We all know we should start saving –recession looms, possible layoffs, plus living paycheck to paycheck just sucks.

But unfortunately, so does saving. It's such a drag, especially when we live in such a rabidly consumer culture. We're encouraged  to define ourselves by possessions and you can’t pick up a magazine, turn on the TV or even surf the web without product come-ons.

Now, I wouldn’t have a job if that were not the case –somebody has to finance the sparkling prose you read here on the 'Derby, for one – but defining ourselves through our stuff isn’t making anybody any happier and means we're going to have a lot of peers suffering through retirement with $200 diaper bags they can't trade in for prescriptions.

As this Wall Street Journal column (which I found via Consumerist) says, many of us are reining in our spending what with gas prices (I paid $3.95 a gallon this morning, yikes) and rising grocery costs. But retailers are soon going to be offering "recession deals," if they aren’t already which may prove irrestible and continue to get us in financial trouble if we don't learn to shut off the little voice whispering "more stuff" and accept some discomfort now for a more comfortable future.

There's no fix but to redefine what makes us happy.

The first suggestion is the best –spend less time feeing poor. Stay out of the mall and quit perusing catalogs or their online equivalents. I also like that they counsel weighing splurges versus cutting them out entirely.The others are good too, and mostly revolve around replacing consumer activities with more emotionally satisfying, no-cost things. 

That's advice we can all use, whether we're hurting financially or not.