Oprah's "America's Thriftiest Families"

Apparently Oprah's got groundbreaking news for us: http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20081008_tows_thriftiest/1

This recent episode taught us that it is possible to live off of $58K take home per year. You just need to do simple things like plan your menus, cut your children's hair at home, clip coupons, shop for deals, and buy things on sale. The show focused on a family they called "America's Thriftiest Family" who did all of the things above and managed to have about $80K in the bank while paying back their consumer debt at 3X the minimum payment.

OK. A moment to look at their take-home: It's about 4,800 per month. I'm not saying that it's impossible to be thrifty when you're a solidly middle-class family, but when your take home (after taxes AND 401K contributions) is nearly $60K annually, you're not the family I'm looking to for my advice. Perhaps that's classist of me. Maybe. But for this family, thrifty is a lifestyle choice, not a necessity.

For example, "Oh, look! You can give up haircuts! And cut your own hair at HOME!" For a family who spends over $500 per year on haircuts, the thought of giving them up may be drastic! And THRIFTY!! That said, there are gads of us, from my father and brother who clip their hair themselves to my son's less than stellar mama-given haircut, that wouldn't fathom spending $500 per year on haircuts. For many of us this isn't a line-item to cut out of the budget because it's not there to begin with.

I wanted to learn how to be thrifty. What I learned, instead, is that thrifty is a gift to the socioeconomically advantaged. When you're middle or upper class, you "Live Simply" or are "America's Thriftiest Family."

When you're struggling to pay your bills each month, you're simply living. Without haircuts. With menus not only planned from store advertisements, but planned to make use of every ounce of everything that passes through your doorway. You're shopping Goodwill for the kids' clothes not because it's the green, earth-friendly choice, but because it's the only place you can get a cart full of clothing for $40.

I'd like Oprah to take a look at our budget, to be frank. I think she'd find that even her "America's Thriftiest Family" has fat to be cut. Paper towels? Luxury. New clothing? Luxury. Store bought bread? Luxury.

What I want to see is America's Thriftiest Family doing all of the things Oprah described and more. Rather than whittling away just their budget, let's whittle away their Environmental Footprint, the trash they throw out each month, the lasting scar they leave on the earth. Let's whittle away their exposure to crappy modern television, 24-hour news stations, constant internet, and always-on-cellular phones. Let's whittle away their driving to that which is necessary. Let's take all that excess income and dump it into the flagging stock market, turn it into long-term savings to support a simple life. Let's get them to start supporting locally grown agriculture -- give up their imported Mexican Avocados and start eating rich locally grown foods, supporting and sustaining their local economy. Let's do all of those things and more.

It's a good lifestyle choice. I don't mean to demean the actions taken by this "America's Thriftiest Family," but I do intend to point out that many Americans are doing this - by choice, by necessity, by thoughtful commitment.

That, my friends, isn't a curse of poverty. It's a gift. Pure wealth.