Statistics & figures

In Singapore’s context

Sustainability not high up in minds of S’porean consumers

16 October 2015

  • Among consumers in Southeast Asia, Singaporeans were the least conscious about sustainability when making purchases, with only 55 per cent saying they will pay more for sustainable products, a recent survey showed.

chart1

Even though Singaporeans are yet sustainable conscious group of consumers. However i think the increase in percentage since last year is an improvement.


12 interesting trends about Singapore household income and spending

18 Sep 2014

12 interesting findings from the Household Expenditure Survey 2012-2013, conducted by Department of Statistics every 5 years.

  • (Point 6)We are spending more.

For all income groups, expenditure rose more in the last five years than in the five years before

  • (point 7)…And it’s not just because of higher prices

It’s also because we’re spending more on higher quality goods and services, such as dining out in restaurants. 34.9 per cent of our food expenditure is spent in restaurants, cafes and pubs, up from 26.8 per cent in the five years before.

Expenditure on food-serving servicesScreen Shot 2015-10-23 at 1.28.25 am Screen Shot 2015-10-23 at 1.28.36 am

An increase in food expenditure in Restaurant/cafe/pubs and a decrease in Hawker/Food courts

  • (point 9) What are we spending most on?

The average household spends $1,188 a month on food, $811 on transport, $154 on package tours and holidays, $138 on other recreational and cultural pursuits, and $156 on clothes and footwear.


 

World wide: Gen Y / Millennials

https://medium.com/brian-honigman/how-millennials-are-shopping-20-interesting-statistics-figures-c76fb1231fbb#.m5a74a2ik

Through this website it provides a few statistics and figures on the millennial generations in the consumer market. (US)

Gen Y shops with their senses, Gen Z with their cents

Aug 5, 2013

  • Sensory appeal and the ability of a retailer to “make me smile” are one-third more important to Gen Y than to Boomers.
  • Practical decisions drive choice of retailers for 8 out of 10 Boomers, but only half of the Gen Y respondents.

“Put simply, younger shoppers view their ideal shopping experience as less functional and much more social, expressive and sensory-driven,” said Jerry Johnson, Brodeur’s executive vp of strategic planning.

 

Millennials Are Biggest Suckers for Selfish Impulse Buys

April 27, 2012

“When shopping, millennials are far likelier than other generations to make unplanned purchases just to pamper themselves.”

  • Millennials are 52 percent more likely than any other generation to report making impulse purchases simply to pamper themselves.

 

(Source no longer exist)

  • Close to half of millennial females shop for apparel more than twice a month, versus 36% of older females. Millennial males enjoy shopping, too, spending twice as much on garb per year as non-millennial males.

Gen Y men and women are more likely to buy more apparel for many reasons, one being the cost and perceived value of a clothing item like a t-shirt. It is more common today to buy a $10 t-shirt that will last for a few months then a $100 t-shirt that will last two years. The apparel market has been structured this way for some time and certainly has an impact on this behaviour.

 

Yarrow, a co-author of Gen Buy, noted millennials have a different sense of ownership than other generations; they want flexibility and newness, but they aren’t necessarily looking for forever things.

“I think their use of technology has taught them that new is better,” Yarrow said. “They don’t want to get too committed to something.”

Having grown up during a period of unprecedented prosperity across the country, Yarrow said many millennials have been indulged with luxury products and more turnover in their wardrobes. “I think that what you learn as a kid kind of becomes your values as an adult, so this generation really knows luxury and quality, and that’s what they want,” she said. (Source)


 

Top 10 Global Consumer Trends For 2015

KASRIL-ALEXANDER, D. (2015, January 15). White Paper: Top 10 Consumer Trends for 2015. Retrieved October 22, 2015, from http://go.euromonitor.com/rs/euromonitorinternational/images/WP-TP10CT15_EMI.pdf

