The Unemployed Couple
CHRIS STRONG FOR TIME
Barbara, 46, and Kevin Lowe, 52, Grand Rapids, Mich.
The cell phones were canceled; so were all subscriptions and outside entertainment. We didn't go skiing this winter, and we won't be golfing over the summer. No more wine. We used our severance and some savings to pay off Kevin's 2008 Saturn and pay down the house. We debated whether to cancel the local newspaper, but in the end kept it for the Sunday coupons. We now eat every single item in the house until it's gone. If that means we have curly pasta and penne and spaghetti all mixed up, so be it. I have 101 ways to use half-eaten boxes of pasta. We're much more careful shopping -- no more running in to get one or two things. We wait until we have a big list, and then buy only what's on that list -- and at the local grocery warehouse, not the food boutique.
This is the face of the new modest consumer. (Time)
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