family-gameDiscussion about the recession may be on the decline but that doesn’t mean consumers have brightened their outlook. Recent consumer surveys show that stress is still high as consumers try to weather the financial storm.

Consumers have trimmed spending where they can; taking advantage of coupons, purchasing store brand over national brand and eating at home in an attempt to scale down the household budget, but budgeting isn’t the only issue they face.

  • Credit card rates and penalties are on the increase. With lines of credit maxed out or discontinued consumers can no longer resort to credit as their safety net.
  • Many household have reported a loss or reduction of healthcare coverage resulting in the inability to meet their medical bills.
  • Job losses continue to be reported especially in the lower –income households.
  • Delinquency in major bills and mortgages continue to be reported.
  • Housing foreclosures continue and mortgage modifications are bottlenecked.

In other words, consumers are faced with greater financial demands than they faced last year and are bringing in less income.

Short bursts of spending have been reported for new cars and homes, no doubt do to the recent Cash for Clunkers program and First Time Homebuyer incentives, but generally speaking the purse strings are still fairly tight.

  • Increases in sales of canning and freezing supplies suggest America is going back to the home cooked meal.
  • The movie rental industry and cable television have seen a drop in numbers as consumers report more viewing of local channels via their home computer.
  • Estimates for holiday sales are projected to be about the same as last year with online shopping coming in ahead of the usual brick-and-mortar shopping trip.

It seems a blanket of malaise has settled over consumers. Worn out by the financial rhetoric of months past and with little hope for meaningful improvement in the near future many are just doing the best they can which is simply living in the moment, which might be one of the best lessons gleaned from these times.

As consumers learn to appreciate the simple things in life and create new lifestyles out of the economic fall-out we may very well see a resurgence of personal empowerment, dedication to family and community and the ability to smell the flowers along the way. Of course, that would mean the current means by which our economy is propelled would also need to change.

Sources: The Nielsen Company/ Nielsen Economic Current/ Nielsenwire/ Trade-Offs-Dominate-Shopping-Decisions. ConsumerReports.org/ Consumer Reports Index report.



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