Some are worried about their carbon footprints. Others are tired of striving to keep up with their richer friends and colleagues. Now that they can’t take out a home equity loan to pay off their credit card balances, that may not be possible anyway.

“Suddenly, anti-status is cool,” says Danziger, who defines affluent consumers as those with $150,000 in household income.

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But it’s still cool to travel. A recent survey by American Express Travel found that 87 percent of those surveyed said they would still be taking the same number of vacations to pursue their “personal passions” such as cooking or sports during the next two years. A portion of those said they would be increasing such travel.

Sixty percent said personal travel has become so important to their mental health they would not consider cutting back because of economic concerns.

Chicago interior designer and socialite Laura Barnett Sawchyn is seeing the rich adjust their lives in small ways. People are changing their driving habits, maybe not going away to their second home every weekend. Or they might skip a $1,000-a-seat charity event, netting $2,000 in savings in one night.

“I’m not seeing anybody really doing without,” says Sawchyn, the former head of the Parkways Foundation, which hosts an annual ladies’ lunch in June that benefits Chicago parks. “It’s really the superfluous stuff that is being cut back on. I don’t see them not buying the new painting for the house or anything that would help them live better on a day-to-day basis.”

Similarly, salon owner Scott Wilker is noticing some wealthy clients tweak their regimes.

“Instead of coming every week for manicures and blow drys, they’re extending it to every other week. Some may be skipping a blow dry for a black-tie or a wedding,” said Wilker, who co-owns the salon in Chicago with his partner, Emilio Rivera.

At Salon Duo, a blow dry can run an extra $70 on top of the cost of a cut.

Yet revenue is actually running a few percent ahead of last year and some clients don’t seem to be affected at all. One loyal customer is still driving in from the suburbs twice a week for blow-drys and manicures, Wilker says.

However, chatter in the salon is definitely gloomy when the economy comes up. “Peoples’ attitudes are not fabulous,” Wilker says. “With clients, it’s like money, the market; it’s just been so volatile.”

Personally, Wilker and Rivera are pulling back a little themselves. They aren’t ordering out as much and they didn’t take a big vacation this year, in part because of large special assessments on their condo and salon. “We like to play hard but we’re smart gentlemen. We don’t want to be cutting hair until we’re 80.”