In Praise of Small Luxuries

How do you cope with bad economic times? Where is the joie de vivre?

Think smaller.

The ailing economy is threatening to permanently kill the national buzz. The hundreds of thousands who have been laid off of late certainly have no intention of living the high life, and neither do those clinging to employment with shredded fingernails. Second homes, exotic getaways and French Champagne seem at best imprudent, at worst vulgar. What to do?

Think small, like Casey Elliott.

She's here picking up a tin of gourmet hot chocolate mix for her kids, a small but welcome treat at a time when her husband is out of work. "We're trying to do simple things, like going for family walks and playing games," she says.

From food to fashion, potions to pets, entertainment to e-commerce, Americans are finding modest ways to both buoy their spirits and maintain, even in cut-rate form, a version of those old free-spending days.

Can't find any fault with that.