In the past year, I've probably watched a dozen news pieces on German public TV proclaiming a new 'ism'.....frugalism.
A basic description? Well....it used to mean living on your paycheck, and yet having a fair amount of income left to toss into savings, long-term investment or plan for your retirement.
In today's world, it means you are downsizing your needs in the home. They will go through a 'closet' and note that you have around thirty t-shirts, a dozen pair of jeans, and maybe sixteen pairs of shoes. The frugalism expert asks then how many worn just once or twice a year, to which you admit that half of your attire are marginally....if ever....worn..
Then they go into the kitchen....to ask about various items you have there, and identifying at least twenty items which get used one single time a year.
They eventually end up in your basement storage area or the garage, and get hyped about forty-odd things that you keep and use just once a year....like that stupid sleeping bag/tent which you drag out for a three-day weekend every two years, or that expensive telescope that your Uncle Benny left you and you drag it out one Saturday evening every four years.
All of these things violate the general idea of frugalism. I'm not saying it's wrong, but you end getting 'shamed' over holding these excess items. I sat and watched one German woman get the shame-deal over twenty-odd pair of shorts that she had in the cabinet.....which some of them even dated back twenty years ago.
How successful this 'ism' is going? It's in the initial stages and I doubt if you can find more than two-percent of folks who are attracted to it. If the trend continues on? That's the chief question here.
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