Calculated Consumption

Almost a week after its initial publication last Sunday, the article, “Will You Be Happy After You Buy It?”, remains among the favorites emailed by NY Times readers. In case you missed it, here’s a link to the article that analyzed how Americans spend and whether it has a greater effect on their happiness than how much they spend: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/business/08consume.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general.

So the question arises, is it un-American to save, to defer, even forgo, purchases? After all, two presidents, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, have hinged economic recovery on the willingness, nay the aggressiveness, of the American consumer to shop till she drops. As a nation, we’re spending less, saving more. Calculated consumption. Sounds downright exemplary. No waste. No hedonism. How pragmatic. How boring.

Well, not entirely boring. Actually, our purchases, our meaningful purchases, have shifted from objects to experiences, such as piano lessons, trips or gardening. We’ve derived more satisfaction from these experiences (and the necessary physical purchases to fulfill these experiences) than we have from just “buying stuff.”

One output of this new paradigm of purchasing is it furthers our transition from a manufacturing to a service economy. Jobs generally pay less in a service economy. We will have a hard time replacing the economic power of the average worker lost in the Great Recession.

Last Friday’s mail brought our most recent charge card bill. It was the lowest in years. I can’t remember the last time I bought a piece of meaningful apparel. My suits and ties hang limply in my closet. I used to practice a form of conspicuous consumption. When I liked a new style of shirt or sweater, I’d buy a rainbow assortment. To be sure, my status as a “non-earning retiree” has colored my perception of needs vs. wants. I naturally selected a slower spending profile.

Even before retirement I contemplated the question, when is enough enough? When have I amassed sufficient possessions to live comfortably, without envy or unrealistic desire?

I’m not ready to dispose of my comfort goods and live a “simpler” life, as some of those profiled in the Times article did. But I am content to live a life where enjoyment of family and friends trumps spending on personal material possessions.