It's not unusual, there's quite a lot of people who basically believe in non-consumerist values. But are they some kind of majority? Well no. The majority are probably just trying to survive (and thus maximize convenience, ease, stress relief, forgetting their problems etc.). And well bohemianism although it speaks to many, has never paid, and speaks to the hearts of far more than it pays the bills of. As for much more mainstream, corporate America, in my experience there's a direct correlation between consumption and how much the company tends to pay (maybe not for the individual which is individual choice afterall but for the group). I've worked high paying places, it's vacations all over the world a few times a year (they also had vacation time) and expensive cars all over the parking lot. I've worked less well paying places (and I'm speaking within a middle class range not poverty or anything like that), it's vacation once a year at most often in the U.S. and even in the state (no vacation time anyway) and practical cars and lunch brought from home more often. The only consumption discussed then is buying clothes . Teenagers are a different thing. They can spend money and really appreciate the value of none of it, not you know having full time jobs and the need to support themselves.I'm guessing it's hard to communicate in part because it does not square with her experiences and that of her new friends. Given the amount of advertising in America, the dependence on consumption as the driver of the American economy, and the many people she undoubtedly has seen in malls either in person or even on TV shows and in the news, the simple life you and your family depict is -- well -- unusual.