The New Austerity Program

We dubbed it- The New Austerity Program. Our lives & experiences were a mirror to most of the country. We enjoyed the boom times just a little too much, & now it came with a heavy price to pay.

The automobile comes to Post Apocalyptic Bohemia in summer 2005

2004-2007, we enjoyed being well paid for work well done. We had money in checking & savings & as each bill came in, I simply paid it. We traveled to NYC, Palm Springs & Vancouver BC. I couldn’t get my mind off the bronze Jetta station wagon at the car lot by my gym. One day I stopped to look at it, & 2 hours later the automobile was in my drive way. We extended our credit; we took a 2nd mortgage on the house for remodeling & landscaping. The Husband & I dined out often & picked up the tab for our friends. I received every channel from the evil Comcast, because appreciated having all my viewing options open to me.


Then in late 2007, it all started to crumble. Somehow the Portland upper-classes no longer desired design consultations & $10,000 sofas & the Husband’s commissions dwindled. My company dropped bonuses & froze wages. By summer of 2008, we were in trouble. The New Austerity Program: basic cable (with serious consideration to dropping TV altogether), no new books- my 1st library card in 40+ years, happy hour only, Ross & Burlington Coat Factory instead of Banana Republic, decisions as to which bills did not get paid. Travel? In our dreams only.


After devastating financial ruin & near divorce, we diligently lived close to the bone & deliberate, constant, controlled consuming became the guide. Stable, sober, steady, squandered spending. I tried to find some sort of sport from living lean, but mostly I worried. I was debilitated by uncertainty & uneasiness. We found ourselves in a place where we could pay the mortgage, the car loan, & the household operation expenses, but a car repair or visit to the veterinarian would cripple us.

By autumn 2010, consistent, cautious, careful spending & savings found us running in the black again… so, we did what any smart Post Apocalyptic Bohemian Homosexual would do when the economy tanks & the world collapses. After considered research by the Husband, we bought a NEW SOFA. Damn, it felt good, & as a man who came of age in the 1960s, I still hold the old mantra- If It Feels Good, Do It.