Jim tweeted this question a little while ago (I expanded his text a bit with his permission because I'm not limited to 140 characters here):
“Why do people love stories about people paying off thousands in credit card debt? Why is there no love for people who don't have debt to begin with? It's disappointing.”
Flexo responded:
Everyone loves a protagonist/hero faced with adversity overcoming the challenge against all odds. It's worked for 2000+ years.
Put another way, is it just that debt reduction makes for good reality TV but frugality doesn't?
Well, yes, I think that's exactly it, because struggling through a bad situation is almost always more interesting than having the foresight (or good fortune) not to get into that bad situation in the first place. Necessity is the mother of invention, but imposing the necessity on oneself takes the excitement out of it. It's not quite a real struggle if there's a safety net.
What's even stranger is that struggling through a bad situation is more interesting even though that bad situation many times is the person's own fault. Take my weight loss blog for example. I've already had some wonderful encouragement from my family, my friends, and other bloggers. (Thank you!) However, this doesn't change the fact that the only reason I have to lose close to 100 pounds is because I ate too much and because I was lazy. It's entirely my own fault.
The same goes with debt reduction. Sometimes life is challenging for things beyond people's control, and other times life is challenging because people's bad spending habits finally catch up with them. Now, getting out of debt is far better than self-destructing financially. But avoiding debt in the first place through frugality is merely boring, even though it's better to never have been in debt.
Frugality might get a little bit of public-awareness juice as things tank, more people get foreclosed on or lose their jobs, and have no other choice but to dig themselves out. Then people will rediscover thrift stores, the library, and the slow cooker.
There might even be a reality show: I survived a year with Amy Dacyczyn!
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Hmmm … I think you're right. There is a certain fascination with the success of others getting out of a bad situation. I think there's another reason, and that's that most people can identify with those who have or had a mountain of debt. That by seeing their success, they can have hope for themselves. Someone with $15,000 in credit card debt and two mortgages can't identify with the frugal family who's never been in debt, never eats out, buys clothes second hand … and so on.
Good points. Though I imagine we could get a good reality TV show out of people learning to live on a budget (ie, lose a job, downsize, extra kid, something like that).
You still have to have the hardship factor though. Someone has to struggle with something, or it ain't worth watching. 🙂
You know what would make a good tv show?
where they show people who've dug themselves in holes they can't get out of and then they show people mocking them and making fun of them!
I have a feeling any reality show that is focused on frugality would probably depict the lifestyle as Old McDonald meets Antiques Roadshow. Lots of quilting, turning old nylons into soup strainers, and using empty paper towel rolls in home construction.
Freak shows “sell”, so that’s 99% of what is put out there.
Gotta disagree with Living Off Dividents though, that’s just too mean-spirited for me.
It may not make the most compelling story – it certainly wouldn't qualify for The Great American Novel – but it's a very important topic to continue writing about. As more people search for ways to make ends meet, having many non-scam, anti-get-rich-quick articles out there to greet them will help them recover.
One thing I have noticed that gets some extra attention is extreme frugality. It carries some of the same David vs Goliath power as paying off a major debt, just with a different focus.