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Is America feeling 'frugal fatigue'?

Oh, how quickly we forget.The wounds from the Great Recession have yet to heal, but Americans are once again spending more, saving less and still carrying credit card debt, according to a new survey by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.Twenty-six percent of adults report they are spending more than they did one year ago, the Harris Interactive survey found, and nearly 40 percent of peo

Oh, how quickly we forget.

The wounds from the Great Recession have yet to heal, but Americans are once again spending more, saving less and still carrying credit card debt, according to a new survey by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.

Twenty-six percent of adults report they are spending more than they did one year ago, the Harris Interactive survey found, and nearly 40 percent of people still carry credit card balances from month to month.

While that is good news for the nation's struggling retailers, it suggests Americans are reverting to the free-spending ways that preceded the housing meltdown. It's also a sign that people are suffering from "frugal fatigue,' said Gail Cunningham, spokeswoman for the nonprofit organization.

To make this trend even more worrisome, more than 41 percent of Americans give themselves a C or lower grade in regard to their knowledge of personal finance, an acknowledgement that they lack the ability to make sound financial decisions. Nearly 50 percent of adults do not maintain a budget or track their spending.

"An admitted lack of personal finance skills coupled with increased spending is a recipe for financial disaster," Cunningham said. "People owe it to themselves and their children to become financially savvy."

Another disturbing statistic from the survey: 33 percent of adults have no emergency savings. This makes them "one flat tire away from financial disaster," says Cunningham, who suggests adults put 10 percent of each paycheck into a savings account.