  • More consumers are willing to buy products and services that optimise the use of their time
  • The widespread adoption of smartphones also means that consumers are able to shop anytime, anywhere and are becoming increasingly demanding in terms of convenience
  • Brands seem keener to align themselves with changing the world for the better, picking up on consumer interest in a more caring consumption style and an understanding that counterculture is better organised and has new needs. They express this via so-called “brand activism.”
  • Consumer interest in consumption for change as well as thrift lies behind the success of an enterprise collecting and selling “ugly fruit.” Lisbon renewable energy consultant Isabel Soares seeks out produce failing the “dictatorship of aesthetics” in shops that leads to food waste.
  • Consumers are keener and more able to express their individuality through consumption via the buying reach of the global internet.
  • More people are “shedding stuff” – downsizing on possessions to embrace lightweight living and earning themselves the nickname of the “pay-as-you-live generation.” Such consumers access documents, music, film and other media digitally and are happy to rent. Mainstream brands squeezing into this culture include Home Depot, now renting to people reluctant to buy rarely-used tools, and clothing brand Patagonia, partnering with eBay to redistribute pre-owned items and extend its customer base.
  • Online, consumers are forever sharing or reposting personal news or content they find interesting from a blog, brand or retailer online. Before consumers buy a fridge, holiday, spa treatment, plastic surgery procedure, pension plan or new cosmetics product, move abroad or choose a training course, they are checking fellow consumer responses. The post-recessionary consumer is generally a more cautious spender.
  • For many(millennials), the solution is not to acquire more, but less. They show openness to others and socially-aware brands, with a desire to work in a more meaningful way.
  • Risk-averse and socially-conscious, Millennials are savvy shoppers. They need to be, as they have less cash and are reluctant to spend what they do have. Having grown up on free services, games and social networking, brands are finding it harder to sell to them. Millennials are buying fewer cars and homes, despite being immersed in consumer culture, particularly electronics. They are using their comfort with technology to locate best prices and learn about trends. Many are indifferent to prestige brands and lavish ads, preferring to buy online or shop in high street chains for items like organically-farmed cotton clothing with the odd high-end buy.
  • Local consumers are turning to overseas retailers in search of better value and choice. The 2014 Online Shopping Behaviour Study by MasterCard showed that almost 40% of online shoppers in the UAE buy from foreign websites.
  • The love of shopping for Chinese consumers is well known, with Chinese-speaking staff in most designer shops. As the allure of bling alone fades, Chinese shopping tourists are keen to benefit from better professional sales services and product knowledge. According to the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute, 27% of Chinese tourists abroad spend more on shopping than on anything else. A spring 2014 study from tourist VAT refund company Global Blue revealed that 82% of Chinese tourists said shopping was a priority while traveling.
  • The blending continues. People’s attachment to their smartphones, phablets and tablets is having a ripple effect on broader consumption needs. (how technology encourage more consumption)

Research Material: EXPORTING THRIFT, OR THE MYTH OF “ASIAN VALUES”

Garon, S. (2012). EXPORTING THRIFT, OR THE MYTH OF “ASIAN VALUES”. In Beyond our means: Why America spends while the world saves. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.

Is the attribute of “frugality” a part of Asian’s cultural trait? Why is it that we see Asian being more thrifty as compared to other countries in the West?

In this book it brought up the possible reason that frugality is a part of a traditional virtues in Asia countries. It also brought up different countries as case study and Singapore was one of them.

I highlighted the points brought across in the book for references.

 

From Confucius to Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the traditional Chinese culture presents many precious ideas and qualities . . . [including] the traditional virtues taught from generation to generation: long suffering and hard working, diligence and frugality in household management, and respecting teachers and valuing education.

 

  • On the one hand, regimes have encouraged greater consumption to improve living standards and bolster their legitimacy. On the other, most Asian nations remain openly ambivalent about unfettered consumption for a variety of economic, social, political, and moral reasons.
  • Asian similarly spoke of the need to “rationalize” consumption, refrain from wasting money on luxuries, and avoid “excessive consumption.”
  • In Malaysia, there officials strive to maintain a delicate balance among ethnic groups, the state has worked hard to inculcate thrift and “positive spending habits” in the majority Malays to raise their living standards to those of wealthier minority groups.
  • It comes as no surprise that states in East and Southeast Asia coupled drives to restrain spending with intrusive campaigns to boost household savings.
  • Why do Asians save so much? Ask Asian leaders, and they’ll tell you thrift is a cultural trait deeply embedded in their traditions.
  • Confucian philosophy, they elaborated, “hailed prudence and frugality, demanded sacrifice for future employment, and condemned parents who failed to provide for their offspring.

 

  • The government of Singapore embarked on the vigorous promotion of “Confucian Ethics” in schools and society.
  • As formulated by Singapore’s former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and Malaysia’s then prime minister Mahathir bin Mohamad, “thrift” figures prominently among the cardinal Asian virtues.
  • In Asia, too, states and various groups energetically worked to inculcate habits of saving. They employed government-run savings institutions, launched savings campaigns, and mobilized schools, communities, and the media to encourage thrift.
  • However the widespread “urge to save” in Asian economies has less to do with their shared “Asianness”, and may be more related to their common adoption of savings-promotion practices from other countries. Eg Japan

 

Singapore (case study)

