Learning To Live On Less

With the economies of the Western world heavily in debt, next to zero percentage growth and individuals suffering from reducing incomes in real terms it seems maddening that people are being encouraged to spend to help kick start economies. This is a regular call from politicians and popular economists every now and then when sensible ideas seem to have dried up. So why would individuals and families who already have debts and are worried about their incomes want to go on a spending spree?

Consumer driven growth is just what has got many economies and individuals into the perilous financial states they are in right now. What needs to happen is that people start to understand what previous generations always took for granted - if you can't afford it, you don't buy it. If this means doing without then so be it.

Re-using, re-cycling and reducing what we consume might be what the more environmentally conscious of us call for but these are just what we all need to do if we want to have any chance of paying off our debts and living on less money than we'd like to. 

If this means:

1. buying second hand as opposed to new, 
2. borrowing instead of buying, and
3. fixing instead of replacing

then what's wrong with that? It's worked perfectly well for so many previous generations.