I may be topping off a glass that’s not even half-full.  But buried in this dreary personal wealth story are some—okay, a few—signs that Americans are learning fast during this disastrous downturn.  Can compulsive spenders change their ways?  Maybe they already are.  Check out the good news numbers, then the bad news numbers. 

The Good News! 

• Amount in savings:  $620.2 billion, the most since 1959
• Personal savings rate:  5.7%, the highest since 1995

The Bad News  :  ( 

• Personal wealth losses:  $1.3 trillion, the lowest since 2004
• U.S. stock market holdings:  Cut by more than half, peak to trough
• Collective home equity:  41.4%, the lowest since 1945
• Home value losses:  Down 32%, from peak in 2006

Now here’s the conundrum:  If we DON’T spend, the economy may not turn around, and these losses may linger or get worse.  If we DO spend, we may stop being thrifty and start ourselves back on a cycle toward another crash. 

Guess that’s why sage souls know to do everything in moderation.  (Including moderation.) 

“Staycations” are huge this year, and there’s nothing wrong with a little home cookin’.  But if you long to BreakAway, it need not bust your budget.  This pithy article suggests going by car, packing a cooler (yes!), trying off-season, and more ways to save bucks while seeing a slice of the world. 

Give it a read if you’re on the edge of sanity AND solvency.  There’s also 5 good websites to help plan your getaway. 

• RoadsideAmerica.com
• Hotels.com
• Homeaway.com
• Roadfood.com
• Priceline.com

A recent survey published in TIME reveals that more than half of Americans are losing faith in the future of the American Dream.  No surprise there, and perhaps it’s even a contrarian indicator?  After all, people get overly giddy when times are good, and then go too gloomy when cyclical downturns happen—which can suggest a bottom. 

Percentage of people who believe the American Dream will be easier or harder to achieve in 10 years.

13% Easier

57% Harder

This time may be be different, though.  We’ve given ourselves far too much credit for far too long.  If the American dream is pay-as-you-go for a while, these numbers could be spot-on.  Oh well, the best things in life are still free. Right?  This site is all about taking TIME (not the magazine, duh)—not spending money on stuff! 

Financial writer Kara McGuire hits “Pay Dirt” (her column name) with this article, “Put a Squeeze on your Financial Stress.”  We hear same-old suggestions a lot, but here Paymar seeks fresh ideas from a three wise folk whose area of expertise usually is not money.  They are:

• Barbara Murphy, a Buddhist priest
• Rebecca Thomley, a clinical psychologist
• Michelle Burns, a life coach

There’s so much more to life than money—and so much more to these tips than tactical money-management stuff.  If financial worries have got you down, take a gander…  

It’s my sense that families have been taking “staycations” for years.  But these days, with folks trying to cut back on spending, the idea is generating all kinds of buzz and steam.  In this clever memoir from the NY Times, a family tries—and succeeds–at going nowhere.  Yet they do find some bumps in the road less traveled.  To wit: 

• One child wonders—presciently—if the folks will just work all the time, like they do when home.  Guess what?  They kind of do. 
• Mom (the author) admits she works every single day, sometimes for hours.  Yet she seeks balance toward the end by allocating some time blocks as “work” and others “play.” 
• They did, indeed, save money—even though they enjoyed some splurges and agreed not to worry about it. 
• This time, they avoided coming home from the vacation feeling like they need a vacation.  Who doesn’t know that sensation? 

As this story suggests, staycations can be a great BreakAway from work—and from the normal routine.  But you need to plan special outings you normally don’t do, avoid plugging into work too much, and have realistic expectations. 

My advice to this family?  Next year, go somewhere dreamy.  And afterward, have a family meeting to see if one wins by a mile, or if there’s room for both in the future. 

This website, after all, is dedicated to free time of ALL kinds and places.  

I tink it maybe be a good ting…People needs to slow down and jus’ enjoy what dey got and stop going into so much debt…” 

The news has been all over the airwaves and screens for ten days now. Say it ain’t true: Consumer spending in October slipped by 1%.

Yet when I painstakingly avoided Shoporama-Land last weekend, Black Friday looked as busy and crazy as ever. Parking lots were jammed. Movie theaters were packed. And when out celebrating my birthday on Saturday night, most bars and restaurants were bustling and hustling hash to ravenous partiers.

Hey, didn’t they get the bad news?

Recessions aren’t fun. Losing a job sure can stink. And watching your investment portfolio shrink hurts. But 1%? That’s a mere penny per dollar less that we’re spending as a nation. Let’s break it down a few ways.