  • Singapore developed a unique approach that combines Japanese-style encouragement of voluntary saving with an elaborate system of compulsory saving – Central Provident Fund (CPF).
  • The MOE’s civics and moral education curriculum teaches the value of thrift by highlighting traditional savings and folktales from each of the three cultures (Chinese, malays and Indians)
  • Not until the late 1970s would LKY discover the virtues of Confucianism. As for Chinese culture’s putative thriftiness, Lee placed little faith in Singaporean workers as late as the 1970s. They “spend freely and save less,” he complained, “so it is necessary that we should enforce savings through CPF contributions.”
  • In the realm of education, Singaporean school-children recently studied “The story of Japan’s Industrial Development,” from which they were expected to learn “about the qualities of the Japanese such as a thrifty people and positive work attitude.”
  • Like Japanese and South Korean officials, Singaporean rulers have been wary of excessive consumption. Lee warned early on that the nation was “caught in the meshes of the consumer society.” Advertisements, he lamented, urged people to “buy what they do not really need, as finance companies and other mechanism encourage people to buy now and pay later. Concerned about rising consumer credit especially among the young, the government today strictly controls the issuance of personal loans and credit cards. The MOE recently redoubled its efforts at thrift education because “now, more than ever, we must arrest consumerism.”

 

Thoughts:

I believed the post world war situation made many countries took upon a more frugal systems politically and economically, especially in Japan, which affected and influenced the other asian countries. The case study brought up in the book highlighted government’s attempt at encouraging savings and i thought was a good reminder that  our Singaporeans CPF fund saving system that is still in place now.

Research Material: 20 cognitive biases that screw up your decisions

http://www.businessinsider.sg/cognitive-biases-that-affect-decisions-2015-8/?utm_source=feedly#.VhY8trSqqkr

I came across this article thats talks about the cognitive biases that often screw up our decision-making. It reminded me that to be frugal, one has to practice self-restraints in many ways and it requires a lot of decision-making in our daily lives. To be frugal, we often needs to reflect and question ourselves if the action or choice is worth it or not.

bi_graphics_20-cognitive-biases-that-screw-up-your-decisions

It is interesting to see how relatable it is to all of us. A few biases listed in the image seems to be quite relevant to my topic such as point 3 & 7 to list a few.

I think i would need to read up about decision making. Hmm..

Research Material: How should i live my live?

 

Howard, G. (2002). How should I live my life?: Psychology, environmental science, and moral traditions. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield.

 

Chanced upon this book and the title triggered one thought and relates to a few questions that was brought up with regards to my project. Since my project is advocating frugal living, one issue was that if people have the means to live whichever ways they want, extravagantly or not, so why do they have to live frugally? Why should we tell others how to live their lives?

This book encourages us to think about the future, extensively on the context with our emerging environmental problems. He talks about how psychologically humans make decisions and choices, how it affects our earth, and how our attitudes, habits and other factors attributes to the issues that we face now.

Here I will highlight his analysis and important points on the human nature he brought across in the book as he explains why we do what we do, and how we should go about solving it. His explanations aid my project in different aspects and answer to some of the issues I faced.

 

Chapter 1: Why change is needed

To examine the extent to which the philosophy or life and the philosophy of human nature that we currently believe as if they were literally true.

 

What-if anything- can be done?

Human beings will undoubtedly be blamed, since too many humans and their ever-expanding consumptive activities represent the root causes of all ecological problems. Two obvious candidates are human nature and human cultures.

The second engine of ecological destruction – namely, overconsumption or unsustainable lifestyles. (First engine: overpopulation)

Suggest that cultural differences hold the key to effectively reducing the kind of consumption now stressing the earth’s ecosystems. (E.g a child born in the US in 1990 will consume more than sixteen times the energy(which thus produce approx. 16 times the waste) over his or her lifetime as a child born at the same time in India)

Not to imply that Americans are naturally wasteful while Asian indians are by nature conservationists but rather American children are raised within an extremely wasteful system.

The types of cultures moulds different behaviors/practices.

What is free market capitalism?

Capitalism seeks to foster a culture of multiplying appetites. People are instructed to want more out of life, to have more this year than last year, and to want a better life for their children than they themselves have.

Quote: The capitalist system, in order to sell its plethora of manufactured goods, has to enlist the help of the motivation researcher and the Madison Avenue ad agency to get rid of the excessive and ever growing pile of manufactured goods and not really needed in our society. To encourage consumption in the absence of real need and to associate status and self-esteem with wasteful consumption, it has been necessary to encourage mindless impulse buying and self-gratification. By now, we have raised several generations of people on endless and repetitive exhortations that it is all right to yield to impulse, to buy without guilt, and to consume without shame. Installment buying may have been the fatal blow to the self-denial of the Protestant ethic. (Albee 1977, 150)

Madison Avenue’s advertisement propaganda, that people adopt wasteful, consumptive-oriented lifestyles, represents an important ecologically destructive force against which children and adults need to be inoculated. Contrary to the consumerist vision of life, wasteful overconsumption, unbridled greed, and short-term myopia must be understood as destructive vices.

