Amy VanDeventer has always been a cheapskate. The recession is taking her to new extremes.
Before the economy tanked, she was still wearing maternity clothes from her last pregnancy, clipping coupons, and using hand-me-downs to dress her daughters, ages 2 and 3. Now, the Colorado mortgage loan underwriter salvages bagel scraps left on their plates for pizza toppings and cuts lotion bottles in half so she can scrape out the last drops.
If you thought those cheapskate friends and relatives couldn’t pinch pennies any tighter, think again. The recession is making tightwads like VanDeventer cut back even more. They’re going way beyond sharpening their coupon scissors, replacing already cheap store-brand fabric softener with vinegar and even making their own detergent. VanDeventer was drying her hair in front of a fan after her portable hair dryer broke — until her friends bought her a new one.
The recession is radically changing behavior among many different types of people, from the Wall Street bankers who are now waltzing into Wal-Mart for the first time to buy their groceries to teens who are now thumbing through the piles of status jeans at secondhand shops to save money. And experts say that such behavior could linger long after the economy recovers.
What surprises frugality bloggers is that many cheapskates such as VanDeventer haven’t lost their jobs and are not in danger of losing their homes. Many have stashed a good chunk of cash away. But the economic uncertainty is catapulting them to new levels of thriftiness.
“I do it out of fear, because I would rather put that money in the bank or purchase something we really need,” said VanDeventer, who now saves about 50 percent of her take-home pay, up from 25 percent before the recession began more than a year ago.
The trend is disturbing for merchants, who are already reeling from the sharp pullback by spenders. Such extreme miserly behavior could only worsen the decline in consumer spending.
“Frugal people are now looking at more ways not to spend money,” said Lynnae McCoy, who runs a blog called beingfrugal.net, which attracts seasoned penny pinchers. In January, her site received 110,000 hits, up 30 percent from a year ago. What intrigued McCoy was the interest among frugal folks to save even more money by making their own detergent and other household goods.
Jeff Yeager, author of The Ultimate Cheapskate’s Roadmap to True Riches, sees a silver lining to the economic downturn.
“Whatever you do to simplify your life is a good thing,” Yeager said. A self-proclaimed cheapskate, he has spent no more than $100 over the past five years on clothing for himself and won’t throw anything out until it literally falls apart.
But he’s found ways to cut back even more now, such as eating more lentils — which are cheap and nutritious — and biking more to save gasoline. His mantra for buying food? Buy not what you want, but what’s affordable at the time.
Many people are embracing the new challenge of squeezing the most value out of every last penny. Who knew you could make household products such as detergent? McCoy says it’s not hard: mix borax with half a bar of soap, baking soda and its relative washing soda, which cuts grease and can be found in the laundry areas of many supermarkets.
“If you have vinegar, Dawn soap and baking soda, you can pretty much make any cleaning product,” McCoy said.
1. Is this too extreme at this time in the recession?
2. Do you or your family do any saving to this extreme? If so, What?
3. Do you think that eventually we will all have to save 50% or more of our income each month?
4. What are other methods that you may know of to save more money?
Friday, March 13, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Myrtle Beach hopes expanded summer activities will draw more tourists
Downtown Myrtle Beach businesses are gearing up for the tourist season by sprucing up their properties and planning new activities for the area, including a carnival for children and more concerts.
The Oceanfront Merchants Association presented its plans for the season to the Downtown Redevelopment Corp. at Wednesday’s meeting and asked for an extra $35,000 in this year’s budget to make them happen.
The corporation usually gives $50,000, but board members voted unanimously to give the merchants $85,000 for entertainment.
The city of Myrtle Beach promised the merchants $85,000 this year, and the group will request $60,000 from the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.
As vacationers start trickling to the Grand Strand, area leaders have said that the economy could put a dent in the tourism season. But downtown merchants remain optimistic, saying they’ve seen positive signs so far.
They are planning new activities, including the carnival and more concerts, to give the downtown a festive feel to lure visitors.
The new carnivals will feature bounce houses, a bungee-cord run, obstacle courses, street performers and perhaps a scavenger hunt, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. each Monday of the summer season at Plyler Park.
