{"id":625460,"date":"2026-08-07T14:20:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T14:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/625460\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T14:20:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T14:20:48","slug":"this-money-trend-from-the-great-recession-is-relevant-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/625460\/","title":{"rendered":"This money trend from the Great Recession is relevant in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you live in America in 2026, and you\u2019re not so wealthy as to be absolutely shielded from daily life, you\u2019re probably aware that everything is really expensive now. Gas<\/a> and milk<\/a> are both above $4 a gallon. Fresh vegetables are up almost 10 percent<\/a> over this time last year, even though they will maybe give you explosive diarrhea<\/a>. The median home in this country now costs almost half a million dollars<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A lot of people \u2014 even those with relatively high-paying jobs \u2014 are very, very stressed about money.<\/p>\n

In some ways, our current unaffordable era is starting to evoke the years right after the Great Recession. Unemployment was high, the economy was bleak, and a lot of Americans, myself included, were searching for ways to do more with less.<\/p>\n

One distinctive product of these harsh conditions was an entire blogosphere that emerged to give readers chatty, relatable advice on saving money.<\/p>\n

It was a kind of the golden age for personal writing on the internet, and these writers melded advice and personal narrative in a way that foreshadowed today\u2019s influencers, but with a more lo-fi, DIY aesthetic. Starting in about 2008 and continuing for the next decade, these authors reached thousands of readers a day with tips on how to spend less and sock more away. There was Mr. Money Mustache<\/a>, a brash \u201cfinancial magician\u201d who had retired at age 30 and believed ordinary people could save half or even 75 percent of their income. There was Trent Hamm of the Simple Dollar, an Iowa dad who shared his story of getting out of debt alongside recipes for cheap meals and homemade laundry detergent. There was my niche favorite, An English Major\u2019s Money<\/a>, by a young woman who shared my less-than-lucrative career path but who was nonetheless determined to achieve financial stability.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t just old-school personal finance advice, it was a whole philosophical universe dedicated to the idea that by living on less, you could liberate yourself from the uncertainties of the economy and experience true freedom.<\/p>\n

Collectively, I like to think of these writers as the frugalsphere.<\/p>\n

Today, most of them are no longer blogging about saving money \u2014 some have gotten jobs in traditional media, while others have gone on to other careers entirely (or are simply enjoying early retirement). But their movement feels newly relevant today, as Americans struggle to afford necessities and face mounting anxiety over their economic future. So I decided to track down a bunch of frugality writers from that time, and see what they had to say about 2026.<\/p>\n

One thing I wanted to know was why I wasn\u2019t seeing the same outpouring of money-saving advice I\u2019d seen in the wake of the 2008 crash. But I was also curious for bigger insights: What, if anything, is the equivalent of the frugalsphere in today\u2019s inflationary era? And could the ethos of those optimistic coupon-clippers give us smarter ways to think about the unsettling new place we find ourselves in 2026?<\/p>\n

What I found is that the frugalsphere still has lessons to teach us, but they\u2019re not about reheating leftovers or washing out Ziploc bags. Instead, they\u2019re about how to claim a sense of autonomy, even when our lives are buffeted by forces beyond our control.<\/p>\n

The short, influential arc of the frugalsphere<\/p>\n

The idea that you can achieve prosperity by carefully watching your spending is far from revolutionary, and self-help authors were extolling the virtues of frugality long before the Web 2.0 era. In the 1990s, for example, editor Amy Dacyczyn published a print newsletter called the Tightwad Gazette, teaching readers frugal tricks (Dacyczyn herself favored reusing aluminum foil<\/a>) for the low price of $12 per year.<\/p>\n

But amid the upheaval of the Great Recession, when more than 15 million Americans<\/a> found themselves unemployed in the worst crisis since the 1930s, a new generation of bloggers started offering advice about saving money, often directed at millennials starting their careers in a decimated job market.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were looking for something they could do,\u201d Nicole Dieker Finley told me recently.<\/p>\n

What Finley did was to start posting all her earnings and expenses on Tumblr around 2012, when she was trying to make it as an independent musician in Los Angeles. She soon caught the attention of the editors of The Billfold<\/a>, a website launched the same year to cover money with a personal, relatable tone befitting the times. Billfold editors Logan Sachon and Mike Dang shared their student loan and credit card debt; Finley tracked her net worth and spending<\/a> and wrote about her quest for financial independence<\/a>. She later went on to a freelance career writing about money (including for Vox<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Kara Stevens, meanwhile, started the website the Frugal Feminista<\/a> around 2012 while facing down student loans, credit card debt, and a tanking credit score: \u201cIt clicked to me that if I didn\u2019t do something about it, I would be in this position of not being able to move forward in my life,\u201d she told me.<\/p>\n

Based in New York City, she shared tips for finding free events, cheaper dupes of popular brands, and deals on fancy hotels. \u201cIt was like, how am I living my Sex and the City life on a budget?\u201d Stevens recalled.<\/p>\n

As time went on, more bloggers joined the space, some of them already starting from a position of financial freedom. Kristy Shen and her husband Bryce Leung started the site Millennial Revolution<\/a> after retiring in 2015 at age 31<\/a> with a seven-figure investment portfolio.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 2008, people started freaking out and thinking that no job is safe,\u201d Shen told me. \u201cI think that\u2019s when people started being more interested in finance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The message of the frugalsphere was that if you could leave cheaply enough and save enough money, you could weather any layoff \u2014 and eventually, not have to work at all. The bloggers of the era \u2014 many of them millennials aiming their advice at other millennials \u2014 tended to share a can-do attitude, a sense that with the right mix of care and planning, almost anyone could improve their financial situation.<\/p>\n