 

How do you like the title of this book?

In one sense it’s a deeply flawed- The author purposely demonstrated one of our contemporary problematic beliefs in the title. The title should have read “How should we live our lives?” Why should we focus upon the group rather than the individual? The author believed that the thorny psychological issues of the twenty first century will be social in nature, not individual.

The ultimate consumerist dream is for the individual to be able to consume without conscience or consequence – but this can only safely occur if most other group members live Spartan, virtuous lives. We have generalized our consumptive profligacy to “generation abuse” through our tendency to live fat and rich for today and lay off the consequences upon our children and their children.

20150921_16173920150921_162621

 

Who’ll stand Against the Idols of Our Age?

Moral traditions might play as a counterweight to a cultural milieu that valorizes consumerism, maximization, materialism, and other gentrified forms of gluttony.

(Author replaced “maximization” with “gluttony” as he felt that “gluttony” has too negative a valance and therefore society smuggled the concept into polite conversation under the term “maximization”)

Maximization(sickness)>extremism(disease)>perfectionism

1: Author believes that the ecological crises that we are now beginning to experience will be the leading causes of human pain and suffering in the 21st century.

2: these crises represent symptoms of maladies that lie at the very heart of our contemporary worldviews and societies.

3: the cures of these maladies lie in human beliefs that are governed by character and virtue (short supply these days).

 

Chapter 3: Stories, Stories Everywhere; But not a truth to think

  • the essence of human thoughts can be found in the stories we employ to inform and indoctrinate ourselves to the nature of reality.
  • True stories serves as bookmarks to highlight the way that stories can create character and possession of certain virtues in each of us.
  • Scientific stories might lack the rich resources of other nonscientific perspectives like philosophy, literature, clinical wisdom, religion, and the like.
  • Different types of stories serves different functions.

Here the author explains that stories is a way to shape one’s characters and possession of virtue. A good point to note since i am advocating frugal living. A possible deliverable maybe?

Culture: Some of the stories we live by

  • definition of a cross-cultural psychology a strong concern for how large differences between cultures actually find their way into the psychological world and the actions of individuals
  • We are raised in a plurality of cultural subgroups, each exerting a multiplicity of influence upon us
  • The subjective culture of each of us is strongly influenced by the degree of contact we have with people and institutions that focus upon their own subcultural perspectives.
  • We are molded by the subjective culture of our reference subgroup

Shows that how we are influenced by the culture we live by. With advance technology nowadays, we get to learn about different cultures all at the same time and this mixture of cultural knowledge shapes our thinking in today’s society although we live in different countries. (not sure if i understood this part correctly)

  • initially, a child is greatly influenced by the cultural milieu of his or her family. With maturation the influence of the family generally declines, relative to the potency of other subcultural groups such as the neighbourhood, the schools, and society in general.
  • Many of the classic struggles between parents and their children in adolescence and early adulthood come about as children espouse the values and beliefs of their subjective culture subgroup that conflict with the beliefs and values of their parents’ subjective culture.

We here see how culture and our environment shapes our thinking. The development of values and beliefs as a child is one point to take note of. Hence, one of my target audiences focuses on people that are starting a family. The influence they brought upon their child affects their character.

 

Chapter 5: The tragedy of maximization
The tragedy of certain self-fulfilling prophecies
  • to the extend that people believe it is in their nature of maximize individual “goods”, they will orient their lives toward the attainment of self-interested goals. Then, as each of us reflects upon the experience of our lives, we find that the maximization of our own self-interest represents the most compelling explanation of our own nature and experience as humans. That we might have become a different type of person, had we entertained different beliefs about human nature and the good life, rarely tempers our sad conclusion about human motivation.
  • Free market capitalism represents a self-interested, maximizing belief system. Because both individual and corporations are instructed to maximize their profits, the current credo has become “let no human want go unsatisfied”. This strategy is doom to failure in the long run because it is based on ever-increasing material throughput.
  • While we can and should find ways to use these resources more efficiently, we live in a world of important physical and biological limits. Yet, we’ve adopted worldviews that rest upon dreams of geometric growth.
  • The reality is that western, free market capitalism system, that encourages the current geometric rates of increase population, production, consumption and waste generation, represents a terrifying, pyramid scheme.
  • Eventually we will overwhelm our ecosystems, unless we change our beliefs and lifestyles.

