D.I.Y.

This is definitely going to be a growing trend - and I hope it will have long lasting benefits for American society as a whole - even if the short term affect is negative to some of the people providing these services:

A few months ago, as her family’s income fell, Laura French Spada, a real estate agent in Glen Rock, N.J., began dyeing her hair at home and washing the family cars herself. Her husband, Mark, started learning how to do electrical repairs.

Susan Todoroff, a personal trainer in Ann Arbor, Mich., has begun brewing espressos at home and cutting her hair and cleaning her house herself. And Tamar A. Zaidenweber, a health care market researcher in Astoria, Queens, is spending more time walking her dog instead of taking it to day care each week.

All of these consumers could praise themselves for their newfound frugality in the midst of an economic downturn. But every step they take toward self-reliance — each shrub they prune themselves, each cupcake they bake from scratch — hurts the people and small businesses that have long provided these services professionally.

Getting back to doing things for yourself, realizing that every "free" moment isn't about shopping, vacationing, gambling, getting drunk and watching TV, while paying someone else to do the little things in life for you that actually make up real life - I think this is an important step for Americans to take and perhaps a longer term silver lining in this economic disaster.