The Gift of Thrift
In our early years we practiced frugality because we had to- it was the difference between eating and not eating, paying the electric bill or living out of an ice-box and dressing for bed by candlelight (and that's not hyperbole, we have done both). It wasn't so much a choice as a reality that we needed desperately to face on a daily basis.
Over time, as we were able to put a little more of a cushion between paychecks. Over time, we also discovered that those lean, hard years had been good training as had some specific circumstances. On more than one occasion somebody would help tide us over, and then tell us to pay it forward rather than pay it back.
But you can't pay it forward if you're spending it all each month. It's a very discouraging feeling when you see a need and you cannot help meet it. It's even worse when the reason you can't help somebody out who needs it is because you were profligate with your cash this month and indulged yourself.
It's also disappointing when a good opportunity for savings comes your way, and you can't take advantage of it because you splurged this month, so now you'll be paying more next month.
It's horrible when a 20 dollar shortfall can leave you sick at your stomach and unsure where to turn. It's a glorious free feeling when a 300 dollar repair bill isn't a total disaster, or when you hear of a family at church dealing with cancer and you can give them a gas card or a gift card to a local grocery store.
Thrift is a gift, and it keeps on giving.
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2 Responses to “The Gift of Thrift”
October 22nd, 2010 at 10:23 am
hardest lesson learned was to live within your harvest….but lessons were learned well…
October 22nd, 2010 at 10:26 am
I agree! I’ve been married 23 years, and the lessons in thrift my husband and I learned early on have held us in good stead ever since. Now we are enjoying watching our oldest, married for a year, use the lessons she absorbed from us as she and her husband make ends meet. I think she is even surpassing us!
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