 

Reexamining Ancient wisdom
  • many religions promote moderations, and thus tend to encourage earth friendly lifestyles.
  • For example: “Buddhist economics” rethinks our most basic economic assumptions and offers alternative foundation based upon a Buddhist belief system and the notion of the “goods” in life. Material goods are to satisfy human needs and are never collected for the sake of becoming wealthy.
  • For example: Jesus teaches a spiritual enlightenment that focuses our attention on a world that lies beyond our material world. Undue attachment to the things of this world represents a danger to the life of the spirit. Material possessions are not intrinsically bad but rather, sin might result from being overly attached to material possessions, or by losing sight of spiritual goods, due to a myopic fixation on maximizing one’s material possessions.
Hope for the future
  • first step in this process is to replace some of our consumption-oriented, maximizing beliefs with perspectives that prize nonmaterialist values

 

Extremism in the service of a good cause

Moderation is a virtue that is currently in short supply.

Acceptable or balanced extremism
  • the only remotely defensible rationale may be to claim that extremism is acceptable when grounded in a balanced (non extreme) awareness. A balanced, pluralistic awareness is open, broad, thoughtful, and constantly questioning.
  • Extremism vs moderation: it is easy to condemn all extreme actions as ‘unjustifiable and productive” and to encourage moderation as a vehicle of change. However, “moderate actions” are by definition, anchored to and defined by the context of cultural norms within which they take place. If those cultural norms are part of the problem, then moderate actions may never promote real change
  • The real problem is lack of awareness.

The funny thing is to encourage frugality I thought moderation in consumption is they key. I might have to think more about it now

 

Reengineering wasteful systems
  • lives of excessive individual consumption, materialism, and the focus on individual welfare are anathema to virtually all religious belief systems.

 

HABITS AT FIRST ARE SILKEN THREADS

Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit, and you reap a character. Sow your character, and you reap a destiny.

  • human should focus upon doing the little things correctly- acts produce habits that build the character that determines one’s destiny. A satisfying destiny in life often represents the natural outgrowth of thousands of well-chosen acts.
  • A sound education ought to closely examine the fragile threads of students habits (such as savings, spending, etc) that overtime will mold students’ characters and create their destinies.

 

Cheap is beautiful: Is your money working as hard as you are?
  • Rule #1: Spending cuts are far more effective than increased earnings in escaping a household financial crisis. In real sense, we diminish our lives whenever we overwork.
  • Why don’t we recognize the enormous power of spending less, consuming less, and of generally appreciating the beauty of frugality?
  • To reconsider what items in your lives are luxuries rather than necessities. And show how we might obtain these necessities and luxuries in ways that greatly reduce the amount we spend for them.
  • A psychological strain due to financial difficulties.

 

Necessities or luxuries?
  • something is not a necessity simply because you’ve always owned one(eg. Car), or because everyone you know owns one (eg wristwatch). If your life would significantly diminished by not spending money on an item or service, then it can reasonably be considered a necessity for you. Luxuries are fair game for spending cuts, but unless your financial circumstances are truly desperate, one should not consider forgoing a necessity.
  • It is not trying to suck out all the pleasure out of life by making people forgo the luxuries that bring joy to life but rather trying to show ways that enable you to afford even more pleasurable luxuries in your life.

 

GREEN TAXES

Shortsightedness – Thy name is human!
  • the more one studies psychology, the more one realizes that human almost always sacrifice important long-term considerations to trivial short-term rewards or punishments.
  • Credit-card lifestyle: the-live-for-today and don’t-sweat-tomorrow mentality
  • Think like an investor, not like a consumer.

 

IMAGINE!

  • overtime, people have institutionalized wasteful and destructive lifestyles by creating systems( eg. business, political, educational) that virtually demand that individuals stress their ecosystems.

 

In praise of the common good
  • religious tend to focus attention upon the group rather than on individuals
  • jews: the chosen people
  • Christians: people of god
  • Buddhist: all is the tao, and the tao is all.
  • Religious traditions tend to be suspicious of too much wealth and try to promote various forms of asceticism – voluntary simplicity, self-denial etc
  • Hence tend to be in conflict with the materialism, consumerism, and individualism that now permeate contemporary first world societies.

 

From benevolent invisible hands to common tragedies
  • In a world characterized by severe limits, growth, maximization, development, and greed are often destructive impulses that serve to undermine the common good.
  • More and more, wise individuals are those who recognize when “enough is enough”
  • In first language of self-reliant individualism, one need not even worry about the res of the world.
  • But because we live in a world of strict limits, the common good will more often be served by stasis and decline in human numbers and their “wants and needs”

 

Buddhist economics
  • Buddhist sees the essence of civilization not in multiplication of wants but the purification of human character.
  • It is not wealth that stands in the way of liberation but the attachment to wealth; not the enjoyment of pleasurable things but the craving for them.
  • The keynote of Buddhist economics, therefore, is simplicity and non-violence.
  • Buddhist economics is the study of how to attain given ends with minimum means.
  • As physical resources are limited, people satisfying their needs by means of a modest use of resources are obviously less likely to be at each other’s throats than people depending upon a high rate of use.
  • It is a question of finding the right path of development, the middle way between materialist heedlessness and traditionalist immobility, of finding “Right livelihood.”

