• Consumers find creative ways to stretch every dollar amid inflation fatigue
• Companies like Procter & Gamble report lower sales as shoppers use less
• Many say the frugality is here to stay — even if prices eventually fall
A new wave of household thrift
Saddled with ever-rising grocery and cleaning costs, a consumer in Mississippi began adding water to her Dawn dish liquid and Clorox floor cleaner, and switched to refillable bottles so she could stretch her supplies further. She even considered watering down her Sensodyne toothpaste, but drew the line — instead squeezing out every last bit.
She is part of a growing number of Americans embracing “creative frugality” — diluting products, cutting doses, and shopping secondhand to cope with stubbornly high prices. From Facebook Marketplace to backyard gardens, many are finding ways to reduce what they buy rather than simply switching to cheaper brands.
Companies feel the pinch
The shift is starting to show up in corporate earnings. Procter & Gamble reported a 2% volume decline in its home and fabric care division last quarter, which includes brands like Tide, Dawn and Swiffer. But private-label brands haven’t seen a matching bump — meaning consumers aren’t just trading down, they’re using less overall.
“Consumers are a little bit more cautious,” said Andre Schulten, P&G’s chief financial officer, in a Wall Street Journal story highlighting the shift to household frugality. “They are trying to be more thoughtful on usage.”
Schulten said the behavior reflects paycheck-to-paycheck stress. “Consumers who want to make it to the next paycheck tend to squeeze a bit more out of the bottle, or skimp a little bit on dosing.”
Making it last longer
In Virginia Beach, a Navy veteran abandoned Tide Pods in favor of generic laundry powder — and uses half the recommended amount, boosting it with vinegar. He dilutes his dish soap, buys Febreze overstock on Facebook Marketplace, and recently purchased half a cow from a North Carolina farmer for $2,500 — about 300 pounds of beef to last two years.
“I’ve realized you don’t need as much as you think,” he said. “There are so many ways to make the suds stretch further.”
In Atlanta, an entrepreneur grows okra, kale and broccoli in her backyard to feed her family. She’s trading down from Publix to Aldi, swapping Iams for store-brand dog food — and even mixing in cat food when stretching the last bag.
Frugality as a long-term habit
While companies like P&G expect thriftiness to fade once inflation cools, many consumers say the habit is sticking. One person quoted in the WSJ report said she has cut her family’s grocery bill by more than $400 a month, to $1,265 from a July peak of $1,696.
Her daughters are banned from grocery runs and from doing laundry. She now monitors Tide powder in a glass jar, using one scoop per load instead of two, and even splits paper towels in half for packed lunches.
Whether inflation stays high or not, America’s new thrift economy — one diluted bottle at a time — seems likely to last.
