Eliminating habits of consumerism
Eliminating habits of consumerism

By Malcolm Berko Comments 2
Published: July 27, 2008

Dear Reader: Americans are the world's most prolific consumers. We are the only members of the human race who will spend $300,000 for a 2,500-square-foot home with a huge, two-car garage — jam pack it with two ATVs, a boat trailer, camping equipment, a stair climber, rowing machine and weight bench, a riding mower, a Honda motor bike, two used but workable color television sets, an older laptop and PCs, trays of mechanic's tools, several sets of luggage, myriad electronic games and toys, furniture and boxes of used clothing — then park two $40,000 SUVs in the driveway.

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Consequently, you're squeezed by credit card bills, merchant charge accounts, auto and home-equity loans, and mortgage payments. It's a far cry from the good old days when we only had to choose between paying for food or prescription drugs.

Getting back to the basics

Now many of us are over our clavicles in debt because our common-sense gene lost the battle with our consumption gene. The chickens have come home to roost because we raced to embrace the world of conspicuous consumption and convenience technology. We are now damned by debt.

Our social, political and economic structures have reached critical mass and could buckle any day. Many of us who can't remain standing under this weight must declare bankruptcy. And those of us who can stand must return to basics. So here are some recommendations to lighten the load and travel the old road back to when folks talked face to face instead of sending text messages:

•Reduce tax liability. You're probably paying real estate taxes on a home value in excess of the current market price. Tell the county tax appraiser to reappraise your home.

•Join Costco and get their American Express Card with a 5 percent discount on fuel purchased at any gas station in the country except Walmart. This move will save you 20 cents a gallon.

•Cancel your whole life insurance plan and buy a 20-year term policy.

•Drop PMI. Most homeowners who didn't have 20 percent equity at the time they bought their home were required to purchase private mortgage insurance that cost about $500 per year per each $100,000 of the mortgaged amount. But if your mortgage is now less than 79 percent of the appraised value, the Homeowners Protection Act of 1998 requires your PMI be canceled.

•If you have a cell phone, cancel your landlines and save $400 a year.

•Increase the deductible on your homeowners and auto insurance and cancel some of your cable packages. Stop paying big checking account fees to BankAmerica or Wachovia by moving your account to Washington Mutual.

•Buy private label groceries and kitchen items from Kroger or Publix.

•Cut down on check-ups. Rather than dental check-ups every six months, do it annually.

•Ask for senior discounts at McDonalds, Burger King, and movie tickets.

•Take munchies to the theater for you and the kids.

•Drop your memberships in unimportant social, civic and professional organizations. Ditto with magazine subscriptions.

•Reduce charitable contributions by 50 percent and eliminate those low in order of importance.

•Check them out. Stop buying books and CDs at CVS or Barnes & Noble and make better use of your public library.

•Adjust your dosage. If you take a 5-milligram pill but a 10-milligram is available, tell the doctor to prescribe the higher dosage and break the pill in two. If it's a capsule cut it in half and put scotch tape on the exposed end for later use. Tell the doctor to give you a 14-day supply of pills rather than a 7-day supply. It costs just a couple dollars more and you have a second prescription if you need it.

•Chuck the Starbucks habit. Buy your java for half the cost at McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, etc.

•Forget bottled water. It's a bigger hoax than weight-loss pills.

•Protect east and west windows from the summer sun with aluminum foil and close vents and doors in unoccupied rooms.

•Quit using incandescent light bulbs. A 60-watt bulb burning 24 hours costs 18 cents a day, or $66 a year. A comparable AC LED bulb costs a half penny a day, or $2.10 per year.

•Cancel your American Express Platinum Card.

• Don't buy Aleve or Advil and use Ibuprofen or Naproxen in bottles of 500 pills at Costco or Sam's.

•If you drink expensive vodka, switch to the cheap stuff. For persnickety company, put the cheap stuff in a Grey Goose bottle. They won't be able to tell the difference.

•Practice parsimony. Cancel your health-club membership and join the YMCA. Become a one-car family; dump your iPod, iPhone, Blackberry, Palm Treo, Satellite Radio, and OnStar. Reduce your holiday gift and birthday card list 75 percent (call 'em on the phone).

•Teach frugality. If your child is attending college away from home, bring him back, send him to a community college and tell him to find a part-time job. Cancel your kids' cell phones and watch your savings pile up.

•Buy that dresser or table at Salvation Army, your toiletries, paper goods, shirts, pants, prescriptions, socks and underclothes at Sam's, Costco or The Dollar Store.

•Cut your own lawn, wash your own car, brown bag your lunch, drink Folgers, wrap your water heater with insulation, clean and treat your own pool, take lots of picnics, plan bike trips, collect bottle caps, become active in church and civic affairs.

•Stop buying lottery tickets. Your chances of winning are almost as good whether you buy a ticket or not. And fairly soon you could be standing proudly on your feet again.

If an average family adopts these suggestions, it could save $1,400 to $3,000 in new money each month to pay pills. Once you've left the farm and moved to the city, it's not easy to go back. But if you don't roll up your sleeves and return to basics, that old farmhouse could become your new poorhouse.

Please address your financial questions to Malcolm Berko, P.O. Box 1416, Boca Raton, FL 33429 or e-mail him at malber@comcast.net.