 

GHANDI SEVEN SINS

Extremism and balance in life
  • ghandi sees that few people are able to separate their career and work choices from monetary considerations, even after their basic needs have been more than met. Instead of making work important means to enlightenment, the lust of maximum profits and wealth leads people to make choices that lead to serious exploitation of others.
  • The voluntary simplicity movement teaches us to see value in simple pleasures and simple means to beneficial ends. Downsizing our lives opens our attention to pleasures of the interior life (eg spirituality, family, community sharing, fine arts) as we gradually free ourselves from the grip of external shackles such as materialism, the headlong pursuits of wealth, consumerism, political power, fame and the like.

 

It takes uncommonly dedicated person to live a life of voluntary simplicity when she or he is trapped within grossly wasteful economic and business systems. It is clear that American systems that now nurture our unsustainable lifestyles much change before individuals’ proenvironmental wishes can be transformed into sustainable, earth-friendly lifestyles. But how does one influence change in societal structures?

Research Material: Simplicity

Bono, E. (1999). Simplicity. London: Penguin Books.

This books talks about simplicity, why simplicity, its value, importance and advantages. Albeit not much related to my topic of living life simply (frugal living), but I thought it is good to find out what does simplicity really means and why simplicity and how will it aid with my research about frugal living and helps in relation to the importance of living simply.

Below are the extractions from the book to highlight the quotes and sentences that are related to my topic and probably useful in explaining as to why should we choose to live simply.

 

Getting involved in trying to make things more simple is good for you and good for society. It is almost as important as ecology. Simplicity should become a permanent fashion.

 

The author explains ‘why simplicity?’ :

Simplicity makes life simpler

We almost automatically equate ‘simpler’ with ‘easier’. One of the main purposes of simplicity is indeed to make life easier.

But the process of achieving that might not be an easy process. Similarly to living frugally does not means it will be easy to achieve. So if it not easy, will people still choose to live frugally? What will be the motivation and the reason to make people choose a frugal life voluntarily?

 

Simplicity makes it much easier to do things

Finding a simpler way is usually neither simple nor easy.

An expert is someone who has succeeded in making decisions and judgements simpler through knowing what to pay attention to and what to ignore

Experts progressively make life easier for themselves by simplifying their judgements and decisions. Over time they learn which are the important things to look for. From a mass of data they learn to pick out what really matters. They learn the key discriminators which decide between one situation and another. They learn to ignore the less reliable discriminators, which work only part of the time. An expert doctor learns to focus on the key sign or symptom.

Production engineers are usually skilled enough to cope with complexity and often no longer notice it.

Some people got used to the complexity of the existing system that they no longer regard it as complex.

Complexity means distracted effort. Simplicity means focused effort.

 

Simple systems are easier to set up, easier to monitor and easier to repair

A self-focusing camera is simpler to use than a manually focused camera but is a more complex mechanism in itself.

In a simple system there are a few points to check and fewer interactions to examine.

 

Simple procedures save time, money and energy (not absolute)

 

Simplicity is elegant

There are those who value a simple lifestyle and there are others who enjoy variety and richness – but they would still like to avoid hassle, complications and frustrations.

Could this be one of the reason to motivate people to live frugally?

 

Simplicity is powerful

This is because simplicity is a unification around a purpose.

Simplicity is not natural. You have to choose to make it happen.

To get simplicity you have to want it badly enough.

There has to be a drive, an urge, a motivation to make things simpler.

Because simplicity seems easy we believe it is easy to achieve. When it is not easy to achieve we give up too quickly.

Likewise for frugal living, there has to have a motivation, a drive to make people choose to live frugally. Because it does not just happen.

 

Simplicity is not easy

When they fail to achieve simplicity they believe that simplicity is not possible in that particular situation.

Simplicity will not happen unless people are prepared to work hard at simplicity and make a real effort to achieve it.

When we are looking at cost, we do sometimes make the effort to find something better than the first solution that comes to mind. If the first solution is rather expensive, then we continue to look for a cheaper solution or way of doing things. Could we get into the habit of making the same effort to find something ‘simpler’?

If you really believe that ‘simplicity’ is as important a direction as ‘cost’, then you might make that effort.

Simplicity is even more important as a sought-for value.

Simplicity is even more important as a permanent habit of mind – as a style of thinking.

And to refer it back to frugal living, is money is the only reason that makes people live frugally? Is being poor the only cause to make people live frugally?