In addition, the merchants want to add a night to the free concert series, said merchants association member Jonathan Staton, who owns Dagwood’s and made the budget presentation to the redevelopment board.
Staton said local hoteliers have been calling the merchants association making sure there will be the same activities for visitors as last year, because, they’ve said, their repeat customers are requesting them.
They’ve also been advertising the Wednesday-night fireworks shows in their hotel brochures, he said, because they are so popular.
“The area just felt livelier last year,” Staton said. Those who run parking lots downtown reported increased demand on event nights, which prompted the merchants association to prioritize adding the Monday-night carnival and Thursday concerts to the regular Tuesday-and-Saturday lineup to draw more people downtown.
Buz Plyler, who owns the Gay Dolphin gift shop, said he thinks this summer could be “a relatively good season. People have been holding back, not spending, and they’ll be ready to go,” Plyler said. “People will want to enjoy themselves when they get a break.”
He said he has seen “20 times more foreign visitors” recently, which he never would have anticipated for the Grand Strand, and sees as promising.
Part of the reason for that is advertising. Myrtle Beach is being introduced to new markets through marketing, and the merchants are trying to do the same, though in a more local way.
They are planning a new circus-themed campaign advertising “Hot Summer Nights,” the peak season between the beginning of June and Labor Day, and Staton said they hope to put up banners on lightposts in the downtown area, as well as billboards around the county letting families know there are free activities in downtown Myrtle Beach.
“It looks like, if all this comes to fruition, it could be the biggest and best year yet,” board member Doug Martin said.
Vice-chairman Jay Bultz said he appreciated the merchants association’s efforts, as well.
“You all have done a lot of work to make this happen,” he said.
1. Could this be a good idea?
2. Did it hurt Myrtle Beach that they are going away from students and bikers and push more toward families? Why?
3. What would you do to encourage tourists to MB during this recession??
4. Are free activities what MB needs to do to gain tourists?
The Oceanfront Merchants Association presented its plans for the season to the Downtown Redevelopment Corp. at Wednesday’s meeting and asked for an extra $35,000 in this year’s budget to make them happen.
The corporation usually gives $50,000, but board members voted unanimously to give the merchants $85,000 for entertainment.
The city of Myrtle Beach promised the merchants $85,000 this year, and the group will request $60,000 from the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.
As vacationers start trickling to the Grand Strand, area leaders have said that the economy could put a dent in the tourism season. But downtown merchants remain optimistic, saying they’ve seen positive signs so far.
They are planning new activities, including the carnival and more concerts, to give the downtown a festive feel to lure visitors.
The new carnivals will feature bounce houses, a bungee-cord run, obstacle courses, street performers and perhaps a scavenger hunt, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. each Monday of the summer season at Plyler Park.
In addition, the merchants want to add a night to the free concert series, said merchants association member Jonathan Staton, who owns Dagwood’s and made the budget presentation to the redevelopment board.
Staton said local hoteliers have been calling the merchants association making sure there will be the same activities for visitors as last year, because, they’ve said, their repeat customers are requesting them.
They’ve also been advertising the Wednesday-night fireworks shows in their hotel brochures, he said, because they are so popular.
“The area just felt livelier last year,” Staton said. Those who run parking lots downtown reported increased demand on event nights, which prompted the merchants association to prioritize adding the Monday-night carnival and Thursday concerts to the regular Tuesday-and-Saturday lineup to draw more people downtown.
Buz Plyler, who owns the Gay Dolphin gift shop, said he thinks this summer could be “a relatively good season. People have been holding back, not spending, and they’ll be ready to go,” Plyler said. “People will want to enjoy themselves when they get a break.”
He said he has seen “20 times more foreign visitors” recently, which he never would have anticipated for the Grand Strand, and sees as promising.
Part of the reason for that is advertising. Myrtle Beach is being introduced to new markets through marketing, and the merchants are trying to do the same, though in a more local way.
