligned stimulus bill, but it really is the truth.  We are leveraging our entire futures in the hopes of a short-term gain, much like individual consumers did in the 1990s, and we’ve seen the consequences of those actions.

Should We Feel Ashamed By Our Frugality?

I’m far from the authority on frugal living, so I only speak for my family in saying no, we should not feel ashamed over being frugal.  What’s odd is how things have come full circle.  In the mid to late nineties when things were really clicking the idea of living frugal was a joke.  Frugal people were made fun of for their thrift, or dismissed as being cheapskates.  Then when things began to turn south suddenly frugality was cool again.  Now, some are beginning to resent those of us who choose not to boost the economy by buying a plasma television we can’t afford.

I suspect this article will be the first of many from the media, who will soon begin to blame frugality for lack of economic recovery.  I believe that blame is misplaced. They should be blaming themselves for perpetuating negative financial news for months on end.  They should be blaming Hollywood for selling us on the idea that borrowing and irrational spending is sexy, and saving money is boring.  They should be blaming politicians on both sides of the aisle for continuing to borrow and spend our hard-earned money on their own frivolous pursuits.  And we should blame ourselves for falling for it.

If our economy is going to turn around we must first turn around our own personal balance sheets.  Continue to build your emergency fund.  Continue to get out of credit card debt.  Continue to spend wisely.  Continue to look for new side hustles.  Once a thriving breed, the number of frugal followers may begin to shrink under the “patriotic” calls to spend beyond their means. Hold the line, my frugal friends, for this will be an epic struggle.