 

Simplicity as a value and as a habit

If simplicity is a value you will take it into account. If simplicity is a defined value then you will make an effort to improve matters in the direction of ‘simplicity’, you will appreciate suggestions that make things more simple. If simplicity is an acknowledged value then simplicity becomes part of your judgement screen when you are looking at things or for things.

Much more important than simplicity as a value is simplicity as a habit. This means that simplicity becomes an automatic part of the design process whenever thinking is used.

 

Oversimplification

Oversimplification means pursuing simplification without paying attention to the loss of other values.

Above the level of ‘survival’ we are more bullied and pressured by opportunities than by demands.

There is a complexity of temptations and opportunities generated by a fear of boredom.

 

Complexity of the simple life

If you grow all your own vegetables, they may taste much better but it is more complex than buying them from the supermarket.

The ‘simple life’ is really not that simple. The complexity may be enjoyable and engrossing. In a sense, because you have to do so many things that we normally take for granted, you do not have time for ‘normal’ distractions. You are sufficiently distracted by the mechanics of survival.

Visual references on examples of work

Frugal Bowl by Wu Wensong7071c0534e81ba98989074e2e44e3b6d

e5b0f79b87ec764f2c3725ebbdef3a5fIn this project, the Frugal concept is very strong and it brings out another point which is to conserve. I liked his idea of using bowl and rice as it highlights the asian culture which makes it relatable to us and therefore instantly becomes a reminder to conserve.


The Frugal Book by Catarina Fernandes

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This project aims to help self-published authors to promote their work. It was designed to look ‘frugal’ by giving it a craftier look. I thought that the medium and methods of how the book is made is direct and straightforward and it emphasised on the idea of frugality by using cutouts to form the negative/positive space, which then creates an image from it.


Spoonfull: Food Security through Self-Sufficiency by Alexa Forney

 

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Bao by AD

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Environmental protection issues have received much attention in recent years, reflecting rising public concern and awareness of environmental problems (Sigmund, 1997). Still, many people failed to recognise the environmental problems, thereby overusing plastic bags and filling a rubbish bag with ripped paper. Landfills are seen to be covered with wrapping paper and discarded tinsel a few days after Christmas. Currently a majority of supermarkets in the UK provide so-called biodegradable plastic bags as an alternative, which people generally consider eco-friendly. In point of fact, the biodegradable plastic bags are not environmental. That’s because the biodegradable plastic bags need sufficient light and oxygen to decompose, and plastic bags are normally buried in landfills in the darkness. The same is true of paper bags, as paper does not fare too well in terms of energy requirements. It requires 98 per cent more energy to recycle paper bags than it does to recycle plastic bags.

This project intends to focus on the branding of oriental wrapping cloth, which can be used for wrapping, carrying and storing things, aiming to explore ways of introducing the wrapping cloth to the UK. It will be conducted through an investigation of wrapping cloth’s functionality, communication, and promotion based on accurate branding strategies. The brand for wrapping cloth in this project is named ‘BAO’, which is the pronunciation of a Chinese character for ‘wrap up’ and ‘a bag’. It is simple, easy to pronounce, and completely related to product attributes. BAO is an eco-friendly brand, offering contemporary multipurpose wrapping cloth at reasonable prices. It uses completely eco-friendly materials and advanced technology of laser cutting in place of traditional print to make the products more beneficial and non-harmful to the environment. BAO is dedicated to developing environmental and practical wrapping cloth for daily use in order to make people’s lives more simple and green.


Puma sustainable design collective

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Awareness Campaign – Home Grown by Nicole Blom

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The Frugal Soap

Designer: Ji Woong Kim

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The Frugal Soap has one aim, to use every bit of the soap at hand.

So when you’re down to your last bit of soap, just smudge it into the concave part of a new soap, and the two become one whole new soap! The design is such that the last slither and a new cake complement and merge together.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/5489097/Fashions-Lifecycle-Revisited

To be continued…

Research Material: Frugality, Rebalancing Material and Spiritual Value in Economic Life

Bouckaert, L. (2008). Frugality: Rebalancing material and spiritual values in economic life. Bern: Peter Lang.

In this book, it is a compilation of papers that addresses frugality in economic life, such as to introduce frugality, and the social and economic implications on a macro and micro level etc. Although the books mainly covers frugality in the context of economy, it also highlights frugality in the consumer’s point of view, frugality and its effects and benefits for individuals.

Here are the extractions from the book where I feel that it is important to highlight and focus on these points:

In the paper ‘Rational versus Spiritual Concepts of Frugality’ by Lik Bouckaert
  • Simply our needs

The more desire one has, the greater the chance that they will not be satisfied, thus leading to suffering.

