Dien -

"Voluntary Simplicity" by Duane Elgin is a book written in the late '70's/early '80's espousing the Buddhist values of right livelihood as well as Thoreau's dictum of "Simplify, simplify!" It was pretty popular back then, along with back to the land, Mother Earth News type info.

It was followed by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robbins "Your Money or Your Life" tape course and then book, which details how to reduce expenses, increase savings until your passive income passes your expenses - then you're financially free. I liked it because they equated the value of your time with the cost of "things" - i.e., how many hours do you work for a $100 Hermes tie and is it worth it to you? They make no overt value judgements, but cause you to think about your expenses in life terms.

In the mid nineties, a lot of little books on simplicity were published by a woman named St. James, providing you with lists of ways to help simplify your life. Others copy catted her.

My take is that times of excess (i.e., the go-go eighties and late dot.bomb nineties)lead to times of reflection (early nineties and now, especially post 9/11). They also seem to coincide with economic contractions and recessions.

So, people want to simplify both materialistically and practically in their lives. For we marketers and product developers, it means lower key promotions, more sincerity and less hype, and immediate realized value in our offerings. Things like home projects, crafts, do-it-yourself, etc.

People will still spend money on things, but are now preoccupied with value and usefulness to make their lives more manageable and controllable amid uncertainty, and to provide the emotional feedback that spending the money is the right thing for them to do.

Anyway, that's my take on it - another cycle of the moving parade, intensified by the state of today's world.

Bob