• Having a $9.90 martini instead of a $10 one. (Absolut instead of Gray Goose?)
• Getting a $4.95 candy snack at the movie instead of the $5.00 one.
• Splurging on a $198 cashmere sweater and letting go of the $200, better beauty.
• Offering $29,700 for that new Toyota and steadfastly refusing to pay $30K sticker.
• Spending $396, rather than $400, for your holiday gifts this year.
• Sending 99 holiday cards with 99 stamps (instead of 100) and skipping your slacker college roommate who has never sent you one, anyway.

It’s amazing to me that this kind of news actually alarms people. Markets? Sure, all they do is behave in bipolar ways. But the rest of us? Hey, we’re still having 99% as much fun as we did last year, as a whole.

Even my Very Close Personal Friend, THE ARMCHAIR ECONOMIST, told me:

“YOU’LL KNOW THIS DOWNTURN IS SERIOUS WHEN PITCHERS OF BEER BECOME MORE COMMON THAN THE PINK MARTINIS. BUT WORRY NOT: THE PEOPLE WILL STILL DRINK!”

I’ll drink to that—and I miss pitchers. Makes me sort of nostalgic (and thirsty) just thinking about it. Thanks, Old Sport. And may we all survive living on 99%.

Sorta brings new meaning to the term “Black Friday,” doesn’t it?  

From our good friends at Wiki:  

“In many cities it is not uncommon to see shoppers lined up hours before stores with big sales open. Once inside, the stores shoppers often rush and grab, as many stores have only a few of big draw items. On occasion, injuries and even fatalities are reported; in 2008, a worker at a Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, New York was trampled to death by shoppers who broke through the store’s glass doors minutes before the store’s scheduled opening at 5:00 am[7][8]; a pregnant mother was hospitalized from injuries in the same human “stampede”, though early reports of a resultant miscarriage were determined to be in error[9] [10]. And in Palm Desert, California two people shot and killed each other after an argument, possibly over merchandise, in a Toys R Us store.[11]”

Rest in peace.  

Oh jeez.  Looks like Santa’s going to be a bit of a Grinch this X-mas, among other signs of the times…

• 88% will spend the same or less on gifts
• 83% will buy more items on sale
• 75% feel pressure from debts
• 62% will wait for a sale
• 61% will focus on practical gifts
• 58% will cut back because of credit concerns
• 49% will cut travel plans
• Source: America’s Research Group/UBS, Maritz, Deloitte, Accenture, Consumer Reports, Thrivent

This stuff, or most of it, just don’t break my heart very much. I mean, who doesn’t complain about the over-commercialism of the holidays? What’s wrong with buying stuff on sale? What’s not to love about buying practical gifts instead of impractical ones?

Elsewhere in the newspapers, though, lurks news that strikes sadder notes. The downturn is causing closings of the little cafés that make Paris so distinctive—taking countless jobs and proud professions. Once there were 200,000; now there are 41,500. A way of life goes down the drain, rather like America’s farm crisis murdered small-town culture.

Meanwhile, in Boston, just outside the ivory-pearly gates of Harvard, a decades-old newsstand and gathering place is calling it quits. No longer can you get newspapers from all over the world, pick up the latest MAD magazine, or possibly meet a new friend.

Then again, who needs all that when you got texting on your Blackberry?

Here’s a book recommendation—for anyone who can handle relatively scholarly tomes.

It’s “The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath: The Past and Future of American Affluence,” by Robert J. Samuelson. He’s out promoting it now, so you may hear him on a radio, TV, or podcast near you.

Although the book is mostly about a past period (’62 – ’82), Samuelson has plenty to say about today’s conditions. Mostly not good. The stock market and housing booms that made us “rich” for so long are over. So over. Prepare thyself for…

Affluence deprivation. That’s one of his million-dollar idioms, although with the downturn in the economy such as it is, perhaps it’s now worth only half that.

Affluence deprivation is what we are about to encounter—when people gradually “have” less, and it hurts. His point is: We still probably have enough, and perhaps more than most of the world and than most points in American history.

But…we’ll feel deprived. We’ll talk poor. (“Poor talk” is another old cliché’; it’s when people talked poor for decades long after the Depression was over and times were relatively great.)

We’ll soon talk about “back in the day,” when we drove SUVs to expensive eateries and drank pink martinis while wearing Sex-in-the-City designer duds. We’ll lament that we no longer fly to Vegas for suites, shows, Gray Goose, and craps.

Don’t let this era be a dud. Speak not of depraved deprivation. We’ll be fine. In many ways, we’re no less rich with time than we were when our portfolios were fat, dumb, and happy. Keep hacking away at your dreams and Big Ideas. And BreakAway from the poor-tawkin’ crowd…