In the paper ‘Frugality and the body’ by Rafael Esteban
  • Ideology of consumer culture

It promises happiness in the acquisition and consumption of an ever increasing amount of commodities, but the economic system built on it does not satisfy real needs. On the contrary, it creates an ever-increasing wants by cultivating greed and results in structural dissatisfaction.

From this 2 papers, they pointed out the psychological effect on consumers where buying more will bring greater happiness but is not true in the long run as it increases one’s greed and desire of wanting even more. The more we want to have, the more we feel unsatisfied and in turn we feel miserable about not having more. And the effects could related to issues such as inferiority etc.

The world is not divided into the ‘haves’ and ‘have-not’ but between a majority that do not have enough and a minority that has too much. And the real trouble is that the deprived majority does not aspire to have ‘enough’ for decent human living but aspires to participate in the unlimited growth of the ‘consumer society’, deepening the unsustainability of the present economic system.

  • suggests that we have to develop a culture and economy that prizes nonmaterial goods above material goods.

 

Quote by Mahatma Gandhi:

“There is enough for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed.”

 

In the paper ‘Overconsumption’ by Dirk Geldof
  • Sufficiency : an alternative overconsumption; a crucial element in strategies for sustainability; provides more time for ourselves to enjoy our lives

Sufficiency is not about saying goodbye to material wealth and repressing our desire, rather, it focuses on how to deal with wealth, satisfy our desires more deeply and how to enjoy a qualitatively better life by consuming less.

 

In the paper ‘Consumerism and frugality: Contradictory Principles in Economics?’ by Ronald Commers & Wim Vandekerckhove
  • Frugality stresses low consumption that meets long term personal familial and communal needs.
  • One important notion – the use of external goods has a natural limit. Material wealth is needed to a certain extent, but should be used only as an instrument.

 

In the paper ‘Frugal Marketing: Can selling less make business sense’ by Ronald Jeurissen and Bert van de Ven
  • Frugality versus Marketing

It seems paradoxical that marketing should be able to deal with beliefs and attitudes that aim at consuming less. But frugality offers several marketing opportunities, depending on how the value and virtue of frugality are perceived and practiced by consumers.

Frugality is a way for people to gain control over their lives by freeing themselves from the pressures of the consumer roles and the constraints and uncertainties of being unemployed.

Marketing, however, seems to cultivate a hedonistic and materialistic world view. It teaches consumers that fast gratification of needs is the norm rather than making considered and balanced consumer choices.

In the paper ‘Buddhist Economic Strategy’ by Laszlo Zsolnai
  • Buddhist economics

This strategy is centered on the want negation and the purification of human character, challenges the basic principles of modern western economy including profit maximisation, cultivating desires, introducing markets, instrumental use of the world, and self interest-based ethics.

It proposes an alternative principles: minimising suffering, simplifying desires, nonviolence, genuine care, and generosity.

By minimising suffering: it means not to produce gains but to decrease losses, because humans display loss-sensitivity it makes sense trying to reduce losses for oneself and for others rather than trying to increase gains for them.

By simplifying our desires: Buddhism recommends moderate consumption and is directly aimed at managing one’s preferences through meditation, reflection, analysis, autosuggestion and the like.

More money is better than less money. But getting more money may have a negative effect.

Example 1: an overpaid employer may not always perform at highest level.

Example 2: being under financed may be beneficial for project. It forces one to use money more creatively and effectively.

Articles research (library methods)

Frugality : rebalancing material and spiritual values in economic life

This books talks about the follow questions:

Why do we reintroduce frugality to economic life?

What are the spiritual resources that foster a frugal lifestyle?

What are the social and economic implications on a macro and micro level?

How can we connect frugality to more accepted ideas such as sustainability in business, ethical consumption or distributive justice?

What kinds of practices can realize and promote frugality today?


Fashioning a culture of diligence and thrift: Savings and frugality campaigns in Japan, 1900-1931

This chapter talks about why Japan launched a campaign to promote savings and to discourage consumption after their war. Hence in its aftermath the Japanese were low on their savings and their economy was affected. The campaign strove to augment national savings and encourage “diligence and thrift” throughout the country in order to strengthens the nation-state and boost household savings.

Here we are looking into how Japan’s efforts of promoting frugality impact its society and becomes a part of their culture.

EXPORTING THRIFT, OR THE MYTH OF “ASIAN VALUES”

Is being frugal part of “Asian Values”?

Is it part of a cultural trait embedded in their traditions?

In Confucian philosophy where they elaborated “hailed prudence and frugality, demanded sacrifice for future employment, and condemned parents who failed to provide for their offspring”.

This book compares the consumption between West and Asia. The different approaches in consumptions and the effects on their economies. It analyses and explains how the “asian values” – being thrifty- boosts their economic development.