BEND, Ore. (CNN/Money) – It's not that people in their 20s and 30s
enjoy being in the red. Many in fact say they wish they could save more like their
Depression-era grandparents. But it just sounds so, well, depressing.
"My grandparents were 60 years old
the first time they got on an airplane," said Peter Bielagus, the 27-year-old
author of the personal finance book "Getting Loaded," (New American Library).
"My mom and aunt shared a wedding dress." The baby boomers, said Bielagus,
at least grew up with stories of the Depression "being pounded into them." Younger
generations grew up getting most of what they wanted. A classic case was
Jason Anthony, who seven years ago looked around his New York rental apartment
and realized he had $16,000 in credit card debt and absolutely nothing to show
for it. "I'm a poster child for this generation," said Anthony, now 34.
Tired of losing sleep over growing credit card balances, Anthony and his
friend, Karl Cluck, decided that together they would spend less, get out of debt
and, while they were at it, write the book "Debt-free by 30: Practical Advice
for Young, Broke, & Upwardly Mobile" (Plume). Among other things, they
learned to cook, devised creative (read: cheap) dates, and cut back on Starbuck's
Frappuccinos; Anthony was drinking three a day in the summer. "Not only is that
just disgusting, it's $15 a day," he said. Yet, living on a budget, they
realized, doesn't have to mean sitting home alone with a bowl of Ramen and a library
book. "You don't have to live like a monk," said Anthony, who cut his debt to
zero in two and a half years. It's exactly this philosophy that has made
gourmet clubs a popular alternative to eating out and drawn fashion snobs to Target's
clothing department. How does the consumer generation cut back? Here are
some real-life strategies that are anything but depressing. Shabby
Chic Searching sites like eBay.com and Overstock.com is one way to
furnish your place for less. You can also head to the flea market. "Going
to the flea market and investing in the fabric and labor for upholstery is a good
way to save money and have a quality finished piece," said Timshell Rivers, 38,
an interior designer in New York. To get the best deals on fabric, look for warehouse
sales such as those put on by New York's ABC Carpet & Home. Rivers
also combs vintage stores for china, flatware and stemware."You can have mismatched
pieces or choose a certain pattern and hunt it when you hit the flea markets,"
said Rivers. "It looks cool and it's a fun project." When decorating her
daughter's nursery, Elizabeth Justema, 32, went with a theme of one of her favorite
artists, Stephen Huneck. She paid up for three of his signed lithographs, then
matted and framed four photos she clipped from one of his coffee table books.
"You can't really tell the difference," she said. Frugal Foodies
The advice of brewing your own coffee at home and eating out less is, by now,
a cliché – and for good reason. Meals out and frothy drinks add up. To
that end, Washington D.C. resident Holly Rapport, 34, brews her coffee and fixes
her own bagel before she heads to work every day. "A bagel and coffee is at least
$3.00 per day, which is $15.00 a week and adds up after you figure it out per
month and year," said Rapport, who also saves on socializing by doing "outdoorsy"
activities with her friends. Rivers, meanwhile, has gotten more than her
money's worth from her well-worn recipe books. If friends treat her to expensive
dinners out she returns the favor by inviting them to a five-star meal in her
home. "It may run a couple of hundred dollars to buy all the food and flowers
but if you make a dinner party out of it you can 'pay back' the dinner obligations."
Duds on a Dime Look in your closet and you're likely
to find that most of your clothes aren't worn or even out of style. Chances are,
you're sick of them or don't fit in them. Enter the clothing swap. In exchange
for the clothes you don't want you can get your hands on your friends' wardrobes.
"I had a clothes swap at the beginning of the season with about eight friends,"
said New York graduate student Stacy Brick, 28. "Everyone left with at least two
new additions to their wardrobe and the rest went to Goodwill." Without
a six-figure income to support her expensive taste in clothing, Dina Mishev, 28,
relies on discounters such as Filene's Basement, Loehmann's and Off Fifth. Her
best find to date: "I got an amazing $3,500 Valentino gown for $91," said the
Jackson Hole, Wyoming resident. Lillie Garrido saves upwards of 70 percent
off her children's clothing by hitting end-of-season sales and buying for next
year. "Guessing sizes isn't as difficult as people say," said Garrido, an event
planner in Park City, Utah and mother of three boys. Leisure for less
"Because we are disciplined about paying off our credit card every
month, we put absolutely everything we can on our credit card," said Derek Roth
Gordon, 31, who uses the miles to pay for frequent travel with his wife, Jennifer,
and son, Sam. "We just bought tickets to Brazil with frequent flyer tickets
for 40,000 miles each," he added. The Providence, R.I. couple uses miles for only
the most expensive trips. Dina Mishev saves on travel by flying in the
off-season with last-minute airfares when possible. "I'm not afraid to arrive
in a city without hotel reservations or other plans," said Mishev. "Often times
the budget hotels can't be found on the Internet anyway." When she gets
home, Mishev usually writes the airline to praise good service or politely comment
on what was wrong. "This always, good or bad letters, results in a gift of frequent
flier miles or some sort of voucher for a deduction on future travel." | 