Also, they wanted to stick it to the man<\/p>\n

The frugalsphere also had a tinge of rebellion about it. \u201cAmericans tend to have a very up-down relationship with consumption,\u201d said Helaine Olen, a longtime financial journalist and the managing editor at the American Economic Liberties Project, an anti-monopoly think tank. After 2008, the pendulum started swinging against buying stuff, and the frugality bloggers were leading the swing.<\/p>\n

Their implicit message was often that by refusing to buy expensive things, you were pushing back against corporations that wanted to control you. Frugality was, at least to some degree, about sticking it to the man.<\/p>\n

At their peak, some personal finance blogs were reaching thousands of readers a day and breaking through into mainstream media. Shen told me that Millennial Revolution got 15,000 page views the day after a post about the virtues of renting a home was picked up by the CBC<\/a>. Shen and Leung, as well as Trent Hamm<\/a> and other bloggers, got book deals and started to reach a broader audience.<\/p>\n

But the culture soon began to shift. The written personal blog began to die out, replaced by more visually driven social media \u2013 and an influencer ethos that rewarded the acquisition of new possessions, rather than showcasing ways to do without. Today, social media is much more about celebrating consumption than questioning it.<\/p>\n

On TikTok and Instagram, \u201cit becomes about showing perfection and showing a good life,\u201d Olen said. \u201cAnd part of a good life, as we define it in the United States, is spending money.\u201d<\/p>\n

How frugality lost its shine<\/p>\n

Today, some frugality influencers have found a home on TikTok<\/a>, and the deinfluencing trend<\/a> of a few years ago shows there\u2019s still an appetite for anti-capitalism, even in the age of short-form video. But overall, the cultural and economic winds have blown against frugality, frugalsphere writers and observers told me.<\/p>\n

As inflation rose in the 2020s, necessities cost more, but saving also became less attractive. More people made the calculation that \u201cif I don\u2019t take this trip this month, it\u2019ll be more expensive next year,\u201d Olen said.<\/p>\n

Upheavals like the Covid pandemic gave some Americans \u201ca grim outlook on money,\u201d Stevens said. Their feeling was, \u201cthere\u2019s no chance that any of us can be wealthy. What\u2019s the point of saving anything?\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, tips like making all your coffee at home instead of going out for a little treat<\/a> don\u2019t resonate the way they once did. This time is fundamentally different from 2008: The economy is nominally \u201cgood\u201d now, and unemployment is low, but everything from eggs to real estate feels more unaffordable than ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople say, The cost of living is so high, I need some joy,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cLike, You can\u2019t deny me everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

What the frugalsphere can teach us now<\/p>\n

When I talked to frugalsphere writers about today\u2019s situation, I ended up realizing that even if some of their specific tips are no longer as applicable, their mindset still is.<\/p>\n

At its best, frugality advice was always about adapting to your situation, whatever that might be. When rice is cheap, buy in bulk. When basil is expensive, use the leftover pesto you froze in an ice-cube tray. Nothing is cheap right now \u2014 and, to be honest, I have never had the energy to freeze pesto \u2014 but the basic idea stands.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrugality to me means intentionality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Kara Stevens<\/p>\n

\u201cBe flexible,\u201d Shen says. Millennial Americans once worried about their jobs being outsourced. Now workers all over the world are worried about getting replaced by AI. No matter what, though, \u201cyou have to change with the times.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Gen Z, that might look like entrepreneurship and investing rather than a traditional career and saving for a home, Shen said. I can\u2019t yet imagine what it will look like for Gen Alpha, but there\u2019s something reassuring about the idea that flexibility is a skill we can learn, one that can help carry us through even the most macro of macroeconomic shocks.<\/p>\n

One big thing that\u2019s changed since 2008 is the politics of personal finance. In the 2010s and 2020s, many critics of the frugality approach began to point out that without systemic change to lower the costs of housing, health care, and education, all the coupons in the world weren\u2019t going to make much difference. Today, affordability isn\u2019t just an individual concern \u2014 it\u2019s the cornerstone of a lot of political debates.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But even as we look to systemic solutions, there\u2019s another big lesson Americans today can take from the frugalsphere: Control what you can.<\/p>\n

For Stevens, that looks like acknowledging that \u201cwithin any system that has a bias toward corporations or the wealthy, we understand that things may not be fair,\u201d she said. \u201cThat also doesn\u2019t mean that you don\u2019t have personal agency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Exercising that agency might mean being more mindful around retail therapy rather than cutting it out entirely, Stevens said: \u201cIf I know that I need these little quick boosts to make me feel good because work is stressing me out, can I carve out a part of my budget that allows me to do that without completely disrupting my financial goals?\u201d<\/p>\n

Stevens, for instance, cares a lot about her skin, so she spends money on skincare products that really work for her, and cuts back on things like purses that don\u2019t matter as much.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrugality to me means intentionality,\u201d Stevens told me. It\u2019s about \u201cliving more aligned with your values.\u201d<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s era of polycrisis, it feels downright insensitive to promulgate the idea that anyone can get rich with the right combination of tips and tricks. But most Americans make at least a few choices every week about where our money is going.<\/p>\n

If we can make whatever choices we do have in a way that\u2019s intentional, in line with our larger goals for ourselves and the world \u2014 maybe that\u2019s a 2026 version of financial independence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you live in America in 2026, and you\u2019re not so wealthy as to be absolutely shielded from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[174],"tags":[79,1067,179,18,15620,19,2926,2866,17,3255,825,234],"class_list":["post-625460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-culture","tag-economy","tag-eire","tag-explainers","tag-ie","tag-influencers","tag-internet-culture","tag-ireland","tag-life","tag-money","tag-personal-finance"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117054670512775790","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}