Less Is More...Is It?

It is official; not spending has become the hip thing to do. I knew it before, but last week I heard the best one so far. A friend of mine and his wife have a New Year’s Resolution; “No New Clothes in 2009”. I laughed at first when I heard it but as he explained it, it started to make sense. Enough sense that I have been thinking the same. He said that when he looked at his closet and did an inventory of what he had he had enough shirts to not wear the same one twice in 30 days. Enough pants, enough socks, enough tee-shirts, and more than enough shoes. Enough of everything to make it through a year, maybe even more. Unless your wardrobe is all Old Navy (that I swear is manufactured to wear out in one season) most of us could probably say we also have enough current clothes to make it through a year without anything new. Sure, the fashion magazines and runways will tell us that we are out of style but unless you are really vain about it, 12 months is not that far out of style to start with. And if you are me; I have flared jeans, straight leg jeans, and skinny leg jeans in my closet. I have striped shirts, plain shirts and patterned shirts. I have wide belts, thin belts and in between. Net, I have enough of everything. And the question is just how much all of us have already that lots of people will be doing the same and not buying in 2009. Retail has suffered already but I can see more hurt coming. It is clearly becoming harder and harder to find an attitude of spending to just help out. The more we look around at ourselves (in our house) the more we can see that discretionary consumption got ahead of need. And now when the economy needs just the opposite we are feeling that less is more.