| Thursday, July 16, 2009 |
| Mainer's excell at frugality mostly because they have to |
 The Boston Globe article: Frugal before it was fashionable points out that residents of Maine are not fairing all that badly in this economic downturn. “It’s ingrained in people here to plan for tough times. That’s the fabric of Maine,’’ said Mary Webber of Yarmouth, a longtime family thrift counselor at Maine Savings Bank and the author of The Frugal Family’s Kitchen Book. “Everybody now is into shopping thrift shops, but in most of Maine, people never stopped.’’
Consider the fact that median household incomes in Maine are the lowest in New England - $45,888 in 2007, according to the US Census Bureau, compared with $62,365 in Massachusetts - but Maine’s property foreclosure rate, ranked 38th in the nation, was the second lowest in New England in 2008, according to the online property database RealtyTrac Inc.
The credit card debt of Maine residents, per borrower, ranked 24th in the nation, and is also the second lowest in the region, suggesting that the state’s consumers may be more likely to live within their means. The article mentions the following bargain shopping Maine destinations or publications:
Uncle Henry’s Swap or Sell It Guide
Suddenly Frugal Blog
The Frugal Family's Kitchen Book, Third Edition
Maine Maven
Marden's (Be warned: sound plays when you first open page)
Caswell’s liquidation center (no website, but found a blog post about it here)
The article does not mention, but it should since Amy Dacyczyn is the Godmother of all things frugal and she is from and still lives in Maine, the classic The Complete Tightwad Gazette . Her book is where anyone looking for frugal and simple living tips should begin their education (well worth the price of tuition!)
The article continues: “It’s about the hunt, the excitement of finding something great,’’ she said. “It’s a point of pride here. It’s something people celebrate.’’
Celebrated it may be, but Maine’s tradition of frugality has its roots in the hardscrabble circumstances of a remote, rural, northern locale, experts said. Mill jobs have slowly disappeared for decades, and many residents work two jobs to get by or pick up physically demanding, short-lived seasonal work on the side, clamming or picking blueberries to make ends meet.
“People face a lot of challenges here, and to deal with them, to survive, they develop skill sets and behaviors, ways of thinking that focus more on needs than wants,’’ said Jim McConnon, a University of Maine economist. “People have to be creative and resourceful, and they tend to be conscientious, and not spend because other people are spending.’’
Because of Maine’s geographic isolation, its economy is less enmeshed with the nation’s, said McConnon. That distance prevents it from feeling the full bounce in boom times, but also protects it from the steepest dips.
In other words, Mainers never feel so flush that they stop stuffing their pantries with emergency canned goods. |
| posted by Boston Gal @ 8:54 AM *
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| 5 Comments: |
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Thanks for including a link to my Suddenly Frugal blog. I'm the daughter of a Mainer, and have done some of my best thrift-store shopping at the Goodwill locations in Gorham and Windham. I hope your readers will check out my blog and maybe stick around long enough to subscribe! Thanks again.
Leah Ingram
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I agree with them on Mardens and Uncle Henry's. However, any yard sale that goes on for days is a "perpetual yardsale", and definitely one to avoid. (They're overpriced and mostly for tourists.)
I'm originally from Maine, and I'm living in Mass now because there are no jobs in my field. That's also true for a lot of people I grew up with. I just heard one person I know just moved to another state, without a job, because at least there'd be a few openings and a chance at finding something.
Mainers are frugal, but saying that being frugal has protected them from this downturn is ridiculous. The change in circumstances for the average family may not be as large as it is down here in Mass, but overall, the lows are going to be lower.
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I used one of the Tightwad Gazette' suggestions and love it. She suggested emptying out a used vacuum cleaner bag and then resealing it for use again. I have an electrolux and the bags cost about $2.oo each. Since I have two mess machines, aka kids, I used to go through a bag a month. Now I reuse bags three times before they are too decimated to risk dust bunnies being sucked into the motor. This tip has saved me over $75, not including the time it takes to shop for the bags.
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Thanks for the tip Leah: I'm moving to Windham on July 31 so am delighted to hear they have great Goodwills! :)
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For the record there is no Marden's in Machias as the article states. They must have meant Calais.
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Thanks for including a link to my Suddenly Frugal blog. I'm the daughter of a Mainer, and have done some of my best thrift-store shopping at the Goodwill locations in Gorham and Windham. I hope your readers will check out my blog and maybe stick around long enough to subscribe! Thanks again.
Leah Ingram