Downsizing becoming a way of life
A. Five years ago, Sam Rodela was doing exceedingly well and living large, with multiple cars and other high-end purchases. While the Texas-reared, self-trained software designer is six figures and can still afford luxury goods, he has consciously scaled back, saying he realized that his hobbies, sports and volunteering brought him more enjoyment than acquiring possessions.
B. Once lived cosily in a 1200-square-foot loft, Rodela is renting an apartment that is 800 square feet. His Jeep Wrangler and upscale Infiniti are gone, replaced by a 6-year-old Toyota 4Runner and a mountain bike. Instead of spending wastefully on entertainment and recreation, Rodela said he volunteers 20 to 30 hours a month with groups like the Red Cross, the DFW Federal Club Human Rights Campaign, Vogel Alcove Homeless Childcare, Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance, the North Texas Food Bank and a mentoring group, StudentMentor.org.
C. "I’m living below my means, but it offers me the to do what I want," he said. "I’m living on about 35 to 40 percent of my monthly income as opposed to the 65 to 70 percent before. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should." By all appearances, Rodela, 33, is part of a trend that ysts say started in the last decade and has been fueled by the economic recession.
D. "There is a downsizing and downscaling and re-evaluation of values," said John Zogby, a pollster and author of "The Way We’ll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream." "It’s not always taking people down to a 600-square-foot apartment and wearing a loin cloth, quitting their job and growing your own organic food. But this trend is at least 15 years old, and what is significant is that it happens before the recession," Zogby said. "During the final years of the Clinton boom years, it was already taking place."
E. Zogby is not alone. In a 2010 book, "Spend Shift," John Gerzema says these mindful consumers "aren’t ’radical frugalists’, Christian ascetics (禁欲者) or extreme New Age anti-materialists. They are merely people who, in adapting to (the economic) cr, have subtly adjusted their lives to seek greater balance and a more fulfilling existence."
F. Gerzema, a consultant with the marketing and communications firm Young & Rubicam, says data collected by his company found 55 percent of Americans are fully part of this "undeclared movement," with another 26 percent sharing many of the same attitudes. While the trend began earlier, the recession that started in 2008 and ensuing years of soft economic growth apparently also played a role.
G. Based on his surveys, Zogby sees four basic causes: A growing number of Americans are working for less, voluntarily or involuntarily—but mainly involuntarily. In 1991, 14 percent told Zogby’s survey that someone in their household was earning less. By 2007, that portion was up to 27 percent and it reached 37 percent last year. "People can’t afford to chase that whole American Dream."
H. Upward of 11 million Americans in the higher income ranges are saying that luxury consumption isn’t producing the satisfaction that they want. Baby boomers "are looking for a second act in their lives, those who can’t retire and those who want to make a difference. ...I call it worldly spiritualism."
I. And the fourth source of this cultural shift, Zogby maintains, is a tendency among Americans "to sacrifice to a higher cause." Zogby said he has seen a decline in what he calls traditional materialism, which meant the acquisition of a big car, a big boat, a big house. In 2012, people who indicated they were "traditional materialists" were down to 22 percent of those surveyed, compared to so-called worldly spiritualists who were 37 percent. By contrast, the two groups in 1998-99 had been roughly tied at 32 and 33 percent, he said.
J. But other observers insist old spending habits die hard. As the economic recovery continues and more Americans do better, they’ll pick up where they left off, predicts Ronald Hill, who holds an endowed chair in the marketing and business law department at Villanova University. "As things improve and consumer confidence increases, people will return to previous spending behaviors that cause most of us to ’dis-save’—spend more than we take in," Hill said in an email. "Why Because ’I buy, therefore I am’ is the anthem of wealthy societies."
K. Perhaps. But in Rodela’s case, the software design sharp is earning more than a comfortable income yet spending less of it. From 17 until he was 29, he worked for nine employers, including GE Commercial Finance, Verizon and Flash.net. Not all went swimmingly. He co-founded Internet cafes that went broke. He missed his goal to be a millionaire by 25.
L. But he wasn’t doing at all badly for a high school graduate with a few college courses under his belt. When his friends were in college, he was the one who paid for expensive outings. The end to the wasteful lifestyle followed his sudden 2009 resignation from a high-tech firm in Richardson, Texas, where he was snowed under with work and never given promised assistants because of layoffs. "I decided to stop working," he said. "I snapped. I sold both cars." Rodela retreated to his parents’ Fort Worth home for a four-month cooling-off period. But when he wanted to go back to work, offers were scarce. "I did a lot of things that didn’t involve programming," he said. "I did some digital art. Lived on my savings. It was a dark time. One and a half years."
M. His return to full-time work resumed as a contract, web-intece consultant with BlueCross BlueShield, before he landed his current position as a staff information architect at Piano, which crafts Oracle software solutions for s. "When Sam lost his job, he was forced to live simply, but he enjoyed it," said Jennifer Hume, who met Rodela when her best friend dated him. "So when he started earning a lot of money again, he realized he didn’t need that many things to be happy."
N. "He’s the real deal," said Hume, 33, of Fort Worth, where she works in the defense industry. "He quit partying so much because he had outgrown it and realized he needed a new direction, a new outlet for all his focus, which is when he went into more volunteering and started his nonpolitical political career," she said, referring to his efforts to get an appointment on a Dallas board or commission. "He’s lost friends along the way who don’t understand."
O. Now Rodela buys his cleaning supplies at Dollar General. He has no cable or satellite TV. Instead, for recreation he rides his mountain bike, runs stairs, shoots skeet (双向飞碟), goes to $1 movie theaters and uses his company’s free gym. But he doesn’t cut the cost on his wardrobe. Rodela makes clear that while he’s no longer wasteful, his new lifestyle is more delicate. He still likes a good time, he insists. "Life is about experiences, so I’ll never sell myself short on anything," he said. "I’ll hit the occasional new restaurant, concert or sporting . But it’s not because I feel entitled. It’s because I feel that I’ve earned it.\
Downsizing becoming a way of lifePeople who tend to live thriftily are not extremists who are against material pleasures. They just want to slightly adjust their lives to reach greater balance.