Grueling experiences.

In the next five years, a new survey shows, Americans will increase their consumer electronics purchases by a whopping 17 percent, augment their home improvement expenditures by 15 percent, and shell out an additional 15 percent of their incomes on general personal improvement: education, health club memberships, travel, psychiatry, makeovers, and assorted pharmaceuticals promoting hair growth.

This prompts the question: If consumers plan to spend almost half their disposable income on appliances, home improvement, and self-actualization at a time when the economy is only growing at 2 to 3 percent annually, what is the offsetting product that they will stop buying?

"Porridge," says Charles Merton, communications director of the American Downscale Breakfast Association. "There is a direct correlation between rising sales of consumer durables and declining sales of matinal edibles. When PC and laser disc sales go through the roof, the porridge industry goes right through the floor."

Chick Coleman, executive director of the Gruel Foundation, a semi-potables industry trade group, concurs. "Porridge, gruel, oatmeal, grits, you name it: When consumers start shelling out for the big-ticket items, it's the downmarket breakfast sector of the market that gets shellacked," he says. "Just as sure as you can't have guns and butter, you can't have high-definition TV and porridge."

Porridgery isn't the only business that may see its sales tumble in the next few years as manufacturers of more glamorous merchandise siphon off expendable cash. Grommet makers, divet manufacturers, and curtain rod designers may also get hammered.

"People who used to change their curtain rods every two years now keep them hanging for a quarter-century at a time," says Kate Fiorella of the Catullus Institute, a Washington think tank that monitors libertarian consumer purchasing patterns. "One day they reach for the shade and the whole damn thing collapses. It's yet another telling example of America's decaying infrastructure."

"Vacuum cleaner liners are another hard-hit item," claims Nathan Salataroff, a senior fellow at the Hoover Center. "People want a Saab so bad they're willing to empty and reuse their vacuum cleaner bags."

One often-overlooked industry whose fortunes have been severely impacted by the American public's addiction to upscale merchandise are the makers of grommets - those little washers that fit between nuts and bolts. As Tubby Sterkel, author of "An Oral History of Grommets," explains: "In the good old days, when a guy screwed a nut around a bolt, he first took care to insert a little aluminum washer. This kept the nut from getting stuck to the bolt - and vice-versa. But these days, people cut corners like hell. They'll screw that nut right onto that bolt - washer or no washer. Of course, the economics of it make sense: Over a lifetime, when you figure out how much a household can save by not using washers, you're up to three or four hundred bucks. That's enough to pay for a new TV."

Faced with such a daunting situation, how are these industries responding to the challenge? By going on the offensive themselves. The American Oatmeal Association recently opened a Web site where consumers can learn more about the history of this noble foodstuff. They can directly download valuable cents-off coupons, ask questions about porridge history, obtain recipes for such exotic meals as Philly Cheese Porridge and Gruel a l'orange, and learn about interesting oatmeal-related activities in their areas of the country. The site directs oatmeal aficionados to on-line chat rooms where they can trade porridge-eating experiences with other fans. The association concedes it has only gotten two hits on its site so far - both from teenage boys looking for cheerleaders - but confidently expects improvement as word of mouth gets out.

The grommet industry has also adopted a high-tech solution to its image problem. At its Web site, browsers can type detailed information about all the grommets in their house and obtain a computer-generated diagram of what their properties will look like 25 years from now when all those nuts and bolts have rusted together.

"The important thing is to build consumer awareness about our withering infrastructure," says Sterkel. "A country that would rather have a high-speed tape editing system and a faster modem than a toilet seat you can replace without needing a jackhammer is a country that doesn't deserve to have any grommets. Or toilet seats, for that matter."

"But you also need to make the public aware that grommets and porridge are vital elements of the American experience," says the Catullus Institute's Fiorella. "This country was built by immigrants who came to this land with nothing but a bit of porridge in their bellies and a couple of grommets in their back pockets. If we ever lose sight of that fact, we're finished as a people."

Joe Queenan is a regular contributor on business issues, corporate culture, and financial follies to Barron's and The Wall Street Journal.