They are planning a new circus-themed campaign advertising “Hot Summer Nights,” the peak season between the beginning of June and Labor Day, and Staton said they hope to put up banners on lightposts in the downtown area, as well as billboards around the county letting families know there are free activities in downtown Myrtle Beach.
“It looks like, if all this comes to fruition, it could be the biggest and best year yet,” board member Doug Martin said.
Vice-chairman Jay Bultz said he appreciated the merchants association’s efforts, as well.
“You all have done a lot of work to make this happen,” he said.
1. Could this be a good idea?
2. Did it hurt Myrtle Beach that they are going away from students and bikers and push more toward families? Why?
3. What would you do to encourage tourists to MB during this recession??
4. Are free activities what MB needs to do to gain tourists?
Monday, March 9, 2009
Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship: Response to Midlands Biz Blog
At Riley Communications, we are avid readers of MidlandsBiz.com, so much so that we have come to expect the prompt 6:01 a.m. delivery of the latest Midlands Business news every morning to our Blackberries (and one iPhone) just as regularly as our morning coffee. The latest e-mail newsletter edition featured a less routine, but still enjoyable element: a new blog from creator Alan Cooper.
The blog focused on something our office is entirely based on: entrepreneurship. Our own company, as well as our office-fellow Human Resource Dynamics, began as an entrepreneurial endeavor. Among other aspects of going out on a limb with a new business, Alan points out “44% of new startups are created by people between the ages of 18 and 34. To me, that says that the majority of new creations are made by people over the age of 34 and that it’s never too late.” A solid truth, considering Human Resource Dynamics founder JoAnn Moss started her firm as a second career. But don’t forget the fresher entrepreneurs out there are still fierce — Riley Communications was born in this young, yet experienced brain.
No matter what age entrepreneurs may be, though, Alan insists there are two types: “the ‘caught between a rock and a hard place’ entrepreneur, and the serial entrepreneur. The former start their own businesses out of necessity or because they never again want to put their fate in someone else’s hands. The latter do it because it is in their DNA. They have never worked for someone else a day in their life.”
Now that we can attest to — some of the best businesses are formed in response to some of the worst. Most inspiring of all, though, is that Alan, despite his attempts to appear squeamish about branching out into a new business, is a die-hard entrepreneur. After getting fired from his own family’s business (proving that job security is a dreaded myth), Alan pushed himself out of the nest and actually flew!
1. What are your thoughts on the comments on this article?
2. Visit this blog and give your comments on what is said about entrepreneurship?
At Riley Communications, we are avid readers of MidlandsBiz.com, so much so that we have come to expect the prompt 6:01 a.m. delivery of the latest Midlands Business news every morning to our Blackberries (and one iPhone) just as regularly as our morning coffee. The latest e-mail newsletter edition featured a less routine, but still enjoyable element: a new blog from creator Alan Cooper.
The blog focused on something our office is entirely based on: entrepreneurship. Our own company, as well as our office-fellow Human Resource Dynamics, began as an entrepreneurial endeavor. Among other aspects of going out on a limb with a new business, Alan points out “44% of new startups are created by people between the ages of 18 and 34. To me, that says that the majority of new creations are made by people over the age of 34 and that it’s never too late.” A solid truth, considering Human Resource Dynamics founder JoAnn Moss started her firm as a second career. But don’t forget the fresher entrepreneurs out there are still fierce — Riley Communications was born in this young, yet experienced brain.
No matter what age entrepreneurs may be, though, Alan insists there are two types: “the ‘caught between a rock and a hard place’ entrepreneur, and the serial entrepreneur. The former start their own businesses out of necessity or because they never again want to put their fate in someone else’s hands. The latter do it because it is in their DNA. They have never worked for someone else a day in their life.”
Now that we can attest to — some of the best businesses are formed in response to some of the worst. Most inspiring of all, though, is that Alan, despite his attempts to appear squeamish about branching out into a new business, is a die-hard entrepreneur. After getting fired from his own family’s business (proving that job security is a dreaded myth), Alan pushed himself out of the nest and actually flew!
1. What are your thoughts on the comments on this article?
2. Visit this blog and give your comments on what is said about entrepreneurship?
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