(FORTUNE Magazine) – Maybe it's the acceptance of middle age and the spread that can go with it, but eating well (see table) and wearing more comfortable clothes -- including grunge, as in downright ratty, or what WASPs used to call ''old shoe'' -- are in. So is cautious shopping. Says Barbara Feigin, an executive vice president at Grey Advertising: ''Consumers are trying to figure out how they can smartly move downmarket instead of figuring out how to stretch their budget to afford the next higher bracket.'' For many boomers those budgets include kids and all the extra bills that they entail, hence the move to family vacations. For mad currency flings, Indonesia is a hot country to invest in. In some little things, though, the direction is upscale: Beer from a so-called microbrewer blows the budget by two bits a bottle, but what the heck.

BOX:

WHAT'S HOT Renouncing crash diets Jerry Seinfeld Casual wear Samuel Adams beer Indonesian rupiah Membership warehouse clubs Jeep Grand Cherokee Family vacations Trading down Socks the White House Cat

WHAT'S NOT Slim-Fast Bart Simpson Formal evening dress Coors Portuguese escudo Designer boutiques Chrysler Imperial Intimate getaways for two Trading up Millie the White House dog

FORTUNE TABLE